I Have Seen the Lord!

“I have seen the Lord!” cried Mary Magdalene that first Resurrection Sunday. She had known him in life, witnessed his death and arrived to find his tomb empty. 

But God the Father had promised he would not abandon his Son to the realm of the dead, or let his faithful one see decay. The tomb was empty because the Savior of the world had defeated death. 

Putting pen to paper this Holy Week,

I am keenly aware that not everyone reading these words will live to see the next Holy Week. We are living with a sentence of death. All of us. We are powerless to escape the grave, unable to save ourselves. It is, after all, appointed to mankind to die. 

And so, how do we live these remaining years, months, weeks or even days that the Lord has seen fit to give us? How do we bear the knowledge that in the upcoming year we will lose parents, and friends, children and spouses?

Mary stood outside of the tomb, crying because she didn’t know where the body of her Lord had gone. She turned around, and saw the risen Jesus, but did not know it was him. After all, who would expect to see someone who had been brutally crucified now standing? 

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 her name. He said her name and she knew. 

The temple about which Jesus had said, “destroy it, and in three days I will raise it up”, was no earthly temple. It was his very body. And now he stands before her, risen. Jesus in whom all the fullness of God dwells, body destroyed, now raised again. It was her Lord. And Mary knew. 

When I read in the scriptures Jesus calling her name, my heart feels it. I can feel her deep sadness erased at the joy of seeing him face to face. He’s alive! 

A few months ago, I stood over my Grandpa’s casket. What I would have given for one more hug, one more chance to sit near him and talk. I didn’t expect him to sit up and say my name. We don’t expect the dead to rise. 

But friends, this is the hope of Easter!

If Christ has not been raised, then our faith is futile. If we only have hope in Christ for this life we are now living, then we should be pitied above all people. But Christ HAS risen! And in his resurrection, he has secured ours. Death has lost its sting for those Christ died to save!

Mary saw him, and she knew. 

Peter saw him. 

The rest of the disciples saw him. 

He appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters at once. 

Then to James, his brother. 

And to Paul. 

So sure were they, of his resurrection, that they were willing to die for their testimony. 

The promise of Easter, in the midst of a pandemic, is the same promise of every Easter past, and of those still to come: Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. He was buried, and raised on the third day, according to the scriptures. His promises are true. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

For forty days after his resurrection, Jesus appeared many times and many places, teaching about the kingdom of God. Then, before the disciple’s very eyes, he ascended into heaven. They were assured, that this Jesus, who was taken up from them into heaven, will return in the same way they saw him go. 

Friends, he is coming back. Those who have died, trusting in Him, will rise. Our greatest enemy, eternal death from sin, has been defeated. The holy Lamb of God, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He bore our punishment in his body, and by faith, we can be healed. This Easter we live in hopeful anticipation that everything sad will one day come undone. 

My heart is stirred within me because I know him. I’ve heard his voice. Do you hear him? Jesus is alive and he’s calling your name.

-Natalie Runyon