Let Us Fix Our Eyes on Jesus at Easter
John 20:11-18

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping: and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beheld two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because 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 beheld Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” 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, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father: but go to My brethren, and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. John 20:11-18

Devastated by Jesus’ death on the cross, Mary hangs around His tomb weeping and seeking the lifeless body of the Lord she loved. Despite seeing His miracles and hearing Him say many times that He would be resurrected, she is not waiting expectantly to see if He would truly rise from the dead as He predicted. In her mind, her Lord is dead but she still wants to find His body. In her determination, she misses the signs. She encounters angels before whom most people fall in fear, but whom she treats as mere mortal obstacles to her goal. She ignores the unravelled linen body wrappings Peter and John had just seen which caused them to believe. And when confronted by Jesus face-to-face, she fails to recognize Him. Only when He speaks her name does she see Him as He truly is.

Mary the marginal--female, reformed prostitute, healed demon-possessed insane person, non-leader--for some reason, is the first person Jesus chooses to reveal His resurrected self to. Why? Grace. Jesus draws to Himself the Marys of the world--those who know they can never merit His favor. But even Mary, determined to find Him, could not have faith in Him until He gave it to her by intimately calling her by name to Himself.

And she gets so close that He has to tell her not to cling to Him but promises a new kind of intimacy with Him. He sends her as the first missionary of this Good News, not to those cowardly disciples who deserted Him, but to “My brethren.” He wants them to know that out of His death, resurrection, and ascension comes a grace that can turn deserters into brothers possessing the same intimate relationship with His God and Father as He has.

Dear Lord Jesus,
All praise, honor, and glory to You, resurrected Lord and Savior, Author and Perfecter of my faith, Generous Giver of grace. Help me fix my eyes on You in a new way this Easter. Forgive me for missing the signs of Your living presence in my life, for being so wrapped up in my own pain and problems that I act as though You’re not alive. Help me hear You call my name. Awaken in me the faith that draws me close to You. Help me see myself as a Mary--sinful, broken, and unworthy--that I might experience the fullness of Your grace and soar on the heights with You. Bring home to me how Your being deserted by Your Father on the cross allowed a deserter of God like me to come into Your family and have Your Father as my Father. Help me have an intimate relationship with our Father of the same quality and intensity that You have. Enable me to go to those who don’t know You yet as the resurrected Lord with the Good News that they can know You and enter Your family too. Thank You for Your love for me. In Your name, Amen.