Category: News

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Hespeler, April 19, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 36-41, Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19, 1 Peter 1:17-23, Luke 24:13-35

Two followers of Jesus are walking down the road discussing the things that they know about him. Everything that they say about him is true; nothing is inaccurate. They know that Jesus was a prophet and mighty in word and deed. They know about his arrest, condemnation and crucifixion.

And they also know about the women who went to his tomb. They are familiar with their reports of seeing angels and not finding his body. And they are aware that the claims of these women have been confirmed by further investigation. And yet, ironically and jarringly, though they know these essential elements of the story that we celebrate every Easter, they find no joy in any of their discussions. They are depressed and walk with sad and downcast eyes.

The Truth

How can this be? They know the truth, and the truth is what matters, isn’t it? All we have to do to change people’s hearts and minds is to show them what is true. But these people know the truth. They know all about it, and it does not seem to be helping them at all. If anything, it seems to only make them feel worse.

A stranger joins them as they walk. He asks of them and receives from them all of the data they have about this man Jesus. He doesn’t give them any new information. And yet, somehow, he seems to change everything for them.

Two-Hour Conversation

And I realize, of course, that some of you are jumping ahead to the end of the story and want to say that this stranger does give them some new information. It turns out at the end that the stranger is himself the risen Lord Jesus. That is a bombshell in terms of new information. But they only realize it after he disappears.

But before that, they are on a seven-mile hike together. That would have made for about a two-hour conversation if they were walking at a reasonable pace. And in all that time, there is no indication that the stranger gives them any new information or evidence.

In fact, he kind of plays dumb. He acts as if he has never even heard of this Jesus of, where did you say he came from again? Nazareeth? He’s never even heard of him before.

How He Moved Them

He somehow takes only their information and is able to spin it back to them so that, even while they are walking and before his secret identity is revealed, their hearts begin to burn within them. With no new information, he can move their hearts from sorrow to joy and from darkness to light.

And that is the effect that I want to focus on today. There are so many in our world who are walking through this life feeling sad and sorrowful. Their sadness is not without reason because they are not lacking in information.

Streams of Information

We are all being fed information all day, every day. Most of us have these little devices in our hands or in our pockets all the time that will, if we let them, be only too happy to feed us a constant stream of information. If we are careful and check where that information is coming from, it might even be accurate information.

We are, in fact, living in the golden age of information – an age when the most accurate truths can be transmitted to a greater number of people more efficiently than ever before.

And what is the result of that? Are more people better informed than ever before? Is the world more united and all on the same page than has ever been possible since the creation of the world?

No, not really. On the contrary, we seem to be more divided than ever before. We also seem to have a harder time agreeing about anything.

More Information Doesn’t Help

So it is clear that more information alone does not lead to more agreement. And, when people already have different opinions, it seems that coming along and giving them more information doesn’t bring people together. It tends to lead them further apart.

To take a simple example, say that you meet someone who believes that the earth is flat, and you say that it is round. If you proceed to offer them evidence – pictures taken from space, experiments that calculate the curvature of the earth, the flight paths of airplanes – what will be their response?

Will the flat-earther simply crumble in the face of your onslaught of truth? Not likely. If you have ever tried to do that, you will have discovered that the more you confront them with conflicting information and hard evidence, the more likely they will be to double down. They will call your facts conspiracy theories. They will reject your sources as corrupt and self-serving.

So, going around and giving people more information is not going to make any of this better and will likely make it worse. So, what do we do? Well, that brings us back to this genius stranger on the road to Emmaus. If he doesn’t bring more information, what does he offer his walking companions to revolutionize their point of view?

What He Told Them

Well, this is what we’re told he did. “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” he said. “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?”

But he didn’t just tell them this. He actually showed it to them. “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” What he is doing here isn’t telling them anything that they don’t already know. What he is doing is taking the information that they have given him and repackaging it within the larger narrative of Scripture.

Interpreting Their Information

He is saying to them, “Yes, it is discouraging that this Jesus was ‘handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified.’ But look at all the stories in the Bible where God has been able to use suffering and death to bring about hope and salvation for his people.

