Resurrection Sunday is my favorite day of the year. Nothing in the human experience is more cause for celebration than the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Victory was purchased on the cross and proven at the empty tomb!
One of my favorite parts of the Resurrection Story is when Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb.
Mary had devoted her life to Jesus. No one had ever loved her like He did. He showed her grace and forgiveness despite her shameful past. He gave her a whole new life full of hope and purpose. When she was with Him, she felt strong and safe. Then He died and she was devastated. I can hardly fathom how she must have spent the somber Saturday after witnessing His brutal execution. The One in whom she’d placed all her hope was gone.
Now what?
On Sunday morning, Mary and the other women returned to the tomb with spices to complete the burial ritual, but the tomb was empty when they arrived. They were terrified and Mary was distraught. Not only was her Lord dead, but now His body was gone, too. She ran to tell the others, and Peter and John returned to the tomb with her to verify her claim. As they went in, she stayed outside, weeping.
What happened next is amazing, and I often picture myself in Mary’s place. She was sad, broken, lonely, and lost. And as she sat by the tomb weeping, Jesus showed up!
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” He asked her. She didn’t recognize Him at first. She thought He was the gardener, so she asked if He knew where Jesus’ body was. Then Jesus said her name, and at once she recognized Him. She must have been overwhelmed by shock and joy at the sound of His voice. Her Jesus was standing right in front of her. He was alive!
The Bible doesn’t tell us that Mary threw her arms around Jesus and held Him tightly, but it implies something like that because Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” Then He instructed her to go and tell the others that He was alive.
Jesus had died, but that was not the end of the story.
Friday at the cross, death appeared to win, but Sunday was just around the corner. Death lost all its power when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords walked out of the grave. That is a victory worth celebrating!
If you are not celebrating a risen Savior on Easter Sunday, it’s because you have not realized the power of the resurrection. If you are still dead in your sins, you don’t have to be. Jesus took care of your sins at the cross. He died so you wouldn’t have to, and He rose so you could spend eternity alive in His presence.
I’m living in Sunday! I’m on the outside of the tomb with Jesus, alive forever! My sins are in the blood that spilled at the cross and my life is in the victory at the empty tomb. I celebrate that victory each day fully surrendered to the One who rose from the dead. There is no death in my story!
