The Garden

Easter Sunday, the happiest and most hopeful day in history. Hallelujah! Jesus Christ has risen from the grave!

Let’s go now to that first Easter and remember the wonderful events that rewrote history for everyone everywhere forevermore.

Read: John 20:11–18

Isn’t it beautiful that the very first person to whom Jesus chooses to appear is not Pilate, not the chief priest, nor Peter or one of the other men, but to a weeping woman with a dubious past? And isn’t it exquisite that His first words are not a proclamation of power but a simple, pastoral and playful question: ‘Why are you crying?’

When Mary first sees the risen Jesus, she mistakes Him for a gardener. What does this show me about His appearance and the nature of His glory?

Lord Jesus, open my eyes to recognise You today, resurrected in ordinary encounters with the people I meet.

Pause and pray

Jesus tells Mary, ‘Go to my brothers and tell them.’ I pray today for those people like me who have become witnesses to Your resurrection. Commission us afresh, Lord, to proclaim the good news with irrepressible courage and joy. I pray especially for those who are preaching in churches around the world, that they would proclaim that You are alive with the same passion and amazement that Mary had on that very first Easter Day.

Pause and pray

Read: John 20:19–23

I imagine myself in that room. How do I feel as Jesus appears? He breaks through locked doors to be with me. He commissions me as His apostle as if I’d never let Him down. He breathes on me and says, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’

Holy Spirit, breathing deeply now, I receive You joyfully. I relinquish my sense of inadequacy and receive again Your commission to go out through these locked doors, to proclaim that You live, to make disciples and even to forgive their sins in Your name.
Amen.