In a moment of turning

Albert Bogle April 21, 2019 0 1

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John 20: 9-17

9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 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.’ 14 At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

15 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.’

16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’

She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).

17 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.”’

Our overall theme this week: ‘You get like what you look at’ reminds us that the resurrection of Jesus Christ invites us to turn from the darkness of yesterday and live in the dawn of a new day.   The death and resurrection of Jesus is no longer simply Jesus identifying with our pain and suffering, it is we who are invited to live in a new resurrection dawning. This is our moment to escape from our internal imprisonments and see the new way that has been opened up for us.  

The empty tomb invites us to see with fresh eyes a different life paradigm. Mary came to the tomb imprisoned in her sorrow and grief. She was even more distraught to discover the tomb empty, and when others had come, looked and gone home, she still waited. 

She was looking into the abyss of the empty tomb. It was at that point everything changed instead of darkness and death she encountered heaven touching earth. And a voice calling her by name and in her moment of turning everything changed. In that moment she was transformed from a broken emotional wreck to the first one called to break the news to the whole world declaring “I’ve seen the Lord”. The turning of a day can change everything. 

I am reminded of a beautiful song written by Ian Walker and sung by Iain Jamieson from the St Andrew’s Bo’ness praise album Longing For You, entitled ‘At the Turning of the Day’.

Prayer:

Lord 
In their moment of turning
Touch the rejected ones

In their moment of turning 
Forgive the betrayers

In their moment of turning
Reconcile the betrayed

In their moment of turning 
Comfort those who are weeping 

In their moment of turning
Lift the fallen ones

In their moment of turning
Heal the brokenhearted 

Lord
In my moment of turning 
Give me the faith to declare
“I’ve seen the Lord”