Sandy's Devotional

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 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.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 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.’” 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 20:11-18) 

These precious words show us victory arising out of despair. We read how Mary wept because she had lost hope when she didn’t know where her precious Lord could be. He had died and now He was missing. She deeply grieved. It took only ONE word as Yeshua spoke her name to turn her sorrow to joy. She knew His voice. She knew His loving tone. She knew that He knew her. When she ran and shouted to tell the others “I have seen the Lord!”  HE LIVES!   Her heart said, “I will never be the same again. I will not fear. I will not doubt. I HAVE SEEN HIM and KNOW THAT HE IS ALIVE.

Friends, when we face uncertainty, when fear paralyzes us, when sorrow causes grief too deep for words, may we be able to say, “I have seen the Lord! HE LIVES!” He is our HOPE.