“And yes, this Jesus may not have redeemed Israel in the way that you had expected, by setting it free from the yoke of Rome, but think of all the times when Israel was under the yoke of Egypt or Babylon or Persia, and God was able to save his people in ways that surprised the whole world! What if God is doing the same thing through what looks like a humiliating defeat of this Jesus of yours?

“And yes, I know you think that these women have lost their minds with their talk of empty tombs and visions of angels, but how many heroes of the scripture have spoken such nonsense before. How many of them turned out to be speaking the word of the Lord when it was needed most?”

Providing a Narrative

He is not giving them more information; what he is doing is giving them a radically different perspective on the information that they already have. He is telling them a story about the information. And that is what makes all the difference.

And that is what the world needs today more than anything else, I believe. We don’t necessarily need more information because we have demonstrated rather clearly that we don’t know what to do with information.

We are living in a time where people will fight and disagree over all kinds of information, including facts that were considered settled just a few years ago. We are living in an age where people hesitate to trust the established experts in any field because they are experts. We are living in an age where it is quite common for people to spend a few hours watching videos on the internet and decide, based only on that, that they know more about a given topic than people do who have advanced degrees and expertise.

Using Stories to Bring Us Together

Information isn’t getting us anywhere these days, at least not anywhere where we can all go together. But that doesn’t mean that there is nothing we can do. People have rarely unified over information. What really brings people together is stories.

That is how people make sense of the world – how they have always made sense of the world. People tell stories. They take various facts and information and weave them together into a story that speaks to us much more powerfully than any individual pieces of information ever could.

That is what the stranger offered the travelling disciples on that road to Emmaus. He offered them a story. He took their information about what Jesus had promised, about his rejection and crucifixion and about the strange things that had been observed at the tomb, and he told them a different story about those things. He told them a story about a different kind of messiah than the one that they might have been expecting. And that different story was what made their hearts burn within them.

What We’re Talking About as We Walk

The facts of the world that surround us seem discouraging today. The world has become entangled in a war in Iran from which there is no easy way out. What’s more, the impacts of that war are having devastating effects on a global scale.

On the domestic front, we are dealing with mounting crises: a lack of affordable housing, inflation, an ongoing addiction and mental-health crisis.

These are the kinds of things that people are walking down the road and talking about. And all of these things are disturbing and upsetting people.

The Role of the Church

What then, is the role of the church when this is what people are talking about? We are called to be the stranger who comes alongside people as they walk in that state of anxiety and confusion.

And I know it might be tempting to come alongside people to offer them new information. That is the tendency of our world. We are tempted to say, “Oh look, here are the economic indicators that suggest that things are going to get better.” Or we might say, “This politician or that politician is promising to create this policy that will break us out of this problem.”

Is that going to change people’s mood? I doubt it. That is the kind of information that they have heard a hundred times before and it has only led to more disappointment. No, what they need is a new story that brings new meaning to the facts that they already know. And that is exactly what the Christian faith can offer.

The Stories We Can Offer

We can tell them the story of the incarnation. It is the story of a God who did not avoid the suffering and struggles of this world but actually chose to enter into them. In Christ, God became human so that God might know what it is to live with our fears and our struggles. It is a story that reveals a God of infinite compassion and care.

We can tell them the story of Christ crucified. It is the story of the worst defeat and humiliation possible. But it is also the story of how God used that defeat to turn the way of this world upside-down. God defeated the power of death and despair upon the very wood of Jesus’ cross. God used the weakness of Christ to defeat the powers of this world.

And we can tell the story of an empty tomb – a story not of confusion or of despair as the women thought at first, but a story of life taking the victory in the face of death.

These are the stories that we can tell. And they are stories that can fire people’s imaginations and make their hearts burn within them. These are the stories we can tell because of Easter.

So, the next time you run into people who are arguing or fighting because they disagree about information, or who are filled with sorrow because of what they see in the world, how about you don’t try to give them any new information. Tell them a story – tell them the story. It is the most powerful thing you can do.

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Hespeler, April 12, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 22-32, Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

Poor Thomas. He always gets a bad rap, doesn’t he? What do people remember about Thomas? Do they remember that he was brave? When Jesus said he was going to go to Judea because Lazarus had died, and things were looking dangerous, Thomas said to the other disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” But do we call him Thomas the Brave? No, we do not.

