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Good morning and happy Easter.
It’s really good to see all of you this morning. And I just want to start by saying thank you for your patience with me this past week. I’ve been dealing with a pretty rough stomach bug, so I appreciate your understanding as we weren’t able to meet last Sunday.
But I’m especially grateful to be here with you today, on Easter.
Whether you’re here every week or it’s been a while, I’m glad you made the decision to come this morning.
Easter is a day we look forward to. We celebrate, we sing, and we remember what Jesus has done. But my hope today is that this isn’t just a celebration. I hope it’s something we truly see and understand.
Because the truth is, it’s possible to be right around the things of God… and still miss what He’s doing.
So wherever you are this morning, whether you came in full of faith or you’re just trying to get through the week, I believe God has something for you today.
Let’s lean in to what God wants to show us together.
Let’s begin with prayer.
Father, we come before You this morning with grateful hearts.
We are thankful for this day,
thankful for the cross,
and grateful that the tomb is empty.
Lord, thank You for being patient with us. Even when we do not see clearly or misunderstand what You are doing, You remain faithful, always working and fulfilling Your purposes.
Today, we ask for something simple yet powerful:
Please open our eyes.
Help us not only to hear about the resurrection, but to truly see the risen Christ.
Where our vision is clouded, please bring clarity.
If we have focused on the wrong things, redirect us.
When we feel discouraged, remind us of the victory we already have in Jesus.
Lord, quiet our hearts this morning. Take away distractions and help us to listen and receive what You have for us.
Above all, lift our eyes to Jesus, who is alive, reigning, and working even now.
We give this time to You. Please speak to us through Your Word.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let me ask you something this morning.
Have you ever been so focused on something small… that you completely missed something much bigger?
Maybe you’ve had that moment when you’re searching for something, like your keys or your phone, and you’re so focused on finding it that you don’t even notice it’s right in front of you.
Or maybe it’s something deeper, something more important beneath the surface.
You pray for something… and it doesn’t happen the way you hoped.
You ask God to move in a certain way… and He doesn’t do what you expected.
And in that moment, your attention starts narrowing.
You start replaying what didn’t happen.
You start thinking about what’s missing.
You start focusing on the details that don’t make sense.
And it’s almost like your whole view of life becomes crowded with these little things.
questions… frustrations… disappointments…
Things that, on their own, might be small…
But when you fix your eyes on them… they start to fill everything.
And before you know it…
You can’t see anything else clearly.
Now picture this.
Early Sunday morning.
The tomb is open.
Light is coming in from the entrance.
And inside… the air is still.
If you’ve ever been in a place like that, you know what happens when light comes in.
You start to see all the little particles floating in the air.
Tiny. Almost nothing.
But if you fix your eyes on them…
They’re all you see.
And I can’t help but wonder if that’s exactly what was happening in that moment.
The disciples walk in…
They see the empty tomb…
They see the linen cloths…
But instead of seeing what God had done…
Their focus settles on the details they don’t understand.
And that’s when we finally put a name to it:
They were staring at the dust… instead of seeing the glory.
And here’s the truth we’re going to come back to over and over again this morning:
When you focus on the dust, you miss the glory.
Today, we’re going to walk through that first Easter morning…
and see how easy it is to miss what God is doing.
And more importantly…
How to start seeing the risen Christ clearly.
The Empty Tomb: Seeing Without Understanding
John 20:1–9
Let’s go to the text.
Early on that first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.
She sees something right away that makes her stop in her tracks.
The stone is rolled away.
And what does she do?
She runs to Peter and John and says:
..., “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Notice this:
She sees the empty tomb…
And her immediate conclusion is not resurrection.
Its removal.
“They took Him.”
---
So Peter and John run to the tomb.
John gets there first, looks in, and sees the linen cloths lying there.
Peter arrives, goes straight in, and takes a closer look.
And what do they observe?
Not chaos.
Not disorder.
Not the aftermath of a rushed theft.
They see:
* Linen cloths lying there
* The face cloth… folded… set apart
That’s not how grave robbery works.
No one stealing a body takes the time to unwrap it…
and then carefully fold the cloth.
This is not random.
This is intentional.
This is orderly.
---
And yet, John tells us something very important in verse 9:
for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Let that sink in.
They are standing in the middle of fulfilled prophecy…
looking directly at the evidence of the resurrection…
And they don’t understand it.
---
Why?
Because they had evidence… without understanding.
They saw everything:
* the scene
* the details
* the physical reality
But they missed the meaning.
---
And listen, this is where it starts to have meaning for each one of us.
Because we do the same thing.
We see what’s happening around us…
But we don’t always understand what God is doing through it.
We see the situation…
But we miss the significance.
---
And what happens?
Our focus settles on the details we can’t explain.
The things that don’t line up.
The things that feel off.
The things that don’t match our expectations.
And just like that,
We’re staring at the dust.
