No More Tears

God is interested in every detail of your life! He loves you, and he is wanting to speak into your life today. Quiet yourself for a moment and let him. Let's hear from his Word, John 20:11-18. It's Sunday morning early. The jeers and angry shouts have died away, along with the Man on the cross. An anxious day of silence and painful inactivity followed. Mary and some other women had gone to the tomb, found it open and empty, and returned with the news. Peter and John had raced there to check it out for themselves. Only Mary Magdalene returned behind them, at a slower pace. By the time she arrives, they've already left. Now she finds herself alone with the tomb. Or so she thinks. Give it a read.

Twice in this scene, Mary is asked the same question. Did you notice?

"Why are you crying?" (v. 13, 15)

It's kind of an interesting, if not ridiculous, question to ask a person visiting a grave. Don't you think? I've visited Cathy's grave many times, and I have never been asked by people who came close by why I was crying. Once, a lady gently approached me and asked me about the person I had lost. Others have paid no attention to me. After all, crying is normal in a cemetary.

So why does Mary get asked a question like that, twice? It seems almost insensitive. Perhaps those who questioned her expected her to have come to realize that she had nothing to cry about. She had heard Jesus predict his death and resurrection. She had already seen the empty tomb. Patch in the details from the other accounts, and you see that she and the other women had already been told by an angel that he was risen. Yet, somehow her heart just can't believe it. He has overcome death and the grave, but she is still mourning as if he's still dead.

So, she gets the question first from two angels inside the tomb, positioned like two Vanna White's highlighting the spot where he once lay: "Why are you crying?' Then comes the question again from Jesus himself as he walks up behind her: "Why are you crying?" It's his gentle way of saying, "Don't you realize that I've won? I have launched an offensive on the gates of death and Hell, and I've come away victorious! This isn't time for mourning. It's time for celebrating!"

It's important to know what time it is. And in my own times of loss and sorrow, or periods of discouragement and defeat, when I feel like all is lost and the weight of the world presses down on my shoulders, this question rings out of the text, out of this scene at the empty tomb, and speaks an important reminder to me. What, ultimately do I have to be down about? I need to turn and lift up my eyes and see the risen Savior there behind me, smiling, alive and victorious, stretching out his hand to me. The victory has already been won! Every battle I still have to fight, regardless of the outcome, will end in glory. And his power to overcome is in me, right now! Thank you, Jesus!

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