Pause for Thought: The scriptures said that on the third day Jesus would rise again
When Mary Magda-lene went to the tomb early on Easter Sunday, it was to make ready her Lord and saviour’s body with perfumes and spices in preparation for his final resting place. Imagine the shock when she saw that the heavy stone had been rolled away and the Messiah was gone. His grave linens were left neatly on the stone bed. Her first reaction was one of dismay, thinking that his body had been stolen.
However, the tomb had been closely guarded by Roman soldiers to ensure that this would not happen. She ran to where the disciples were hiding out and gave them the news. Peter and John immediately raced to the tomb to discover that it was indeed empty. In that moment they failed to understand the scriptures which said that on the third day Jesus would rise again. Dejected they headed back home.
Mary stayed weeping by the tomb, until she encountered two angels who asked her why she was crying. She explained to them that someone had taken away her Lord and she didn’t know where. As she turned to leave she saw a man, mistaken for a gardener, standing nearby. He asked her the same question and for a moment she thought that maybe he was the one who had removed Jesus from the tomb. The man then simply said, “Mary”, and in that moment, on hearing his voice, she recognised that it was Jesus talking to her and she wept for joy.
Throughout the bible there are many prominent males: prophets, disciples, and kings – but God has a heart for all his children. It was young Mary who the Angel Gabriel first told that she would bear the saviour of the world. And Mary Magdalene who Jesus chose to reveal himself to first at the resurrection. God used Moses, an outcast and murderer, with a speech impediment, to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land, and a young shepherd boy called David to become King and bring forth the bloodline of the future Messiah.
Our amazing God is accessible to everyone – he has a heart for the unsung heroes, the disabled, the weak and the broken, and his outrageous love means that he can pick us up from the dirt and use us for something amazing as well!