What Do We Call Thomas?

Or at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, “And you know the way to the place where I am going,” everybody else just stared at their feet. They had no clue what he was talking about, but none of them wanted to say. And so, guess who spoke up and said what everyone was thinking? “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’”

And if Thomas hadn’t said that, would we have ever gotten one of Jesus’ best quotes: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

But do we call Thomas the “that’s a good question guy”? Do we call him the guy who says what everyone else is thinking? No, we do not.

You all know what we call him, don’t you? He is forever and always “Doubting Thomas.” And how fair is that? After all, it was really only just that one time.

Not Even Condemned for It

And it is not even as if the Bible condemns him for doubting that one time, nor does Jesus. Yes, Jesus does tell Thomas to stop doubting. But he only says this after he has shown Thomas his hands and his side, which was the condition that Thomas had set in order that he might believe.

We have turned Thomas into a story about the danger of doubt. And, as a result, we have piled guilt and shame onto the heads of anyone who has ever asked a question or expressed a doubt. We told all those people who had legitimate doubts that they should suppress them. We made them hide everything that they were thinking. This has made some people afraid of their own thought processes. And how many, when they couldn’t do that, just abandoned the faith as a result, feeling as if there were no place for them in the church and that they would never belong?

But Thomas is not Doubting Thomas. He is Thomas the Brave. And he is especially the guy who is not afraid to say what everyone is thinking. And we need more of his kind in the church today.

One Thing Wrong

That is not to say, however, that Thomas didn’t get anything wrong. And, because he did, he had to live with his doubts for much longer than was necessary.

Yes, I do have one question for Thomas today. I want to ask him, “Why weren’t you there?” That is the one thing in this whole story that is never addressed. Think about everything that had happened leading up to the beginning of our reading this morning.

At Their Worst

This group of disciples had just been through the worst events of their life. Their friend, and the wisest and best person among them, had been arrested. He had been rushed through a mockery of a trial and crucified.

Not only had they been devastated on a personal level, but they had also had all of the hopes that they had built up around this man dashed at once. He had announced a new kind of kingdom, one in which even people like them could have a place. Oh, they had had extremely grand visions of what that might look like.

But it had all come crashing down around them. And they had fled in confusion and fear. But today, on the third day after all this had happened, the first day of the week, the old gang was getting together. They were gathering, perhaps, to commiserate and to remember the good times. But they were also gathering to work through some disturbing and confusing things that had happened over the past few hours.

Confusing Situation

First, Mary had flown in with a wild accusation that the tomb where Jesus had been laid was open and some mysterious people had stolen his body. Peter and one of the others had gone to investigate, but had come back with nothing clear to report, only more questions. Why would grave robbers bother folding up the grave clothes, or even want to leave them behind in the first place?

And then Mary, looking even more crazed than the first time, had run in to declare, “I have seen the Lord.” It seemed as if the people in the group were slowly going crazy, and so they all gathered to try and work all of this stuff out. Except they weren’t all together, were they? One of them hadn’t shown up for the old boys’ reunion. Where was Absent Thomas?

Where Was Thomas?

He probably would have said that he was too busy. He had no time because he had to get his beard trimmed. Or maybe he had a big bet on his favourite team in the chariot races, and he just had to be there to cheer them on. Or, for all I know, he was playing hopscotch or throwing stones in a lake.

The first lesson of time management is that it is not about how much time you have. Everyone has the same amount of time. It is about what your priorities are. If something is important to you, you will make time for it. And if you consistently can’t make time for something that you claim is important to you, it is probably not the priority that you think it is.

They Needed Thomas

So, if Thomas was not there with the others on the first day of the week, it was because it was not at the top of his priority list. And that was a big loss for the other disciples, because they were in a fragile state. They could have used Thomas the Brave and Thomas who can say what everyone is thinking. The power of the group was lessened because Thomas didn’t feel it was important to provide his unique strengths.

They gathered without his calm and rationalistic presence. And yet, despite that lack, they experienced something fantastic. They experienced for themselves the power and the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. It turned out that it was really Thomas who was missing out because he decided that he had other priorities.

