RESURRECTION

One of my favorite resurrection passages in the Bible is found in John 20:11-17.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 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.”

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, 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.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

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.’ ”

I am astounded by the fact that the first person Jesus appeared to after His resurrection was a woman. And not just any woman – Mary Magdalene. A woman from whom He had driven seven demons. Not a king. Not a scribe. Not a Pharisee. Not even a disciple. He appeared first to a WOMAN.

Perhaps it’s because He knew a woman wouldn’t keep the news to herself. In fact, just one verse later we find her going to the disciples with the news, “I have seen the Lord!”

Maybe His appearance to her was to remind us that He came for even the worst of sinners. Mary had seven demons when He first met her. It’s proof that no one is so far gone that they’re beyond His grace.

It could simply be because Mary made herself available. She remained at the tomb after everyone else had left. Peter and John returned to town while she stayed behind at the tomb crying. And she wasn’t just dabbing tears from her eyes. The Greek word used describes ‘wailing aloud.’ This woman was mourning her loss and intended to stay there until she had answers about where her Savior had gone.

There is one portion of verse 17 that bothered me for years. The KJV records Jesus’ words as “Touch me not.” Other translations interpret it as “Do not hold on to me” or “Don’t cling to me.” The Greek word used for touch actually means to attach oneself to. In other words, Mary Magdalene had a death grip on Jesus. She had lost Him once and didn’t intend on losing Him again. But Jesus was preparing to ascend to the Father and couldn’t very well take her with Him, so He told her to let Him go and to go to His disciples and give them the good news that HE LIVES. And that is exactly what she did.

You and I are like Mary – sinners saved by grace. As we praise Him this week as our RESURRECTION, let’s remember Mary’s response to Jesus. Let’s make ourselves available to Him. Then tell somebody  – “I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!”

HE’S ALIVE!

Sunday Supplication

Lord Jesus, we praise You this week as our RESURRECTION. As we celebrate Easter, help us to remember that this holiday is all about You – our Risen Lord. While we watch small children searching for hidden eggs, remind us of our need to seek You and the hidden messages You’ve placed in Your Word for us. Speak new life into our hearts this week as we worship You. AMEN! SO BE IT!

Monday Manna

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:3-7

Tuesday Treasure

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

Acts 2:22-24

Wednesday Wisdom

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:10-11

Thursday Truth

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Romans 6:4-5

Friday Fact

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Saturday Song