there, but she did not recognize him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and answered him, “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and take him away.”Jesus said to her,“Mary!” She turned, andsaidtohim,“Rabboni!”— which means Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.” So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me.”

Reflections

“I have seen the Lord.”Like the disciples and the people whose lives have been touched by Jesus’ redeeming love, Mary grieves the loss of Jesus after his death on the cross. Now she is also losing the body of her Lord (which makes her grieving even  stronger); the tomb is empty. But not for long that her intense sorrow and sense of loss is turned into overwhelming joy at  the  sight of Jesus. Seeing Jesus answers why the tomb is empty: Jesus is resurrected.The resurrection of Jesus shows that death does not have the final say; it is God’s  love. The pure and unrestricted love of God brought Jesus back to life. It brings back that which death has taken away—life. If death terminates life, God’s love restores it. Jesus’ resurrection pronounces the ultimate defeat of death; it renders death power- less. It serves as an assurance of our hope for new life with God. And it also provides us a fore- taste of the promise of new crea- tion in the book of Revelation.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019