WATCHWORD:
15 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. John 20:15-18
Meditation:
I Have Seen the Lord
It was a singular encounter. the sin purged Mary at first thought she was speaking to the gardener, but then, he spoke her name and as she walked away, she realized, that was the Lord! I have seen the Lord!
Suddenly, her heart was purged of the sorrow, and in the place of grief, she felt a warmth, almost an excitement, and her steps became more hurried as she made her way out of the garden down the hill through the gate and entered the crowded streets of Jerusalem. She made her way to the safe house where everyone had gathered in fear and grief. She had news, but she must first tell Mary that she had seen the Lord.
There’s a moment for all of us who have moved from the grey-ness of earthly life into the excitement, peace and joy of life lived with Christ. We’ve called it born again, or simply accepting Christ, as Lord and Savior of our lives. Whatever, it’s a God moment, a transition, even a resurrection; moving from one life to another, a life that is eternal.
Can you relate? Can you recall that change in your life? The circumstances, when it was, and what brought about the change? I have head others speak about their experience as being undramatic, a movement from one moment to the next without anything remarkable happening. Really? Maybe. Not even the awareness that you no longer fear the future. A confidence that what tomorrow will bring didn’t matter because you had found the Lord? Time to re-examine?
For Mary on that day that she had gone to the tomb to do a sad, set of tasks, only to find Jesus was missing and so it was logical for her to think that man there over there was the gardener, maybe he knows where they have taken Him. Until Jesus transformed her with a single word, Mary.
Maybe that was the point for you, as it was for me. A blink of an eye moment, from hopeless to hope, from lost to found, from sadness to joy, a change so profound that you found you couldn’t stop singing. You had been called by your name. By your name the door was opened! And in your heart you saw the Lord.
Prayer:
Help me, Lord, to be still and to know that you are Lord. Amen.
