Living Forward
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| Banff, Canada Photo by KLHayes |
I listened to a sermon on Sunday, and the priest pointed out that in one part of the Easter story we find Mary turning around. And these words caught my attention.
In John 20, Mary approaches the tomb where Jesus was buried. She came early. I wonder why she came. Surely, she knew the tomb would be sealed and guarded, yet she decided to go. I’ve imagined how Mary the disciples may have been feeling around this time. They must have felt perplexed, disappointed, confused, dumb struck with all that had occurred within just a few days. The emotional high of celebrating Passover with Jesus to the emotional low of watching him die.
But Mary came and saw the tomb was open and ran to tell the others. When she returned with the others, we read this:
11Now 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, “Rabbani!”(which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
In these words, I believe there is truth.
The disciples must have been devastated. The dream had ended. Yet, Mary came back to the tomb. She returned before she realized that He was alive. She came back to be near him, to worship him, to express love to him even as she mourned. She came looking to the past, but left turning to the present and His presence.
How often do we look back on our week, our month, our year and wonder what we could have done differently? How often do we replay old scenes from years ago, scenes that sill hurt and words that stay in our minds. How often do we move on? Do you get stuck in the days gone by? Do we relive our past mistakes and lost opportunities? Isn't it time we, turn around and see our Savior?
From Britannica, "the English word Easter, which parallels the German word Ostern, is of uncertain origin. There is now widespread consensus that the word [Easter] derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba or “dawn”."
Easter marks the dawn of a new day. It is our time to turn around, to let go of the things we hold onto. Easter marks a new understanding. The work of the past has been done. As Jesus appeared to his followers over the next few weeks, his visits were not about the past but about the future. Their future. Our future. Their mission. Our mission.
What’s ahead? Where is He leading us? He has settled our past; let’s live forward.
