The Glorious SONrise!!

John 20

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).


Jesus...moving me from my darkest moments into the most glorious of days v1-16

It is often in our darkest moments that we are met by God. To Mary it would seem that all hope was lost and a visit to mourn Jesus turned into a frantic frenzy. She had come to visit the place of her greatest loss and in her grief, Jesus reveals Himself to her. It is a powerful encounter and she is overwhelmed in the moment.
Jesus died and rose again! He conquered the grave, He conquered sin and He reigns supreme; however, we can know these truths and still its power can be lost on us in a very desperate situation. Jesus had told His followers that His death wasn’t the end but that it would be a new beginning. Even in our darkest of nights, we need to remember His joy comes in the morning. Cry out to Him and let Him reveal Himself to you in those dark places. We can know true hope and just like resurrection morning for Mary, our new day can be as glorious as the sunrise!


You were never meant to hold on to Jesus, He holds on to you! v17,18


17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Do not hold on to me is a really powerful statement to me. It reminds me that it is Jesus who places us into the hands of the Father when we call on His name. It was Jesus who also said that no man can snatch them out of my Father`s hand. It is an incredible thing to know that my salvation, my faith rests in Him alone and in His finished work on the cross. All too often we get so fixated on what we are doing to hold on to our faith when it should be the assurance of our faith in Him that motivates, inspires and gives us everything we need to persevere and press on in the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Breath in and receive the Holy Spirit v19-21

19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
The disciples were the first to receive the Holy Spirit in what can only be understood as a very powerful and intimate moment. Jesus breathes on them and now the new covenant is sealed in them through the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. This morning take the time to pray a ‘receiving prayer’of empowerment. As you pray, in this moment, breathe in and ask Jesus to once again fill you with the peace, joy and enabling of the Holy Spirit. I have said it many times but all too often we live on an ‘achieving system’ and we were never meant to achieve our spiritual life. We are called to receive it and walk in it.