Weekly Evotion
IT’S ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE. OR IS IT?
On the first day of the week after Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary Magdalene went
to the tomb while it was dark, and seeing the stone rolled away ran to call
Peter & John, both of whom ran to the tomb (John 20:1-9). John bent over and
looked in, saw the linen but stayed outside. Peter entered first saw the
strips of linen lying there, noted that the burial cloth from Jesus’ head
was ‘folded up by itself, separate from the linen.’ John then entered, “he
saw and believed.” Peter and John then left, strangely with no record of
communicating with Mary. Mary thought Jesus’ body had been stolen so
remained weeping outside the tomb. Still weeping, she stooped and looked
inside, “and she saw two angels seated in white sitting where Jesus body had
been, one at the head and the other at the foot.’ They asked her why she was
weeping, but she did not appear to realize that they were angels! Then she
turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was
Jesus (John 20:11-18).
Peter and John came, saw an empty tomb, and went home! Mary came, lingered,
waited, and as she sought for Jesus, she found him! Jesus in Matthew 7:7
says ‘Seek and you will find”, so as she pressed in, and interacted with the
angels and with Jesus, her spiritual eyes were opened. Although at first she
did not recognize Jesus, even when He spoke to her, the minute He spoke her
name, she recognized him. How extraordinary, the men saw the empty tomb, and
Mary saw two angels and Jesus! What do we see?
So it is Mary, not Peter nor John, to whom Jesus entrusts His first message
for his disciples after his resurrection, “Go to my brothers and tell them,
“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” She
does so, and that evening Jesus appears to the disciples as they are hiding
behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Jesus then ‘sends them’. Remember
the authority this now gave them, as we saw in last week’s Evotion (John
13:20). Jesus here in John 20:21-22, said to his disciples, “Peace be with
you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” Jesus then breathed on
them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the
anointing, the enabling, to carry out the commission they have just been
given.
PRAYER OF FAITH: Oh Lord! Often what you said to your disciples matches me,
‘O you of little faith!’ I say with the father of the demon-possessed child
(Mark 9:24), ‘Lord I believe, help my unbelief!’ Lord Jesus, I will be as
Mary, purposefully pressing in until I find you, see you, hear you, and
receive your instruction and enabling. I love you Lord Jesus. Amen.
--
'Unless you change what you do, you will always have what you've got.'
- Jim Rohn
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