Thoughts for the Day

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

(Church in Wales Lectiionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I was standing inside the Church and someone came through the open door and spoke to me. They obviously knew me, but at first I had no idea of their identity, until they said my Christian name (the 'a' of which is pronounced as in 'share', and not the usual way for saying Sharon). Inside the church it was dim, and the light was so bright outside that I could only see their outline. However, I could hear their voice, and as soon as they said my name I knew exactly who they were.

Today we have another account of the first Resurrection experience. Yesterday in Matthew's account Mary Magdalene and and another Mary saw an angel who came down and sat on the stone that had been rolled away. But John, writing his Gospel much later reports that Mary Magdalene saw two angels, and also met Jesus, but in this account she doesn't recognise him, that is, until he says her name. Does the sun shine so bright outside that she can only see his outline as she looks out of the tomb, though she recognises his voice when he says her name?

In the 21st century it's no different. It's the voice of Jesus that we need to learn to recognise - sometimes coming to us through our conscience, or through the words of another person, or from what we read in our bible. Our Lord still speaks, we just need to tune in to his voice.

Lord Jesus Christ,
we may know with our mind
that You are there for us each day,
but help us to listen for Your voice,
and to hear Your words -
words that gives us solace and comfort.
May we listen for those prompts
that call us to respond,
and then turn that into action.
Amen.