Easter Musings
This morning my husband left for the airport at 5:00 am. I was not quite ready to get going for the day so I snuggled down and listened to a podcast instead. The podcast was from Desiring God and was called Global Issues Facing the Global Church. In the podcast, John Piper and his colleagues addressed issues such as the prosperity gospel and how the center of Evangelical Christianity is shifting to the southeast. I am not going to comment on any of that, but I did really like a comment that was made by one of John Piper’s colleagues. He said, “The cross has to be central to the gospel and the saving grace of Christ. I would put the two together and say that the gospel is big enough to address all the bigness of the problems of the world in the cross.” As we are in the midst of the Easter weekend, it was good to be reminded that the cross was not only for our salvation but for so much more. No problem is too big or small to lay at the foot of the cross. Remembering also that without Jesus, there would be no cross. Colossians 3:11b,”Christ is all and is in all.” (NIV)
I have been learning the Easter story in my new language. I still have a long way to go but it has made me think about Mary Magdalene and what she must have been feeling. On Friday, she seesher dear Lord die. And though we aren’t told about Saturday, I can imagine that she feels without hope. Her Lord was dead and all she could think about was that his body needed to be prepared for burial. In John’s account found in John 20:11-18, we find Mary Magdalene just weeping outside the tomb. She is overcome with grief. Mary does not remember that Jesus said he would rise again. Mary is too overcome by her emotions to process that the missing body means that Jesus is alive instead of thinking the body was stolen. It is only when she comes face to face with Jesus, and he says her name that she remembers she has hope and it is in Jesus.
So many times I am like Mary Magdalene. I am in a situation that seems without hope. My emotions take over and I forget the promises that God has given me in His word. But then Jesus faithfully calls my name either through his word, a song, a whisper in my mind or through a friend. I am reminded that Jesus conquered death and hell. If he can do that, then no problem is too big for him.
I pray that this Easter you will find hope in your situation and the place where God has you. Blessings, TJ