Remember these are only notes so do not expect full sentences, perfect grammar or even perfect spelling! (Remember too that British spelling is not the same as American spelling!)

John's gospel links death, burial, and resurrection stories very closely.
Death,  burial and res. - the  very foundation of Gospel.
1 Cor 15:1    Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2    By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3    For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4    that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

•    In John's story:

1    Women led by Mary Mag go to tomb
2    Peter and John run to tomb and then leave.

3    Mary Mag is left alone in garden.

4    Jesus appears to disciples and sends them in the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to gospel in all the world.
 
A few points:
1    Mary does not find consolation from the empty tomb.
John 20:10-13
10    Then the disciples went back to their homes,
11    but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12    and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13    They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."

2    She needs to meet the Lord.
John 20:14-16
14    At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.
15    "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16    Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

•    It is right that we should know how to convince people of the truth of the empty tomb.
•    But each needs to meet the Lord.
•    Christ's life was laid down for all the world but also for each of us individually.
•    Meeting the Lord does not mean `have a ghostly experience'.
•    Personal commitment in prayer.

3    Jesus calls her by name: `Mary'.
John 10 `The Good Shepherd' knows His own sheep by name. `
•    `I am the good Shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me'.

•    Now to this verse:
John 20:17    Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
•    Natural human tendency to hold on.
•    Some of us are hoarders.
•    Parents hold on to their children (even when they are grown up)
•    Loved one whose time to leave this world has come near.
•    Possessions that now have no purpose or value but we can't bear to let go.
•    Our own bodies.
•    Weak though they are we are reluctant to let God take us from them at death.

As the crucifixion of Christ drew near
•    Disciples could not bear to let Him go.
•    Peter tries to take up arms -
•    Then comes His resurrection from the dead.
17    Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
•    The Lord had to go.
•    He could not merely stay on in Israel.
•    The power of the kingdom must now break into all the world.
•    But not by merely walking to Greece, Egypt, Scotland, India, China.
•    There too His presence merely localised.
•    When in China, not in Scotland.
•    His bodily presence in whole world must be of a different order.
 
•    Up to this point, Jesus has said 40 times:
•    `The Father has sent me'.
•    Now He says: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
•    Just as Jesus brought the presence of God to Israel, so the disciples must bring the presence of Jesus to all the world.
•    That is what the Church is for!
•    You and I are called to be one with the body of Christ.
Do you feel inadequate to be the `body of Christ?'
•    To those in turmoil (like the disciples):
•    To those who know they are sinners:
•    To those lacking in power.
•    What is hindering us?
•    Mary Mag was at the cross.

•    But now, another reason why He cannot stay on.     
John 20:19    Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20    And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
•    Did not `walk through the wall'.
•    Appeared and disappeared.
•    Boundary between heaven and earth.
•    We get to that boundary when we near death.
•    See into both worlds at the same time.
•    We cannot stay on at the boundary.
•    Return to this world or go on to Eternity.
•    Many want to go on.
•    However family don't want to let them go.
•    Jesus could not stay at the boundary for ever.
•    The time for His final ascension would have to come soon.
17    Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Resurrection of Jesus different from others He had raised.
•    Jesus would not need His grave clothes again.
•    Raising of Lazarus sign of the reality in Jesus.

N.T. : Spiritual body.
•    Real bodily human life - not a ghost.
•    But empowered by the Eternal Spirit of Life.
•    No longer subject to sickness, old age and death.
•    That is the great Christian hope.
•    I do not believe that God who created this amazing world and gave it its life, would let it merely decay away into nothing.
 
Gospel:
•    God has given our physical beings a way of salvation from the sin, suffering, and death of our humanity.
•    To be part of it, we must be reunited with the Spirit of Life.
•    After our death.
•    But now we must open our souls to Spirit of Christ.
•    That may mean letting go of some things in our lives that are hindering us from God's full blessing.
Rom 8:11    And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (NIV)
2 Cor 5:4    These earthly bodies make us groan and sigh, but we wouldn't like to think of dying and having no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will, as it were, be swallowed up by everlasting life.