Wild Hope

She stepped out into the cold predawn air. The horizon held the promise of a soon coming sun but Mary didn’t notice. Eyes to the ground, aching heart, compelled to be near what was left of her Savior. She quickly made her way to the tomb replaying memories in her mind. 
Life before Jesus held only darkness. Tormented by demons, Jesus had set her gloriously free. With Him her life had become a beautiful cadence of light and peace. Then it all got so crazy. Mary shivered as she remembered standing near the cross watching.
Jesus had come to her in her suffering and delivered her. Now she stood by watching him suffer. She could do nothing but offer her presence. She had hoped beyond hope that something would happen, that He wouldn’t take that dying breath – that some how He would be saved from this horrible death. But there seemed to be no help, no salvation.

Tears streamed down her face, heart crumbling as they laid him in a tomb. All hope was gone.

As Mary neared the tomb she saw the stone rolled away and felt her heart sink further. Someone had taken His body away, taking all she had left of Him. Mary stood there weeping. Tears of despair, tears of loss, tears of longing. 

John 20:14-18
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”“Mary!” Jesus said.She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”)


“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
This Easter, as I reflect back, I echo Mary’s words “I have seen the Lord!”. I rejoice with wild hope in the mighty ressurection of Jesus. Truly He is the hope of the world! It means that when I have to try to explain death to Ellie I will do it with tears of joy. Yes, death is hard, yet beyond lies such victory!

Even yesterday as she was eating dinner we were having a conversation about the fact that mama has a mama who lives with Jesus. (We’ve been talking a lot about Jesus… that’s a whole other post) and she looked at me with her big brown eyes and asked “Are they coming?”… my throat tightened and quick tears came but my resounding response was “Yes!”.

Someday my precious girl. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus and His crushing of death you will get to meet your Grandma. Because of Him you can live a life in freedom and joy. Because of Him you are loved more then you can imagine. It makes Mama’s heart so full of joy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *