Behold the Resurrection Joy

^“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3 N.I.V)

Mary Magdalene stood outside Jesus’ grave crying. The disciples had come and witnessed that the grave was empty but had immediately gone back to their homes. But Mary was inconsolable. She wanted to know where Jesus had been taken, so that she could get him. God rewarded her persistence by bestowing the gift of being the first person to see the risen Christ. He called out to her “Mary!” and she answered “Rabboni”. Jesus did not choose to appear first to his disciples, or to his mother and siblings. He chose somebody who was seeking him with great affection and tears. She was the first to have the living hope. “I have seen the Lord” she proclaimed to the disciples. (John 20:10-18)

Have you like Mary sought the Lord earnestly and found him? “And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him.  For He departed, and behold, He is here”  ~St Augustine

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“Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness”.  Floyd W. Tomkins

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