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 New International Version (NIV)
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 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.”
John 20:11-13 (NIV)
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 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.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
John 20:14-16 (NIV)
Jesus Knows You By Name!
Is Jesus just another Name… or do you have a personal relationship with Him?
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.’”
John 20:17 (NIV)
Jesus Is Resurrected!
The Christian life is a never-ending process of losing the Jesus we were holding only to discover a more unmanageable form of him. Mary thought she had captured him in a safe expectation by making him her teacher, but in reality that was just another tomb. And Jesus won’t stay in a tomb.
M. Craig Barnes, An Extravagant Mercy, p. 195.
Jesus Will Not Be Contained By Anything!
Our image of Jesus is reflective of what we need hope to look like. Yet there comes a time when that image needs to die because there is more to Jesus than we know. At Easter we encounter a risen Savior who has a new vision for our future. After the resurrection things do not return to normal. That’s the good news. It’s basic to everything else the New Testament teaches. After Jesus has defeated death, nothing can be seen as predictable. There is no normal. There is no ordinary. Not when a Savior is on the loose.
M. Craig Barnes, An Extravagant Mercy, p. 195.
When a Savior is on the loose, it’s never ever over and done!
When a Savior is on the loose, anything is possible!