A Moment With GodSample

HE FOUND ME

If we ask Mary to explain her Easter experience in one sentence, she would simply say: He found me. Between Mary's visit of the tomb and the Lord's visitation of Mary, something happened.

Mary's Desire

Mary went very early to the tomb as she desired to honour the Lord out of gratitude. When people are blessed, they return with gratitude saying that we have been a blessing in their lives. Mary experienced the power of the Compassionate Saviour God in her life. Even when others were not there, she went early to the tomb. Are we always looking for people's response or do we take the initiative? Mary's desire was to be faithful to the Master till the end.

Mary's Disappointment

When she went to the tomb, she saw the tomb open. She ran to tell the senior disciple, Peter who came with her. Mary was disappointed because Peter did not even a word of comfort for Mary, he did not have an answer to her anxiety, he did not tell her the reason for the open tomb (they did not understand the Scripture). He left her in the place of weeping.

We have been there before. We have run to people believing they will comfort, that they will have a solution to our anxiety, that they will have an answer to our problem. But they come, they see, they go.

Mary's Determination

She did not follow Peter but stood there weeping. Mary made two mistakes. She was looking for answers in the wrong direction. She was looking into the tomb for the living among the dead. She made a wrong assumption thinking He was the gardener. When her heart was heavy and her eyes full, she did not recognise the presence of the Master. Jesus says: Woman, why are you weeping? Mary did not recognise the Master, but when the compassionate, risen Saviour called her by name, she immediately recognised his soft voice of compassion.

Mary experienced the Lord. She did not find Him. But, He found her when she was left in a place of weeping by people she thought would help. The risen Christ is the only one who can break through every kind of barrier and boundary to meet with us. Many times, He has stood with us, but because of the heaviness of our hearts and our preoccupations, we have missed seeing Him. He had to remind us of the past of how he had to intervene in our situations. Christ is risen to be with us to take us through life's journey.

When we stand and wait for the risen Lord, our place of weeping will turn into a place of rejoicing. If Mary had gone away with Peter, she would have missed meeting the risen Saviour. Let us not follow the crowd. No matter what our disappointments, let us stand with the desire and determination to meet the Lord; our place of weeping will turn into a place of rejoicing.

Easter is a message to be proclaimed; not a festival to be celebrated.