I Have Seen the Lord!
Read John 20: 1-18 (NLT)
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Think
When Mary looked into the dark, empty tomb, she saw only the carefully folded linen grave wrappings. She had been expecting to see Jesus’ battered body. She knew he was dead; she had seen him die. But where was his body? Even in her grief, Mary was surprised. Was this some sort of cruel joke by the gardeners? Had they taken him away?
She turned around, and Jesus himself was standing there. Only, she didn’t recognize him. He’d been transformed by his sacrifice and wasn’t the same man she’d known. Yet, he had compassion on her, grieved for her tears, and realizing there was only one way to reassure her, called her by name. In that moment, Mary knew Jesus, and her grief turned to the light of unspeakable joy. She recognized him when he called her name.
I too only recognize Jesus when he calls me by name. When I receive the gift of faith–when I realize my need for him and invite Jesus into my heart–he calls me to come in out of the dark.
It’s because Jesus calls me by name, because he loves me enough to know me completely, that I get eternal life. He’s my best friend. He doesn’t want to spend eternity without me. That’s why he died. Because the love of God is so great that he doesn’t want to lose a single one of his sheep.
When he died, Jesus took my sin upon himself. It’s as if he took the book of judgment and blotted out my name and replaced it with his own. So when God calls my name at the judgment seat, Jesus will stand up and say “here” on my behalf. Then God will see Jesus’ perfect life instead of my sinful one, and I’ll get to go to heaven to live with him forever.
Pray
O Great God of the Resurrection, thank you so much for loving me and dying for me. Thank you for the empty tomb. Thank you for knowing me and calling my name. Today, as I remember and celebrate your greatest act of love, help me recommit myself to sharing that love with others. Send me out in your name, Lord. Go with me as you promised, wherever I go, and give me the courage to stand firm in love no matter what I see or hear or face in the world around me. Amen.
Do
Attend an Easter Celebration. Worship the Lord. Give thanks. Be joyful. Then get out into the world and spread God’s love.
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!” Psalm 40:16
The View from Mt. Hope 