Grief. So heavy. So tangible. So all-consuming.  

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In our passage today, we come face-to-face with the heart-rending grief of Mary Magdalene. Grieving the loss of her Teacher and friend to death in the most brutal way possible, she now comes to process some of that grief at Jesus’ tomb, only to discover his body is missing. Salt in the wound.  

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If you have ever grieved the loss of a loved one, I am so sorry that you may be feeling a physical reaction to these words. You know all too well the heaviness, the desperation, the disbelief, and the total weight of the loss. The pounding and ache in your heart, the pit in your stomach.  

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Mary must have been feeling all of this and more. Hope lost and dreams crushed. And to make it worse, she can’t even grieve properly because Jesus is missing! BUT then, one word…

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“Mary.”  

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All is reversed. Hope is restored, and grief is replaced with joy.  

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Can you imagine? While we will not experience our loved one's resurrection (this side of Heaven), we can experience the closeness of our Savior just as Mary did. Jesus longs to be with you — in your grief, in your desperation, in your anger, in your joy. He is your Savior. He is your friend.  

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We have a personal Savior who is as near to you as Jesus was to Mary by the tomb that day. In fact, even more so for those who have accepted the gift of salvation, as he dwells within us. But like Mary, we can get so caught up in the circumstances surrounding us that we miss the truth — God is with us!  

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I have personally experienced the gentle call of my Savior when I was spinning out of control over something upsetting. Plain as day, I “heard” him call my name, “Colleen.” In that moment, everything was calm. And while I didn’t sit and have an audible conversation with him, what I did experience was the warmth of his hug, the closeness of being held by my Father in Heaven who loves me and thinks I’m to die for.  

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It’s not like that every time, for sure. If I want to hear his voice and experience his presence, I need to be intentional and seek him. I need to just sit and be with him without agenda. I need to be still and just BE with him. I like to imagine that Mary was heading to the tomb to “sit at his feet,” one last time. And in that still moment, she heard him call her name, “Mary.”

Have you ever heard your Father in Heaven call your name? Would you like to? While I can’t promise an audible voice booming from above, what I can tell you is that he is waiting to sit with you. He is longing to just be with his son or daughter. And he’s as close as the very breath in your lungs.  

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Father God, that you would seek me out and desire to just sit with me blows my mind. Forgive me for the times that I forget that, when I treat you like a genie in the sky asking for my heart’s desire. Lord, lead me to your feet day after day — every minute of every day. May I seek you more than I seek what you can do for me! In Jesus’ precious and loving name ~ Amen!