Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They 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." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "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."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
This is definitely the climax of our faith. The Lord was cruxified and He was risen. Once, a friend told me about what her Theology Lecturer mentioned. The miracle is not in that Jesus was risen but that Jesus, being a God, could be cruxified to death. Quite an interesting statement but in a way it can be a stumbling block as well. If interpreted wrongly, it may point to that 'fact' that God can be vulnerable. In fact, it is not and never will be. He is omnipotent, all power. The only reason that Jesus died was because He came as 100% flesh, beside also being 100% God. In a way, He gave up His right as God so as that His flesh would be able to die on the cross to atone for our sins. There is not much point in debating whether the death or the resurrection is a miracle. The underlying point is that Jesus died for the sins of mankind, rose again into victory and all mankind has hope. In Luke 24:5, while Mary and the women were searching for Jesus' body in the tomb, the angels spoke to them,"Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" They would never find Jesus in the tomb. The women did not understand that Jesus would be resurrected. In our lives, where is Jesus? Left in a corner where we will never find Him?
They have taken my Lord away. That was the word of Mary. She must had felt so heart-broken. Her Teacher was first cruxified and she was helpless about it. Even now the last thing she could do was to attend to His body, she also could not. She was desperate. She was in need of Christ. The gardener seemed to her as a hope in finding Jesus' body. However, when the 'gardener' spoke her name, she immediately recognised He was Jesus. Just like a sheep who recognises the shepherd's call. 2 questions to ask ourselves:
1) How 'desperate' are we in need of Christ?
2) Do we recognise our Shepherd's call? or Are we not paying enough attention or even ignoring the calls of our Shepherd?
Lord! We are desperate for You. Without You, our lives will be without direction. Like the sheeps, we will respond to Your calls. Call out to us and draw us to You. If there are areas in our lives that we have not submitted to You and we chose to ignore You, we ask for Your forgiveness. Help us to really place our trust in You!
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