He is risen!

There is so much to say about the resurrection.  But I am always touched by the story of Mary Magdalene as she went to the tomb before sunrise.  

Mary had spent the Sabbath sitting still and grieving.  We all know it helps to be able to do something.  Now the Sabbath was over and as soon as possible she took a couple of friends to the market to get spices for burial.  Weighed down with pounds of spice and ointment, sorrow and pain, they went to the tomb.

The events that transpired took her on a roller coaster of confusion, terror, deeper pain and then unimaginable joy.

My favorite part, the part that always brings a tear to my eye, is when she asked the man, whom she thought was the gardener, where they had taken the body.  She wanted to retrieve it.  The man had asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for.  The sound of His voice didn't trigger anything.  But then, after her request, He said, "Mary."  She fell upon Him, knowing then, without a doubt who she was speaking with. 

The sound of her name on His lips.  

I read once a child's definition of love.  "When your name is safe in someone's mouth."  Never has a name been safer.

From deep desperation to ecstatic elation in a matter of seconds.   There is untold power in the name of Jesus.  But there is also power in your name being spoken by Jesus.  Have you heard it?

When I was in college, Sandy Patty and Larnelle Harris were all the rage.  I heard this song countless times, but never tired of it.

Happy Resurrection Day!

HE IS RISEN!