Pure Joy

 

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

          “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

          Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

          Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

          She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

          Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

          Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18, New International Version)

Joy, pure joy. How else could anyone describe how Mary felt in that moment. If you are a believer, you can feel that joy right now. And some day hold onto Jesus when you meet Him in heaven. 

(The picture here is from my trip to Kenya in 2013, when my daughter and I visited the IDP camp at Maai Mahu. I love the smile on this precious one’s face. She doesn’t have much, just enough food to survive each day, dirty clothes, a canvas shelter to live in with her family, but she was filled with pure joy when she met us.)