Persistent Devotion

Longing For Jesus

 

Monday October 19, 2009

 

 10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

 13They 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.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

 

 15″Woman,” he said, “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.”

 

 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

      She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

 

 17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” (John 20:10-17)

 

Reflection

It is helpful to remember the context. Jesus had just been crucified.  All the disciples do not recall that He will rise.  So, we find here, that they leave, v. 10.. They must have been discouraged.  They left everything to follow Jesus.  While the men went and left, Mary stayed.  If only the men were to stay. Mary wept, v. 11. The angels console her, asking her why she is crying, v. 13.  Mary’s sorrow is a Godly sorrow. She wanted to see Jesus and she mistakenly thought someone took Him away.  Jesus appears, asking the same question, v. 15, why are you crying? Once more she asks for Jesus not realizing it is He, and He calls her name. One simple word, “Mary”, v. 16 and she comes alive.

 

Sometimes it seems like Jesus has gone missing. It seems like other believers one by one give up until we’re alone, searching, persistently wanting to find Jesus. Mary was distort when she came to the right place but found nothing.  Even in the midst of disappointment, God sent two angels to comfort her. Moments later, the risen Christ would say her name. 

 

He knows us, each of us by name. He talks to us through our tears, asks us why we’re crying.  When it is Jesus we’re looking for and longing for, it will be Jesus who will call us by our name.

 

Lord Jesus, being Christian in a post-Christian and non-Christian world is difficult. It can even be difficult in church sometimes when most of us fall into complacency and our hearts grow cold.  Some of us persist, and desire to find You, and so we search.  I pray today, and this week that You would meet all those who are diligently seeking after You. That, through our tears, our emptiness, discouragement, and doubt, You would speak to us, and call us individually by name.