---
And, when you focus on the dust, you miss the glory.
Mary at the Tomb: Grief That Blinds
John 20:11–16
Now, the scene shifts.
Peter and John have already left and gone home.
But Mary remains at the tomb.
In verse 11, we read:
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
She isn’t trying to figure things out.
She isn’t working through the details.
She is simply grieving.
---
She looks into the tomb again.
This time, she notices something Peter and John did not mention.
Two angels.
One at the head…
One at the feet…
Where the body of Jesus had been.
They ask her,
They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” ...
Take a moment to consider what is happening here.
She’s looking at angels…
but she still does not understand what is happening.
Her response?
... “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
She comes to the same conclusion.
She holds on to the same assumption.
For Mary, nothing has changed.
---
Then she turns around.
She sees a man standing nearby.
It’s Jesus.
Alive.
Risen.
He is standing right in front of her.
And verse 14 says:
... but she did not know that it was Jesus.
---
Why is that?
It is because her expectations shaped what she saw.
She is not looking for a risen Savior.
Instead, she is looking for
* a dead body
* a missing Lord
So even though Jesus is standing right in front of her,
she does not recognize Him.
She thinks He is the gardener.
---
Take a moment to let that sink in.
Jesus is there.
Alive.
Present.
Speaking.
Yet she still does not recognize Him.
---
Here is something important to notice:
Unmet expectations distort spiritual vision.
It is not that Jesus was absent.
The problem was that she could not recognize Him.
---
This idea is something we can relate to in our own lives.
How often do we find ourselves doing the same thing?
God is working…
God is present…
God is moving in ways we didn’t expect…
But when things do not match what we expected or hoped for,
we miss seeing Him at work.
---
We might be looking for one answer,
but God gives us another.
We may expect a certain outcome,
but God brings something different instead.
Instead of recognizing Him in these moments,
we keep searching for what we expected to find.
---
We’re staring at the dust.
---
And when you focus on the dust, you miss the glory.
The Moment of Revelation: When Jesus Speaks
John 20:16
Then everything changes in a single moment.
Jesus says one word it’s recorded in verse 16:
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” ...
That’s it.
No long explanation.
No argument.
No new evidence laid out.
Just her name.
---
And immediately—
Everything clicks. In the rest of verse 16 we read.
... She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
“Rabboni!”
She recognizes Him.
---
Think about what just happened.
Nothing in her situation changed.
* The tomb is still empty
* The circumstances are still the same
* Her questions haven’t been answered yet.
But suddenly her understanding is completely different.
---
Why?
Because this wasn’t about new information.
This was about recognition.
---
The same Jesus who stood there before…
is now seen clearly.
Not because He changed.
But because she finally recognized Him.
---
And here’s the truth we need to grab hold of:
Clarity doesn’t come from better circumstances.
it comes from encountering the risen Christ.
---
We tend to think:
“If this situation would just change… then I’d understand.”
“If God would just fix this… then I’d have peace.”
But that’s not what happens here.
Mary doesn’t get a changed situation.
She gets Jesus.
---
And when she sees Him clearly…
Everything else falls into place.
---
Don’t miss this, this is the turning point that everyone needs.
You can stare at the dust all day long…
But the moment you see Jesus for who He is—
alive, present, speaking—
Everything changes.
Application: How We Live This Out
How can we actually live this out?
If we’re honest, this isn’t just their struggle.
It’s our struggle too.
---
Stop Defining God’s Work by Your Expectations
Most of us have said this, or at least thought it:
“I prayed… but God didn’t answer.”
But is that actually true?
Or maybe God did answer, just not in the way you expected or hoped?
The disciples had their own expectations:
Jesus would reign.
Jesus would restore.
Jesus would take control.
And when things didn’t go as they expected,
They thought something must have gone wrong.
---
We often do the same thing ourselves.
We come to God with our own ideas about how things should turn out,
and when things don’t happen that way, we start to wonder:
“Where is God?”
“Why isn’t He working?”
But maybe,
God is working.
Just not according to our plans.
---
Learn to Look for What God Is Doing
At the tomb, what were they focused on?
They noticed what was missing.
“The body is gone.”
That’s all they saw.
---
But what was actually there?
* The linen cloths
* The folded face cloth
* There was evidence that something miraculous had happened.
God had already moved.
They just weren’t looking in the right place.
---
Let me ask you:
* Where is God working in your life right now?
* What is He teaching you?
* What is He shaping in you?
Because if you only pay attention to what’s missing,
You might miss what He’s doing.
---
Let the Word of God Interpret Your Circumstances
John tells us:
“They did not understand the Scripture…”
That was the real problem.
They saw the situation in front of them,
but they didn’t see it from the right perspective.
---
We often do the same thing.
We let our circumstances shape how we see God.
“If this is happening… then God must not be good.”
“If this didn’t work out… then God must not be present.”
---
But that’s backwards.
Instead,
Let Scripture shape how you see your life.
