I wonder what it was like to be Mary Magdalene? She had been delivered of seven devils. She had witnessed many miracles. All of these displays of supernatural power were suddenly in question as she watched this same, heretofore powerful man, die --seemingly powerlessly -- at the hands of his enemies. What confusion must have filled her mind! She thought he was the Messiah, the promised King of the Jews. Now he was dead. She went to his tomb to anoint his body, only to find, the body was missing. What next? She hastened to tell Peter and John this news. They, too, went to the tomb, confirmed the body was missing and went home. But Mary didn’t move. Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. In this moment, perhaps the pinnacle of her confusion, she stood in the place she thought Jesus would be and cried. She cried for Jesus. She cried for what seemed to be her loss. She cried for her inability to complete the task that would bring closure to this loss. She cried in confusion. She stayed where she expected to find Jesus and cried. Then, Jesus came to her. She was the first to see him after his resurrection. Later, Mary would come to understand that Jesus was indeed the powerful Messiah she had always believed him to be. Later, the clouds of confusion would give way to more complete understanding that would light a new path for her life.
Can you relate? Have you in the past witnessed the power of God in your life, only to have your expectations shattered by an unexpected, perhaps even devastating circumstance? A quick survey of the Bible will show that God rarely works in the way we anticipate He will…but His work is always purposed and powerful. What do we do when we, like Mary, are at the pinnacle of a confusing situation in which everything we have believed about God seems to be contradicted by the circumstances in which we find ourselves? Do we leave the place we know Jesus to be or do we stay and weep for Him until he comes?
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