“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 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.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).“
– John 20:1-3, 11-16
Mary Magdelene’s day started as another bad day. Over the past couple of days, Mary had enough challenge to make any person just want to quit.
1) She had experienced betrayal with Judas.
Has anyone experienced betrayal before? The pain of broken trust is devastating.
2) She experienced hope squashed when the Jews could have chosen to release Jesus but instead chose to release a murderer.
Has anyone experienced lost hope before? When dreams and excitement is turned to disappointment and pain.
3) She experienced the pain of a friend and Lord suffering. One of the greatest pains is seeing a loved one hurt and you can do nothing about it.
Has anyone experienced deep suffering around you? This can create great trauma and even guilt.
4) She experienced fear for her life because all of her friends and community were being persecuted – “Will anyone else be arrested? Will I be arrested?“
Has anyone experienced paralyzing fear? It can stop your life; all you want to do is go to bed.
5) And now her master’s burial plot was looted – she had been robbed.
Has anyone experienced theft? It is a violation of life.
6) Mary experienced all of this in one weekend! Crap upon crap upon crap.
When Mary encountered two angels at Jesus’ grave and was asked, “why are you crying?”, it was almost an offensive question! (“Why am I crying?! Don’t you know what I have been going through?“) Maybe the angel was just insensitive. But then Jesus appears to Mary and asks her the same question, “why are you crying”? As I was meditating on this Scripture, I felt the Lord highlight that this question was not meant to offend, it was a genuinely inquisitive question. The angels and Jesus were wondering why Mary was crying.
The angels and Jesus were looking at the empty tomb and what they saw was not a tomb that had been robbed. What they saw was that He has risen! Death has been defeated! The enemy is defeated! This was the greatest day in history! All of heaven is rejoicing!! The angel and Jesus see victory, for Jesus has WON!
Then they see Mary crying. “Why are you crying?”
The angels were witness to the breakthrough in the unseen and it was a victory.
Mary’s eyes (and our own eyes) are often in what is seen, and it did not look like victory at all. It looked like utter defeat.
I shared on Sunday a lot of what I feel has been defeats in 2024. I shared a combination of multiple challenges had led to my very 1st (and hopefully last) panic attack this past week. In seeking the Lord and trying to hear His voice, the Lord brought me to our current memory verse:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
– Proverbs 3:5-6
God is asking me to trust Him. I may not see what He is doing and I may never see what He is doing. But would I trust Him?
Struggle is real – if you are struggling, I’m right beside you. But one thing I know God is asking of us – He is asking us to trust Him. It is easier said than done – but maybe it is in our weakness, He is made strong. Like Jesus said, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. May our spirits cry out that we trust Him! And when our minds and body say otherwise, let us continually, everyday, learn to die to our flesh a little bit more each time.
I don’t have a solution to suffering. But I do pray that you would journey with me as we trust in the Lord with all our hearts – even if our eyes, ears, minds, and thoughts say otherwise.
Amen.