Mary's Story is Our Story...
Date: May 03, 2010 | Author: Albert Kienle
Mary's story is our story ...
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. 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!" (John 20:1-2)
In the gathering light of dawn Mary and a group of friends silently make their way out through city streets into a garden enclave to a marked tomb to do further burial rites for their deceased Jesus. Uppermost on their minds is the question, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" Mary arrives first, and approaching the grave saw the tombstone already removed. Immediately, without further investigating, she takes off on the run to warn Peter and John of the removal of the body as well as the stone.
Mary's assumption is solely based on misinformation and misguided intentions which led to the telling of disinformation. Her faulty understanding of the facts is the stuff modern 'body snatching' propaganda are made of. Good intentions are not the highway upon which truth travels. Not wise to presuppose the unknown.
Mary almost missed the one event of the day that made the whole day eventful. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from Joseph's rock cut, Roman sealed and guarded, tomb!
How did Mary come to such conclusions? First, a resurrection was not in her thinking or vocabulary. Yes, at the 'last day' (John 11:24) but never 'in three days' (John 2:19). The only ones believing in a resurrection possibility were the enemies, not the friends, of Jesus (Matt. 28:62-66). Amazing insight!
Secondly, it was still dark. Morning shadows can play tricks with the facts. Mary's understanding was also darkened by grief. Her grief echoes that of King David, "The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you -- O Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 Sam. 18:33)
Fear propelled her in the opposite direction. Doubts held her captive to the past. Haste makes waste of the truth of the facts and the facts of the truth.
Hearing Mary's news flash Peter and John do a foot race to the garden tomb. Entering the cold tomb they see the warm grave clothes, then return to their homes somewhat believingly bewildered. After catching her breath Mary makes her way back to the scene of the crime. Along the way she misses Peter and John, and also her other friends who had come with her. They had come, heard the real resurrection news flash from the angels, met Jesus personally alive, and was speeding along to tell the disciples the always good news! The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit together as they talked in community.
What of dear Mary? She is unaware of all this. She cannot, does not comprehend. She is alone; in her aloneness she is lonely. But now Mary begins her journey to recovery. She's tired of running. She lingers, looking into the clearing daylight. Mary stands before the gaping hole, the culprit, that once held her beloved Master. Tears of emotion are vented and flow unceasingly. It is good to face the foe; the enemy then shrinks to size. It is good to release the pain. Cowgirls do cry.
Mary then changes her posture; she bends to look. She dares herself, challenges herself, to do the unthinkable; she just has to look inside the tomb for herself! The men saw grave clothes, Mary saw angels! Talking to her, questioning her tears. In an age obsessed with paranormal activity this is not unusual. But Mary, Mary would have none of it. She doesn't want talking angels, Mary wants only one thing, Jesus! It is wise to change, to bend, to look beyond, for in doing so we may come up against the supernatural.
In looking inside the tomb Mary saw more than angels, she saw herself in a new light. Seeing her own mortality she desires answers to life's core questions, centered in Christ. Her initial reaction was, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" Now she personalizes it. "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."
Perhaps the grass rustled, a pebble rolled, and the distraught woman turned to see who had joined her. It is good to look around, to listen to signs of life, some movement that you aren't alone; that perhaps God is afoot.
As Mary turned she saw what she wasn't expecting. She saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. Indeed, God was afoot; astir in progress in a new dimension. How could she have missed the obvious? Well, she saw through misty eyes. Again, resurrection wasn't her mindset, so it had to be the gardener. More importantly, Jesus looked different. The same Jesus, but different. No longer the Jesus before the Cross, but after. Jesus now wore resurrection life, glorified humanity. The Jesus of Today! (Rev. 1) Often things are as they appear!
The Voice engaged Mary in tender conversation "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" A familiar yet distant Voice. A Voice from here, yet there.
One word, her name, resolved all her issues. It doesn't take a lot, just our name on the lips of the One who knows, cares, and can! He who created the worlds with a word created a whole new world with the word "Mary".
What world could He create with Bill, Anna, Dieter, Sarid, Ruth, any name, your name? There's just something about the name of Jesus, but there's something about our names as well. Our name is a promise of being whatever He wants us to be. His name gives our name significance.
Mary is now face to face with Jesus, expressing her wonder and love in her everyday vocabulary. Jesus was real again to her, she was authentic, herself, with Him.
At that instant Mary had a phenomenal moment, a turning point in her existence. The debris she had gathered during the hurried, confusing hours of her day got filtered out, like silt settling as a river widens, and she sees things more clearly, feels God's nudging more sensitively. Mary wasn't sure where God was in all this, but she knew He was involved. She released her pent-up emotion, anxiety, stress, and is revived and renewed with peace, hope, purpose, and the unbroken presence of God. Being with Jesus does that.
Running to Jesus she holds on to Him, never wanting to let go lest she lose Him again. He refocuses her attention to the broader picture: "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.' "
Jesus was saying, Mary, do not limit me, don't restrain me to the here and now, to just the present of your life. There is more for me to do, for you to do. I have unfinished redemptive business with the Father. I stopped en route to help you in your woundedness, to reveal myself to you. That may surprise you, but, right now, you are more important. You can now throw away your yesterdays but not your tomorrows. I am here, alive. I want you to come into my story. I want you to go tell. Allow the truth of my resurrection to shape your life, and all others. We will have a new, continuing relationship: my Father is your Father, my God is now your God. No more distance, separation, barriers. Together. Always. Forever!
And Mary does that; she runs, to tell. Not in fear and uncertainty. She knows. This time she has all the facts, the truth, the news, the story - her story - I have seen the Lord! Mary discovers that Jesus is everything He claims to be! And she invites everyone into His story.
Where do you fit into Mary's story? We all fit in somewhere. Mary's story is really our story. A story of pain and grace. A story to tell ....
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, and those who impart their motherliness to me!!!
Thoughts on the Resurrection: Without the Resurrection, the Cross is meaningless. There is no atonement. No redemption is possible. There is no justification before God, because there is no vindication, no victory in God without the resurrection, and Jesus is, therefore, not Lord.
If there is no resurrection our Christian hope is nothing but some heartless, cruel joke. It is all futility. Those who have died have not merely fallen asleep to awaken in Christ but are gone forever. For if Christ has not been raised, then no one else will be either.
The resurrection is "ground zero", the foundation of everything. Without it there is no hope. And no salvation. Without this glorious event nothing else matters and we are, of all people, most to be pitied. Without God's vindication of His Son the gospels are just interesting stories, and the Book of Acts a nice work of fiction. The apostles dispersion across the known world becomes but a footnote in history.
BUT, as the Apostle Paul asserts, without any tinge of doubt, "In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead!"
It is a fact!
That is the fact!
