Matchless: The Life and Love of JesusSample

Day 6: The Risen Lord

Read John 20:11-13. When Mary Magdalene looks in, what does she see? How does she respond to their question? 

This is the Man who rescued her from demon possession, the Man she watched take His last breaths. She was devoted and consistent in her walk with Christ. 

She turns when she hears the same words again, “Woman, why are you weeping?” (v. 15). 

Supposing that the man was the gardener, she told him that if he was the one who had taken the body, she would go retrieve Him. She just wants to find the body of her beloved Christ. 

And then she hears one word: Mary. 

Instantly she knows the Man is her Lord. She calls Him Rabboni (teacher) and then follows His instructions to tell the disciples. 

During this time period, the testimony of women was essentially useless. It wasn’t considered worthy of listening to because of the place a woman had in society. So once again Jesus uses the least likely person for the most important task. Naturally, the fellas didn’t believe her and thought it sounded like a fairy tale (Luke 24:9-11). 

It should be noted here that, as often is the case in Scripture, the Gospels tell slightly different versions of how the empty tomb was found and exactly what happened after that. 

Regardless, the most pertinent detail is consistent: the tomb is empty. Jesus has opened His eyes in victory and returned to life in order to defeat death and prove He is the Son of God.

Now, watch the video, and then let’s go to Matthew 28:16-20. 

Before Jesus returned to His Father, He promised His disciples (including us) that He would always be here—that He will never leave us for a single moment. None. Not one moment. 

They didn’t understand that He was talking about the Holy Spirit because they had no concept of how He could be with them when He wasn’t actually with them.

Don’t worry. He has a plan for that.

We’re talking about a bunch of disciples we’ll never meet and conversations we’ll never hear. It sounds far away and disconnected sometimes.

What we have to remember is that those words meet us exactly where we are and speak the same commission over us.

It’s so easy to keep Scripture at arm’s length, I know. But if you listen carefully, you’ll hear your name in this story. How? 

Just listen for your Shepherd.

You’ll recognize His voice.