Encounter
Opening Prayer
Abba Father, speak to my heart through Your Word today. You have called me by name; I am Yours (Isa. 43:1).
Read John 20:11–18
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They 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.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Can you remember a moment when Jesus called you by name? How did you feel?Today we encounter more stomach-churning emotion. Yesterday we saw three people running around the garden, now there is one grief-stricken figure standing still and weeping. When Peter and John went home, Mary’s instinct was to stay, and in staying she comes face to face with who she believes to be a gardener. Her tears, and maybe the changed appearance of Jesus, blind her to the truth of who she is facing until Jesus speaks her name. With that one word her world is turned upside down. It’s Jesus, her master (16).
In the same way, Jesus breaks through the turmoil of our emotions, and especially our times of grief, and calls us by name. It is for you he died and rose and he comes to dry your tears. In the garden Mary’s desire is to hold him and freeze the joyful moment, but Jesus gently releases her and tells her to share her joy with the other disciples. She is to tell them the astonishing news that now, like Jesus, they can call God their Father. Easter has made them part of the family of God.
Isn’t it just like Jesus to make Mary, a despised member of society, the first witness to the resurrection and the first missionary of the church?
Apply
Like Mary, we are called to share the news. Is there someone you know to whom you can say today, “I have seen the Lord”?
Closing prayer
Tell God all that his friendship means to you.
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