Radical Practice

The fact that the appearances of the risen Jesus in the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John occur one week apart on the first day of the week is not just a matter of coincidence. We know that the earliest Christians very quickly settled on one practice. They met on Sundays.

This was a radical innovation for one reason above all others. Virtually all of the earliest followers of Jesus were Jews who had been taught from the cradle that the proper day for religious practice was the Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week, the day we call Saturday.

And calendars matter to people. They will fight you if you try and change their calendar on them. People do not change their longstanding cultural traditions lightly. Something must have happened that made a big impression to persuade them to do that. And we are told that that really impressive thing was none other than the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week.

But it was not just a one-time reality for them. Jesus didn’t just rise that one time. They also discovered that, when they gathered together on all subsequent Sundays, even if there were only two or three of them, the risen Jesus would be right there with them in their midst

Table Fellowship with Jesus

Jesus, during his life, had had the habit, as a sign of the kingdom of God, of inviting all sorts of people to his table. It didn’t matter who they were. They might be prostitutes or tax collectors. They might be rich or poor, outcasts or strangers. All of them would find a place at Jesus’ table.

And so, whenever the earliest Christians wanted to recapture what it had been like when Jesus was around, they would share the same kinds of meals, welcoming all comers.

They experienced more than commiseration, good food and fellowship when they did that. They experienced the presence of their risen Lord. That was how they knew he was risen. Not merely because of the testimony passed down from the apostles. They also experienced it for themselves when they gathered as something that eventually came to be called the church.

And that is what these two appearances, one week apart on the first day of the week, are referring to. This is John’s way of reminding his readers of their own practice of gathering as the church, even though, of course, this practice had not yet been established within the setting of this story.

Thomas Misses the Experience

And with this in mind, Thomas becomes a very important lesson for the church. The church, represented symbolically by the disciples gathering on a Sunday to eat together, collectively experiences the reality of the resurrection of Christ. But, since Thomas is absent, he does not participate in that experience. As a result, he is left in doubt and disbelief.

But when, the following Sunday, the “church” gathers again, this time Thomas is present. This time he too is able to experience the power and truth of the resurrection. He experiences it so powerfully that he cries out, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus Shows Up

What is the message in that for the church today? Am I suggesting that the risen Jesus is going to show up here one Sunday morning and, if you don’t make it here every week, you might miss it and you’ll regret it?

Well, I wouldn’t put it exactly like that. But there is some truth there. Jesus does show up in the life of the church. He has promised that he would.

I know that he’s not going to show up and go around the room, inviting us to put our fingers in the holes in his hands or our hands in his side. But Jesus does show up here. I know that many have experienced his presence in quiet ways and in powerful ways.

They have experienced a spiritual presence. They have seen Jesus in the face of their brother or sister in Christ. They have been introduced to him in the music, the words or the preaching.

Not About Being Present at a Certain Time

I’m not saying this in order to make anyone feel guilty because they cannot or they choose not to show up to church every Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I would certainly love it if all of you did that all the time, but I also recognize that modern life is really complicated and that we are all pulled in many different directions for some very good reasons.

And anyway, it is not as if I am saying that Jesus only shows up here between 10 and 11 am on Sunday, because he doesn’t. I have seen Jesus very much present in a kind volunteer helping someone on Food Bank Day. I have seen Jesus show up to provide someone with just the right piece of clothing in unexpected and near miraculous ways through Hope Clothing.

No, there are no rules that you have to be a part of the church in specific ways or at specific times. I’m not going to pile one more feeling of obligation onto the heads of any of you. You already have enough of that in your life.

Experiencing the Risen Jesus

But the message of Absent Thomas is that the experience of the Risen Jesus is something that any of you can have in your life. But Jesus never promised you that it would come to you all on your lonesome. Jesus rose from the dead for the assembly of God’s people, and it is in those assemblies that Jesus makes himself and his resurrection power fully known to his people.

Those assemblies can take the form of high liturgical church services or the prayer meeting of a small group. They can be about believers coming together for works of service, to sing, to share a meal or to do a hundred other things. The one common denominator is that Jesus is there when the church gathers.

And there will be moments when the power of that presence will break through to you. Unless, of course, you are just an Absent Thomas.

