“It dawned on me.”
We use that phrase when describing a realization that comes to us. We’ll say, “I got all the way home before it dawned on me that I left the grocery store without buying milk.”
The profound truth of the resurrection dawned on the Apostle John. In John 20, he said it was still dark on the Sunday morning that Mary Magdalene left her home to keep vigil at the tomb of Jesus. Finding the stone rolled away, she ran to tell Peter and John someone had taken the body. They, in turn, ran to the tomb. After Peter investigated, he was left “wondering to himself what had happened” (Luke 24:12). In other words, he could only conclude what didn’t happen: The grave had not been robbed. For John, however, he concluded what did happen: Jesus had been gloriously resurrected.
This dawning realization is heightened by the verbs John used. In our English translations, Mary “saw” (verse 1), and Peter “saw” (verse 6), and John “saw” (verse 8). But John used three different Greek words to describe the act of seeing.
For Mary, John used a form of the word blepo. This was often the word Greek speakers used to describe the physical act of seeing.
For Peter, he used a form of the word theoreo. It’s where we get our English word “theory.” This was often the word Greek speakers used to describe the process of inspection and investigation.
For John himself, he used a form of the word eido. It’s where we get our English word “idea.” This was often the word Greek speakers used to describe the act of putting the evidence together to draw a conclusion.
This is how hope dawns. In the darkness of despair, we “see” the obvious stark facts of our situation and draw the wrong conclusion that there’s no hope. Then we begin to “see” things that make us doubt our pessimism. Finally, we “see” what restores our hope.
Do you need hope to dawn on you? Read John 20:1-10, and then come and study these words with us this Sunday!
--Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.