They had a job to do. She had a job to do with her friends.
A few women and Mary Magdalene prepared to take care of the dead body of their Jesus, and they arrived to the tomb early that morning to do that, but He wasn’t there.
We know that part of the story. Jesus’s body no longer laid in the tomb.
After a desperate search, Mary Magdalene found a live Jesus, or He found her. It’s one of my favorite scenes in the Bible. I’ve spent a lot of time studying and writing about it. Last year I wrote about why Jesus chose Mary to see Him first on CBN.com.
I wish I could have heard His call to her. He simply called out her name.
“Mary.”
At the sound of her name she recognized her Rabbi-Messiah.
Jesus Always Has Another Job for Us to Do
John journalled Mary’s actions. She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher) (John 20:16).
She fell at His feet holding on to His ankles for dear life worshiping her Jesus, but the reunion could not last too long because time was of the essence. The other disciples needed to know that He was alive.
How many times have you found yourself convinced of your mission for Jesus, but He has another job for you to do? I’m beginning to see a pattern in my life. Maybe I’M WRITING THIS JUST FOR ME!
Mary did not need to take care of Him. She needed to go be the first evangelist proclaiming Jesus’s Life!
That’s soooo much better than taking care of a dead body. How glorious!
The Easter Story Not Told
But this is the part of the Easter story usually not told. Mary ran to tell the other disciples, but the men did not believe Mary and the women.
They did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Luke 24:11
Does that make any of you hurt for Mary?
When People Don’t Believe
I think there was a day when the disciples’ unbelief would’ve infuriated Mary Magdalene, a woman healed from seven demons. But not this day. She not only saw the risen Messiah, she’d touched Him. He had called her name.
Jesus did not tell her to try to convince them. His instructions were to go tell them. That’s it.
Do you ever get upset when people don’t get you? Do you get frustrated when you’re not able to convince them of Jesus? What should we do when this happens?
Let Jesus Meet Them
There’s so much we can learn from the Easter story, and this is a biggie. I’m sure the disciples’ doubt did not take Jesus by surprise. Mary did her part, and Jesus did His. Mary planted the seed. She told the Good News, and He met them.
Now that same day (the day the tomb was empty) two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about everything that had happened. As they talked about these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him.He asked, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”They stood still, their faces downcast…(Luke 24:13-17).
The dialogue continued, but for many miles Jesus was only a stranger to these disciples. He didn’t look familiar, yet the Bible tells us that before their eyes were opened to who He was, their hearts burned within them as He spoke.
How Do You Hear Jesus?
Their spirits knew Him, but their eyes did not. I’ve had a lot of conversations lately about hearing God. Most of those conversations have revolved around the question, “How do you know if you hear Him?”
Many of us long to hear His voice.
How many of us try to hear Him by the way things look around us?
I wonder if the circumstances of the day veiled the disciples eyes to recognize His face. This can happen to us.
Burning Inside
For me, hearing Jesus speak is more like a thought in my head with a tug or burning in my spirit. Then I know He has spoken.
This is how the disciples knew too. Their hearts were burning within them as He spoke.
I wonder what He looked like; His face had certainly changed because neither Mary nor the disciples recognized Him. But His heart had not changed, and they knew His heart. I think that was the burning inside.
3 Things to Do to Hear Jesus
- Spend time with Him in prayer and in His Word, studying Him. Get to know Him.
- Search For Him as Mary Magdalene did. (He promises we will find Him when we seek Him with everything in us.)
- Don’t trust your eyes. Listen to the Spirit within.
Jesus gently revealed Himself to Mary and His doubting disciples and restored them.
He is the same today. Spend some time with Him. He is a Savior of love and revelation.
Bite of Bread Reading Plan Different this Week
I’m doing the Bite of Bread reading plan a little differently this week. I’m not making a printable. Sorry, I need a little break, but I will teach on these scriptures Wednesday night at 7:30 PM ET via FacebookLive (follow on FB) and upload it to my YouTube channel. (Subscribe here for new uploads.)
Study Luke 24. Break it up into chunks and journal after each reading what burns in your spirit.
Leave A Comment to Win a Signed Copy of A Mary Like Me
I’m giving away a signed copy of one of my books this week! Leave a comment about how you hear Jesus or how the Easter story burns within you. I’ll announce the winner next week here on the blog.
Digging Deep,
Andy
[…] a winner from last week’s giveaway on the post, How Do You Hear Jesus. Her name is Lee! I don’t have her last name (or maybe first) but I have her e-mail, so […]
Hi Andy,
I really enjoyed studying Luke chapter 24. It was perfect on the heels of Easter. The verse I ended up studying the hardest was Luke 24:41. “And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.” I focused on the word Joy. Chara in Greek. I found meant the joy you receive, the cause or occasion of joy, or persons who are ones Joy. As you know, I’m always seeking that Joy. I love getting glimpses into what it must felt like to be in His presence. Happy Easter Andy. 🦋
Dena, thank you so much for sharing this! That is such an interesting verse. It jumped out to me too. I know you’ve been on a search for joy, so that is really interesting, huh? The Lord has given me some sweet revelation about joy and shown me places of joy in my life which has been so life-giving. We’ve got to have joy in our lives. I hope to write about it soon. Thanks again friend! You’re entered into the drawing! XXOO
Hi Andy,
Sometimes God works through people. I was working a high stress, sales job that I hated. It’s only redemptions were the pay and my co-worker, Kim. I always believed God would use that time, and I’m still learning the many ways He did. So, I was just puttering along when I got the call. I’m being serious here, my friend Marnie called me with such an urgency in her voice, that I had to hear her out. She said every time she went to pray she saw my face and the add for adjuncts at the local community college. I told her, “I already applied, they’re not interested in me.” I didn’t mention that I applied 4 years ago, but something about the urgency in her voice compelled me to apply again anyway. It was bedtime for most people when I hit send on that email. But ironically, I got a response at 11 PM requesting an interview in the morning. I was hired on the spot, and it was a job I didn’t believe I could get. Somehow, my dream of becoming a professor came back to me. It was 16 years later, and I had forgotten about it. But my moment had finally arrived. In that moment, I realized God remembered. I saw a new side to the nature of God. As a kid, I always taken it to mean God remembers when I screw up, but I suddenly realized that God remembers the good stuff too.
Blessings,
Laurie
That is such a wonderful story!! Thank you so much for sharing! It’s such a perfect example to one of the chapters in my book too… dreams are buried seeds. You’re entered!
“How many times have you found yourself convinced of your mission for Jesus, but He has another job for you to do?”
This knocked me for a loop this morning. We were convinced we heard God sending us to the mission field because of the feelings in our hearts, as well as all the doors He opened AND closed in a very short amount of time. We went….and in a few very short months returned to the US, broken hearted and grieving the loss of a dream. We felt we were being obedient, but we wonder if we’re hearing God or bending the signs to meet our will.
Oh Lee! Your story sounds so similar to another friend of mine. They had the exact experience. I still question a “calling” I had years ago that has been one heartache after heartache and opened doors closed. All I can do is be obedient to what He’s placed in front of me today. I do believe some dreams are for a season, sometimes just a taste before God moves us on to another mission. Thanks for stopping by! How did you find my site? Come back next week. Your’e entered into the giveaway!
I need to hear again and again that the outcome is not my job. When I’m called to tell, it’s not really my business what happens next. This year God is teaching me that faithfulness is success. I never really thought about how Mary might have felt about not being believed.
Thanks for helping me dig deeper, Andy!
Hey Kirsten! “Faithfulness is success.” I love that! May we continue to step out in faith trusting Him! Blessings my friend. You’re entered into the giveaway