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Hespeler, April 05, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Easter Day
Jeremiah 31:1-6, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, Colossians 3:1-4, John 20:1-18

The Gospel of John tells a slightly different story of Easter morning from the other gospels. The other Gospels tell us about several women coming out to the tomb as the third day after the crucifixion dawns. They may be sad and confused, but at least they are together, and they walk in the early morning light.

But John starts the story like this: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.” John invites us to imagine Mary all alone and stumbling in the dark at one of the hardest moments in her life.

When John tells us this, I do not think that he is trying to contradict or correct the accounts in the other Gospels. He may be aware that there were other women who were there.

Symbolic

This adjustment to the story is more symbolic than literal. Throughout this Gospel, the image of people walking alone in the darkness comes up a few times. It always means that someone is lost, confused and doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about. That is what John is telling us about Mary at this point in the story. He is also warning us that we might have the same problem this Easter morning.

And Mary’s failure to understand what Jesus is about is put directly on display. She arrives at the tomb and sees one thing and immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion. She sees that the protective stone has been removed from the tomb, and she doesn’t even bother to investigate. She doesn’t even look inside (perhaps because it is still so dark), and just jumps to a conclusion: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

The Story Mary Tells

We know what that missing stone means, don’t we? It means that Jesus is no longer dead. It means that he is risen and that death has no dominion over him and that because he lives, we may live also.

But what story does Mary tell herself? She tells a story of theft, “They have taken the Lord.” She tells a story of doubt, “We don’t know.” Most of all, she tells a story of a mysterious “them,” a seemingly all-powerful enemy who is intent on destroying whatever hope or comfort she might find in this deeply troubling world.

The story that Mary tells is a false narrative, but maybe we could forgive her for it. She has stumbled upon a confusing situation in the dark. Who wouldn’t jump to the worst conclusion? But, once established, her belief proves remarkably resilient.

After she tells her false story to the male disciples, she returns to the tomb with Peter and another disciple. It is now full morning and, in the light of day, the disciples turn up more evidence for what has happened. They turn up linen wrappings that had been on Jesus’ body, and the cloth that had been on his head rolled up separately.

Evidence of the Grave Clothes

This new evidence goes against Mary’s story. What kind of evil grave robber “them” is going to take the trouble to carefully unwrap and fold the linens? This new evidence apparently convinces one of the disciples to believe something different, though we’re not told what.

But Mary, what does she do with this new information? Is she willing to revise her story? Not for one minute! She has a narrative, and she is going to stick with it.

The two men leave to mull things over, but she remains firmly committed to her story. She remains alone and weeping at the cave, still firmly believing that the insidious “they” have done something cruel.

Heavenly Visitors

The next test of her commitment to her tale comes in the form of a heavenly apparition. She looks into the tomb to see two angels sitting there. Note that John doesn’t say men dressed in white like some of the other Gospels. He doesn’t say that they looked kind of like angels. It was apparently obvious that they were angels.

This is the clearest indication yet that Mary’s story is wrong. Why would angels show up at the scene of a random grave robbery? But is Mary at all willing to revise her interpretation of the events? Not for a moment. Indeed, she repeats the exact same story to the angels: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Why, Nothing Less than the Appearance of Jesus Himself!

By this point, it is clear that Mary is so committed to her story that nothing will shake her from it. I mean, sure, if the risen Jesus himself were to come and stand right in front of her then she would have to admit that her story is wrong, but anything short of…

Wait, what? Are you telling me that that is exactly what happened next, and she still wouldn’t let go of her narrative? She was so lost in her story that she didn’t even recognize the man that she had followed for years. She assumed he was a landscaper and actually accused him of working with “them” in their horrible crime? This I’ve got to see.

Well, what do you know! I guess Mary Magdalene was really that committed to her story.

A Warning About False Narratives

What is John trying to say by telling us the story in this way? As I have already said, I do not think that this is coming out of a concern to relate exactly what happened as it happened. No, he points us to a deeper meaning here. He is warning you, me and all of us that we too are stuck in false narratives.

We come here on this day to celebrate the resurrection. We claim to believe that, on that Easter many years ago, the stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. But sometimes we, like Mary, get stuck in our narratives about what these things mean.