God has already spoken.
He has already shown us who He is.
So we don’t look at life and try to guess what God is like.
We look at God’s Word,
and understand our lives through it.
---
Pursue Recognition, Not Results
Mary didn’t need a changed situation.
She needed to recognize Jesus.
---
That’s where we often miss what matters most.
We’re always chasing outcomes:
* “Fix this.”
* “Change that.”
* “Make this happen.”
But what we really need
is to see Jesus clearly.
---
Because when you recognize Him,
Alive.
Present.
Working,
It changes how you see everything else.
---
This is where it all comes together:
If you define God by your expectations…
If you only look at what’s missing…
If you let circumstances lead…
If you chase results instead of Christ…
You’ll end up doing just what they did.
---
You’ll be staring at the dust,
---
And when you focus on the dust, you miss the glory.
So What?
So what? So what does all of this mean for me?
Here’s what it means:
You can be living right in the middle of what God is doing… and still miss it.
Not because He’s absent… Not because He’s silent… But because your focus is off.
Some of you right now might be feeling this:
You’ve been calling something in your life “unanswered prayer.”
But what if it’s not unanswered?
What if God answered… just not the way you wanted?
Some of you might relate to this:
You’re looking at a closed door.
Something didn’t work out. Something fell through. Something you were counting on is gone.
And all you can see… is what’s missing.
Or perhaps some of you are going through this:
You’re walking through something difficult right now.
And if you’re honest… it feels like God isn’t doing anything.
But here’s the reality:
God is still working. God is still present. God is still accomplishing His purposes.
The real question isn’t whether He’s working.
The question is:
Are you seeing it?
Because you can stand at an empty tomb… and still think something has gone wrong.
You can look at the very evidence of God’s power… and misinterpret it.
And that’s the danger.
You don’t just miss a moment.
You miss the meaning of what God is doing in your life.
So let me ask you directly:
What are you focused on right now?
• The thing that didn’t happen?
• The prayer that wasn’t answered your way?
• The situation that doesn’t make sense?
Or, are you looking for something more?
Are you looking for the risen Christ?
Because here’s the truth:
When you focus on the dust, you miss the glory.
And for some of you, the step you need to take this morning is simple.
Not easy… but simple.
You need to shift your focus.
Stop staring at what you don’t understand…
And start asking:
“Jesus, where are You in this?” “What are You doing right now?” “What am I missing?”
Because He is there.
He is working.
He is speaking.
The question is this:
Will you recognize Him?
Dust or Glory? Seeing the Risen Christ
Let’s go back to that morning one more time.
The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. The grave clothes are lying there.
Everything is exactly as it should be…
But they don’t see it yet.
It’s not that the evidence is missing. But because their focus is in the wrong place.
They’re looking at what’s missing. They’re trying to make sense of the details. They’re overwhelmed by what they don’t understand.
They’re staring at the dust.
But even so,
Right in the middle of it all…
Jesus is alive.
Present. Working. Speaking.
And that hasn’t changed.
Jesus is still alive. Still present. Still working in your life right now.
Even in the things you don’t understand. Even in the prayers that didn’t go the way you hoped. Even in the situations that feel unresolved.
The question is not:
“Is God working?”
The question is:
“Am I seeing Him clearly?”
Because you can miss it.
You can be surrounded by evidence of His grace… and still walk away confused.
You can be standing at the empty tomb… and still think something has gone wrong.
Or…
You can lift your eyes.
You can stop fixating on the dust…
And begin to see what God is actually doing.
And that brings us right here,
Right now,
To a moment of decision.
What are you going to focus on?
Stop staring at the dust… and start seeing the risen Christ.
See Him in your life. See Him in your circumstances. See Him in your unanswered questions.
Because He is there.
Alive. Present. And He is calling your name, just as He did for Mary.
Lift your eyes.
Christ is risen.
And He is closer than you think.
Amen.
Let us pray,
Father, we thank You for this morning.
We thank You for the empty tomb. We thank You for the risen Christ. And we thank You that You are still at work in our lives right now.
Lord, we admit that many times we lose our focus.
We tend to focus on things we don’t understand. We spend time thinking about what didn’t happen. We get caught up in the details and sometimes miss what You are doing.
Forgive us for that.
And today, we ask You,
Lift our eyes.
Help us to see Jesus clearly. Not just on Easter, but in our everyday lives. In our circumstances, in our struggles, and in our unanswered questions.
Give us faith to trust that You are working, even when we do not see it right away.
And give us the awareness to recognize You when You speak.
Lord, we thank You that You are alive. That You are present. And that You are calling us to see You rightly.
We love You. We trust You.
And now may the God who raised Jesus from the dead open your eyes to see His work in your life.
May He turn your focus away from what you do not understand, to the glory of what He is doing.
And may you walk this week seeing the risen Christ, who is present, active, and faithful in all things.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Be blessed to be a blessing.