Mary Magdalene

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