Our narratives are not necessarily false. We tell ourselves that this event proves to us who Jesus is – that he is the one who has revealed God to us. And we tell ourselves that, because he rose from the dead, we too may hope to live again after we die. Those are good and comforting truths.

Stories About “Them”

But are we still stumbling around in the dark, failing to appreciate all that it means that the stone has been removed from the tomb? For example, one of the false narratives that Mary embraces in the dark is that some mysterious “them” is still in charge of the story. “They” are stealing and creating doubt.

Who, I wonder, are our mysterious “them”? Who are the ones that we think are taking the incredible victory of Easter and turning it into theft and doubt?

Using the Power of the Resurrection for Control

Some of “them” may be Christians, or at least claim to be. “They” are those kinds of Christians who steal the power of Jesus’ resurrection and use it to control others. “They” say that unless you live out the Christian life exactly as they tell you to and believe what they say you must believe, you cannot be saved.

That is a false narrative. The victory that Jesus won over the grave is a victory won for all. He did not release you from the chains of death only in order to imprison you to someone who claims to speak in his name. The victory that Jesus offers, you can receive on your own terms by simply trusting in him and what he has done.

Those Who Use the Message to Victimize

Or perhaps “they” are those who steal the message of Jesus and use it for things contrary to what Jesus stood for. “They” may hate or exclude the stranger in the name of Jesus. “They” may victimize the poor, the minority or the marginalized and claim that it is only what Jesus tells them to do.

Did Jesus bust out of the tomb so that such things could be done in his name? Of course not! But how many Christians are caught up in thinking that this is what the Christian faith is all about?

Breaking Out of False Narratives

And what will it take to break some people out of such false narratives? You can show them the evidence, the folded grave clothes. You can give them Jesus’ clear teachings about loving your neighbours even when they are hated Samaritans. You can repeat the Beatitudes until you are blue in the face, and they will only accuse you of being too woke.

Why, even if you sent angelic visitors to tell them what the message of the resurrection is, they would still be stuck.

And if Jesus himself were to appear to them in the form of a migrant landscape worker, or someone living rough, or suffering from a mental health crisis, would that convince them? You would hope so, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

Jesus Appears

Jesus appears in this world all the time. We see that in the famous Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in the Gospel of Matthew. There, Jesus speaks to both groups and tells them that they have seen him. “I was hungry and you gave me food,” he says to the sheep, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

So Jesus does appear to people who hold onto this false narrative all the time. But when he appears, for example, in the form of a migrant farm worker, hard working, but possibly inadequately documented, do they see the risen Christ? No, they only see a gardener and probably a gardener who is dangerous and scary, a gardener no doubt working for the dreaded “they” who are trying to destroy our way of life.

Don’t Be Like Mary

Do not be too hard on Mary. She may have come to the risen Jesus in the dark and, as a result, she embraced a false story of what had happened. And it was a story that she had a hard time letting go of.

We do the same thing. We fail to embrace the full meaning of the resurrection too. We, too, become attached to the false stories that we create. And they are stories of powerlessness, victimization and fear.

Jesus Changes Her Narrative with One Word

But I have good news on this Easter Sunday. Mary is just like us. She came to the resurrection in the dark like us. She clung to her false stories about what had happened, just like we do. But she did not leave that tomb in the dark. And when she left, she left her falsehoods behind.

How did that happen? What made the difference? Only one thing, but it was everything. Jesus said one word to her; he called her name. And suddenly the darkness lifted, and all the truth about what Jesus had accomplished for her came crashing in on her. She knew she had seen the Lord and joyfully shared that good news with the others.

I know that you may be struggling in the darkness today. I know that, as you look around at the disturbing events surrounding us, you have been telling yourselves stories about a dangerous and all-powerful “them.” You have stories of fear, anxiety and powerlessness that haunt the corners of your mind.

Jesus is Calling

But the risen Jesus is calling out to you today. And he is calling you by your name because he has known you from before the foundations of the earth. The only question is, will you hear him calling? Will you drop all of the falseness you’ve been clinging to and cry out “Rabbouni” with Mary? Will you let his death and his resurrection teach you better?

The stone has been rolled away from the entrance of the tomb for you. Embrace the whole truth of what that means for you today.

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