So, today I’m reading the resurrection accounts in the Gospels, as I often do on Easter, and I run across this:
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
John 20:1-2.
At this point in the narrative most of those following Jesus were probably thinking they had gotten it wrong. Just a week before He had ridden into Jerusalem while people praised him as the king of Israel. They thought Jesus was there to throw off the shackles of Roman oppression and forcibly establish His kingdom. He was the long-awaited savior.
But then came the crucifixion. Jesus’ followers thought Jesus was to be their savior, and now He was dead. It must have left many who were trusting in Jesus disappointed, thinking he was not their Lord–an amazing man, no doubt, but not their lord and savior.
And then here is Mary Magdalen returning from the tomb believing not that Jesus has risen from the dead but that someone has taken Jesus’ body; yet she still refers to Jesus as the Lord.
It is one of the first and most important lessons we have to learn as believers: how are we going to respond when Jesus disappoints us by not acting the way we want? We’ve all seen it happen. A believer loses a loved one, suffers a failed marriage, or an unfulfilled dream, and they decide God is not God and they fall away.
Yet, with all the disappointment Mary must have felt, she chose to believe Jesus was who He said He was; He was still the Lord.
Before the resurrection many were grappling with the question, “Is Jesus who I thought he was?” It’s a question many face when life takes an unexpected turn. The answer provided by Easter and proven by the resurrection is, “Yes, Jesus is the Lord.” GS