Memories of Easter #The Resurrection

LOOKING BACK

Mary Magdalene

"When my Master cried, 'It is finished,' and gave up His Spirit, I felt my heart would break. Jesus, who had cast seven devils from me, could have called a legion of angels to save Him. Instead, a short time earlier, he had asked His Father in Heaven to forgive the very ones who mocked and crucified Him, saying, 'They know not what they do.' 

"Blackness covered the land, but 'o darker than my thoughts. Time became meaningless. At last the Sabbath was past. Mary the mother of James, Salome and I, had bought sweet spices, that we might come and anoint Jesus's body.  At the rising of the sun on the first day of the week, we came to the sepulchre,  asking each other, "Who shall roll away the stone from the door?"

"A moment later, we gasped. The great stone had been rolled away. We entered the sepulchre. A young man clothed in a long, white garment sat on the right side. He told us not to be afraid then said, 'Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goes before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you."

Trembling and amazed, we fled from the sepulchre. I sought out Peter and John.  We hastened back to the sepulchre. Only the grave clothes remained. Mystified, Peter and John went to their homes. I stayed behind, weeping.Two angels in white sat where Jesus's body had lain. They asked why I wept. 'They have taken away my Lord. I know not where He is,' I told them. I turned and saw a man I supposed was the gardener. 

"Woman, why do you weep? Who do you seek?" he asked. I pleaded with him to tell me where they had taken Jesus. 

"Mary." Joy flooded my soul. How well I knew that voice! Impossible as it seemed, Jesus was not dead. He was risen, and the world would never be the same."

Cleopas

"It was finished. Jesus, who never did anything but good, lay in the tomb of a friend. After the Sabbath was past, my kinsman and I sadly began our seven-mile journey back to Emmaus, pondering over all that had happened. A stranger joined us. He asked why we were sad. My companion and I told him of the events of the past week. He quoted Moses, but it wasn't until we prevailed on him to come to our home and was breaking and blessing bread that we recognized him.

"How could we have been so blind? Had not our hearts burned within us when He spoke? After Jesus vanished, we rose and with great rejoicing, hurried back to Jerusalem to tell His disciples what had happened.

Thomas

"My name went down in history as Thomas, the Doubter. With good reason. I  refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles until I could see and feel the wounds He had received on the cross. Yet when Jesus looked at me with the loving gaze I knew so well and I saw His wounded body, I cried, "My Lord, my God."

He said, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." I still regret my unbelief, but treasure and find comfort in His words of forgiveness for my demanding proof that He really lived."


Peter

"Many years have passed since the fateful night I cannot forget. Every time a cock crows, I remember--and cringe. I, Peter, the Rock, denied my Master three times, although I had sworn such a thing could never happen. Instead, I turned craven, in fear for my life

"Thanks be to Jehovah I also have happier memories, ones I cling to that have  helped restore my courage and allow me to serve Jesus without wavering. 
I will never forget the angel message to the women at the tomb: Go tell His disciples and Peter that he goes before you into Galilee . . . For him to single me out, showed that I had been fully forgiven.

Jesus later asked me three times if I loved Him. The first two times I simply said, "Yea." The third time I was grieved and said, 'Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee.' He commanded me, to feed His lambs and his sheep. I still wonder if the reason He asked me three times whether I loved Him, was to lessen the pain from having denied Him thrice."

Colleen

I wasn't there when the rock rolled away, leaving an unoccupied tomb. When Mary Magdalene realized Jesus had risen. When He appeared to His disciples. When those who had lost hope found it again and rejoiced.

Every morning begins a new day--twenty-four hours that may contain challenges as well as joys, rainbows as well as rain, cloudy skies as well as brilliant sunshine. Nature's resurrection. Like those long-ago witnesses, I also rejoice. I pray that whatever each day holds, you will receive strength and the assurance that because He lives, hope springs eternal.