“I Have Seen The Lord”
But Mary stood weeping outside the
tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw to angels
in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and
the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said
to them, “They have taken away my LORD, and I do not know where they have laid
him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you looking for? Supposing him to be
the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to
me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and
say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the
disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these
things to her.
Mary discovered the most startling
truth of her entire life when she came looking for the body of Jesus. She did
not realize that the person she had found was the One who was risen, and that
He had come into the tomb looking for her. God seeks us as His lost sheep. He
is waiting for us to realize our how much we are lost. He wants us to reach out
to Him. He will pick us up, embrace us, and give us His peace. When we find
Christ, we discover that we were the ones who were lost.