A Time Between Times

Saturday, March 22, 2008
All I can tell you is this: the time between Jesus’ crucifixion and His resurrection must have been one horrible (and then some!) experience for those who loved Him. In their minds (and rightly so!), all was lost; the One in whom they had placed their trust was dead and His body sealed away in a tomb, a borrowed one at that. Their sense of loss was overwhelming, not to mention that they were scared witless because they were certain that, as His followers, they would be next in line for some terrible form of death. From what they could see, those who hated Him had won and won big time. There is no wonder that they scattered!
Then, there was John (the disciple whom He loved), and Mary (His mother), and Mary Magdalene (the one out of whom He had cast out seven demons [see Mark 16:9]; I can assure you that no one else experienced the level of grief they experienced, and I can also assure you that each of them had completely different experiences. John’s relationship with Jesus was, indeed, intimate but it was very different from His mother’s intimate relationship with Him. Of course, Mary Magdalene’s relationship with Him was different from either that of John or His mother—very different. She loved Him, to be sure, but she was never able to express her love for Him, as did John and His mother, as least not the way she really want to express it. I might also add this: Jesus’ love for John was different from His love for His mother, and His love for Mary Magdalene was different from His love for either John or His mother. He loved Mary; you can take that to the bank!
From what I can tell, after His resurrection, He revealed Himself first to Mary Magdalene, and to be honest, I cannot tell who was most excited; to be sure, both were beside themselves! For Jesus it was a “piece of cake” but for Mary Magdalene, getting to that moment was the most difficult, arduous three-day journey of her life; for reasons known only to her and to Jesus, she somehow had that inner-knowing that death could not hold Him and she refused to believe that it would, which is why she made her way to that tomb so early in the morning! When she saw Him, their verbal exchange was a mere two words—one apiece: “Mary”; “Rabboni!” Sometimes words just get in the way of what really needs to be said!
Anyway, Jesus loves you, too; He really does! The truth is He is head-over-heels in love with you AND He really does want to reveal Himself to you; He wants to reveal to you the Resurrected Christ—He really does! Oh, sure, you might be thinking that He has already done so, but take it easy, as you probably haven’t seen anything yet. It is already late on Saturday night, so keep watch and watch carefully.
Remember: it is late Saturday night and Sunday IS coming!