Day 48 - Monday, April 10
Title: I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!
Scripture: John 20:11–18
But Mary stood just outside the tomb, and she was crying. And as she cried, she looked into the tomb and saw two angels in white who sat, one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had lain.

The angels spoke to her, “Why are you crying?” they asked. “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him!” she said.

Then she turned and noticed Jesus standing there, without realising that it was Jesus.

“Why are you crying?” said Jesus to her. “Who are you looking for?” She, supposing that he was the gardener, said, “Oh, sir, if you have carried him away, please tell me where you have put him and I will take him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” At this she turned right round and said to him, in Hebrew, “Master!”

“No!” said Jesus, “do not hold me now. I have not yet gone up to the Father. Go and tell my brothers that I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

And Mary of Magdala went off to the disciples, with the news, “I have seen the Lord!”, and she told them what he had said to her.

Poetry & Poet: 
“Luke 14: A Commentary”
by Kathleen Norris

He is there like Clouseau
at the odd moment,
just right: when he climbs
out of the fish pond
into which he has spectacularly
fallen, and says condescendingly
to his hosts, the owners
of the estate: “I fail
where others succeed.” You know
this is truth. You know
he’ll solve the mystery,
unprepossessing
as he is, the last
of the great detectives.
He’ll blend again into the scenery, and
more than once, he’ll be taken
for the gardener. “Come
now,” he says, taking us
for all we’re worth, “Sit
in the low place.”
Why not? We ask. So easy
to fall for a man
who makes us laugh. “Invite those
you do not know, people
you’d hardly notice.” He puts
us on, we put him on; another
of his jokes. “There’s
room,” he says. The meal is
good, absurdly
salty, but delicious. Charlie
Chaplin put it this way: “I want to play
the role of Jesus. I look the part.
I’m a Jew.
And I’m a comedian.”

I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!

In fifth grade, I got glasses. The vision loss I experienced in the months leading up to that time was so imperceptible I didn’t know I couldn’t see.

I’ll never forget that first moment when I stepped outside wearing my new glasses. The world veritably sparkled with precision! Even the tippy tops of trees had tiny branches and leaves! I was mesmerized.

Mary Magdalene sits in the garden weeping. If her vision was clear she would see branches budding, too. But tears have blurred the shapes around her. She is distraught.

John has waited until now to introduce Mary to us. Luke locates her much sooner, among the disciples of Jesus who traveled with him and supported him from their means (Luke 8:1-3). Luke’s Mary was demon-possessed when Jesus stared into the darkness of her bondage and called her out. She went from torment to devotion. It’s no wonder she followed him. Her faith was grounded in lived experience. Mary knew what it meant to be loved.

John shows us this in his own way. Mary lingers at Jesus’ grave when others keep their distance. Are they afraid to be associated with the failed Messiah? Do they worry what it will cost them if they are seen at the tomb? Mary is the only disciple so grief-stricken she refuses to leave Jesus’ side, even when he’s dead. She mourns the added insult of his body’s disappearance.

When a man appears, she supposes him to be the gardener and presses him for information on the whereabouts of her dead savior. It’s almost comical. The One she seeks is the One to whom she speaks!

But although Mary is wrong, she is also right. The risen Jesus is the new Adam, firstborn of the new creation, sent to cultivate and guard the garden of God’s world. He is the gardener. Mary’s moment of clarity comes when Jesus speaks her name. His first act as caretaker of the garden is to call this woman by name and make her an ally in the work of proclamation.

Not only has she seen the Lord, but he has seen her. Known her. Commissioned her to announce to them the most astonishing news in human history.

Would it not have been more efficient to appear to the male disciples himself? Why send Mary?

Then again, why send any of us?

How appropriate that a man takes up Mary’s words in our devotional song today—“I have seen the Lord!” After all, Mary is a paradigm of the ideal disciple—one who has been set free by Jesus and now cannot help but share the news of the resurrection with everyone she meets. May each of us do the same!

Carmen Joy Imes
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University

Prayer:
Master,
You have called us by name. We belong to you.
Empower us to see you more clearly. Enlist us in the work of proclamation!
May we participate in your new creation work even today.
Amen

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.