John 20:11-18. 11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13They 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.” 14Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for 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.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
It’s Easter Sunday morning and Mary Magdalene is in the garden at Jesus’ tomb weeping. Why is she crying? Not just because she is sad that Jesus died, but because she thinks someone has stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb. You see it’s Sunday morning and the grave is empty!
Jesus’ body wasn’t stolen was it? No. Jesus is alive. How do we know? Because he meets Mary in the garden and talks to her. What Jesus says to Mary on Easter Sunday in the garden is remarkable – Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended (gone up) to the Father. Jesus is telling Mary that she has to let go of him because he needs to go back to the Father in Heaven. I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
My father, your Father. My God, your God.
This is what the resurrection of Jesus has done for us, it has made God the Father our Father too. Our place is with God. We were always meant to be with him, and now we can be. When we have faith in Jesus we are able to live with God forever inside of his perfect love.
But we are still down here on Earth, aren’t we? How can we be with God if he is in Heaven and we are on Earth?
The answer is that God has come to us. When Jesus ascended (went up) to Heaven, to the Father God, the Holy Spirit God came to be with us, living inside of us. Now we have the same Father God and Holy Spirit God as Jesus (who is also God). With the Holy Spirit in us, reminding us of God’s love for us, we can do everything that we learned about from Holy Week.
Palm Sunday: We can want Jesus to come back to us as our King.
Holy Monday: We can be a pure temple for God to live in.
Holy Tuesday: We can let Jesus have authority over us (be in charge).
Spy Wednesday: We can give Jesus all that we are and all that we have.
Maundy Thursday: We can love each other.
Good Friday: We can choose to stop being selfish and help others instead.
Silent Saturday: We can trust Jesus even when we are sad.
Because God lives with us and in us, we can live like Jesus did every day. That’s the message of Easter. And that is our joy in Jesus.
You: Do you want to be more like Jesus? What makes it hard to be like him?
You with Jesus: How can knowing that God is living inside of you help you to trust him so that you can choose to be like Jesus?
Prayer: Father, my place is with you because you came to me. Keep showing me how to live like Jesus as I trust you more and more. Amen.
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