Easter Message

“HE IS RISEN – AND HE IS MINE”

The first human experience of the resurrection of Jesus was a call, by name… “Mary!”

The second was a touching… a hug, even as the tears of sorrow turned to a flood of joy in her heart…

Because she took time at the tomb, Mary Magdalene experienced God in ways the other disciples missed.

After she discovered the tomb was empty, she rushed back to tell the others. Peter and John raced each other to the tomb. John won, and looked in. Peter, moments later, rushes headlong into the now-empty tomb and has a look around. Then, John says, “The disciples went back to their homes…”

To a locked upper room. They were terrified! For all they knew either the Romans or the Jewish leaders had removed the body to further humiliate Jesus and his followers.

But Mary stayed… And so, she experienced something no one else did. She must have spoken of this precious moment later, to John. So we know that she was crying – so hard she couldn’t actually see Jesus, at first, through her tears. We shouldn’t miss the mourning. It’s part of the miracle.

Peter and John didn’t yet get it. John says, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”

Mary stays – and she does get it. She is first to discover the meaning of the empty tomb. The resurrection is God’s “Yes” to the world’s “No.” And she’s the first to discover just how intensely personal this resurrection is. Jesus calls her name, as he must have done a hundred times before. And she knows.

Not only is he alive, he is still with those who love him. It’s as real, as close, and as personal as the embrace they share, before Jesus gently urges her not to keep clinging to him – but to take what she now knows with all her mind and heart and soul to everyone else in her life…

And the single, central, greatest miracle in all of human history and experience is complete. It’s life-changing, earth-shattering, mission-creating… and it’s deeply personal. “Alleluia – what a Saviour!”

Take time, and so have a blessed Easter.

Rev Doug McRoberts