Thursday, June 06,
2013, 10:45 a.m. – the song “Come and
See” has been playing in my mind for a while now. Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read John 20 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020&version=NIV
Both Were Running
Jesus Christ, God the Son, was betrayed by one of his twelve
disciples, denied three times by another, and deserted by all. He was arrested
falsely, given a mock trial in a kangaroo court, scourged, and then hung on a
cross to die as a common criminal although he had done no wrong. When he died,
he took upon himself the sins of the entire world, crucifying and burying them
with him. Through his death and resurrection he conquered hell, death, Satan
and sin so that we could go free from slavery to sin and free from eternity in
hell.
When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, the angel of God
rolled the stone away from the tomb. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early
Sunday morning while it was still dark, and she saw the stone had been removed
from the entrance. She came running to Peter and John and said, “They have
taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So
Peter and John ran to the tomb, and one by one they entered the tomb and saw
the strips of linen lying there, but Jesus was gone. John went inside the tomb,
saw, and he believed. “Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.”
Why are You Crying?
Mary didn’t leave, though. She stood there crying. She was
brokenhearted because her Lord was gone and she didn’t know where they put him.
Suddenly two angels appeared. They were seated where Jesus’ body had been. They
asked her why she was crying, so she told them. Then, she turned around and saw
Jesus standing there, but she didn’t recognize him. He, as well, asked her why
she was crying. She thought he was a gardener, so she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I
will get him.” Jesus then said to her, “Mary.” “She turned toward him and cried
out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).”
I have to tell you here that when I read
this account of Jesus’ resurrection this time through that I was deeply moved
emotionally by the love Mary and the disciples had for Jesus, but especially I
empathized with Mary. Even though Jesus had died, and he was no longer with
them, still there was a warm affection and close relationship that had
developed between the Lord and his followers, so the thought that someone might
have stolen his body greatly troubled Mary. There, perhaps, was some sense of
security just in knowing he was in that grave, even though it was just his
body. And, perhaps it is because I’m a woman that I identify with Mary so much.
Sometimes I get troubled when things just aren’t right. It is usually when I am
really tired or I have overdone it. I was there last night and some again
today. I’m sure Mary’s emotions were raw right then, because Jesus was missing.
I was also emotionally moved by Jesus’
approach with Mary. He was so gentle with her. I feel that from him, too. He
understands why I’m crying more than I do myself. He knew why Mary was crying,
too. He didn’t ask her because he didn’t know, but because he wanted her to
voice to him what was going on inside her heart so that she would look up and
see her Lord standing there and recognize that he was right there all along in
all of her troubles. Sometimes we just get overwhelmed by what we’re going
through so much that we just can’t see Jesus, so we need to call out to him in
our sadness and pain and invite him into our situations, and then he’ll reveal
himself to us, and then we’ll realize he was there all along, even though we
didn’t see him. When he said her name, I cried, because I felt with her the joy
she must have felt at that moment to see her Lord alive and standing there.
And, that’s how I get, too, when I see the Lord revealed in my life’s
situations.
Go and Tell
I love how Jesus treated (and treats) women. That was a time
in history when women were not given the honor and distinctions that many women
are given today. Jesus was so compassionate and gentle with her. He allowed her
to express how she felt without shutting her down emotionally. Not only that,
but he honored her by allowing her to be the first to see him resurrected from
the grave, and by giving her the privilege of being the first to go and tell
the good news that Jesus was alive! Not only that, but she was to announce this
to men. Jesus will use us even when humans (even those within the church) toss
us aside. He sees what people don’t see. He saw Mary’s heart, and he knew she
could be trusted with the good news, and that she would go and tell the
disciples exactly what he told her to say.
Again, I identify with Mary. She did exactly as her Lord had
commanded her to do without reservation. She may have gone “trembling in her
boots,” so to speak, but she went out of obedience to her Lord and out of her
love for him and in her excitement at seeing him alive. She told the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord!” Awesome! Shouldn’t this be the testimony of each one of
us? Shouldn’t we run to tell others about Jesus and exclaim to them, “I have
seen the Lord!”? We haven’t seen him physically as she did, but if we have
accepted his invitation to make him Lord and Savior of our lives, we have seen him
in what he does in and through our lives each day, and in the transformation he
brought about in our hearts, and in how we can sense his presence with us and
can hear his voice speaking gently to us. Jesus told his disciples that as the
Father had sent him, so is he sending them (us).
Peace, not Fear
The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders after they
saw what they did to Jesus, so when they were together, they locked the doors. Sunday
evening “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” I am
certain they must have felt some amount of fear, too, when Jesus suddenly was
among them. He was basically telling them not to fear, and then he showed them
his hands and his side. “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”
Can you even begin to imagine this scene? Their Lord had just been killed in a
horrible way, then his body went missing, and then suddenly he was there among
them and alive, and speaking to them. I can imagine quite a mixture of emotions
might have swept through their beings – from fear, to confusion, to wonderment,
to relief, and then to crying tears of joy that they had been reunited with
their Lord!
Thomas was not there for this reunion, though, so when the
other disciples saw him they said, “We have seen the Lord!” Yet, Thomas
doubted. He refused to believe unless he saw with his own eyes the nail marks
in his hands and until he could put his finger where the nails were, and put
his hand into his side. And, the Lord Jesus gave him that opportunity, too. Jesus
told him, “Stop doubting and believe.” And Thomas did believe. Doesn’t Jesus
still say that to us sometimes when we get all troubled about things and we
start to worry? Yet, I sense a gentleness in his voice as he was so patient
with Thomas by allowing him to touch his side and the nail prints in his hands.
Oh, if we could all learn to be so gentle with one another! And, if we could
all believe without doubting, that would be awesome, too!
Yet, the Lord added a word of admonishment and
encouragement, too. He told Thomas that he believed because he saw the Lord, but
blessed are those who have not seen the Lord physically and yet they (we)
believe. By believing we have life in his name. And yet, though believing, we
will not always see the Lord in our situations intellectually or emotionally, and
sometimes we just won’t even feel him there, but that is where faith comes in
to play. We need to believe even when we can’t see God working. We just need to
trust that he is, and that he knows exactly what is going on, and he has a
plan, and a purpose, and if we just trust in him, we will have peace. He will
work it all out according to his plan.
Do Not Fear / An
Original Work / June 2, 2013
Based off John 14
Do not let your hearts
fear.
Trust in God. Trust in
Christ.
“In My house you will
find
Many rooms I have
Prepared for you,
And I will come back
And take you to
heav’n.”
“I will take you to be
with Me;
You’ll be where I am.”
“I am the way and
The truth and the
life.
No one comes to the
Father,
Except he comes
through Me,
So put your faith in
Me,
And do all of what I
command.”
“Whoever has My
commands
And obeys them loves
Me.”
“I did not leave you
as orphans.
I sent you the
Counselor;
The Holy Spirit to
live in you.
He teaches you all
things,
And He reminds you of
Me.”
“My peace I give to
you,
So do not fear, trust
in Me.”
“Come and See” - http://originalworks.info/come-and-see/
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