Today's sermon was simply amazing. As I read once again about Mary
Magdalene's encounter with Jesus after she found the empty tomb, I
cannot help but cry reading her story. A woman possessed by 7 demons,
and healed by the touch of a Savior, watches Him die. She stands at the
cross watching this man who transformed her life, die a wretched death.
Heartbroken and despairing she shows up at the tomb, teary eyed and
weary, just wanting to do something, anything that will help
her bear the grief--to anoint Jesus' broken body for burial. As she
finds the tomb empty she weeps; even as the angels comfort her, she
weeps; she cannot understand why He is gone. Finally, Jesus speaks to
her, but she does not know it is Him. She's weary and longing for
someone to just tell her where her Teacher has been taken. And with one
word, her name, her eyes are opened. With one word, she knows with
certainty that Jesus lives, that her despair will be no longer. She has
gone from utter despair to complete Hope as Jesus speaks her name.
I know this kind of Hope. I know my Savior lives. And in the midst of
the utter despair of losing a child, of giving birth to a little girl
who would never take one breath, I had Hope, enough to give her that
name. I have cried many tears for that sweet girl, but each tear was
cried knowing, KNOWING, that this is not how it ends. Because Jesus
lives, so do I, so does she. This day, this Easter, Jesus calls YOUR
name, and offers YOU Hope. Easter is a day of joy, it is THE day of
Hope. Let Him lift your despair and give you something, someONE to press
into. "Now may the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, so that you will abound in HOPE by the power of the Holy
Spirit." Romans 15:13
