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

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.”

At this, Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was him.

“Woman,” he said, “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.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her (from John 20:11-18).

***

Ever since I was a small child, I knew that Jesus died for my sins, but He seemed like someone who “was.” For most of my life I was like Mary in the way that I didn’t recognize Jesus when He stood before me “knocking on the door of my heart”. Instead, I tried harder on my own to overcome my faults and trials, and I strived twice as hard to be noticed and accepted by God and others. Then one day, I gave up; and that’s when I realized that Jesus is with me.

On this particular day, I became acquainted with the Jesus who “is”. He is alive, all-loving and all-powerful, and He is seated at the right hand of God the Father-far above all rule, authority, principality and power; risen indeed!

Not only did Jesus died for my sins, but He filled me with a new kind of life. It wasn’t something I could buy or earn by trying hard or being “good”. His grace could only be humbly received. So for the first time in my life, I let go and let Jesus transform my despair to hope; my anxiety to inner peace; my harbored pain to forgiveness; my self-protective reclusion to loving others; my need to control my circumstances to trusting Him; my striving to be somebody of worth to resting in who God created me to be; my search for meaning and purpose to finding it in Him.

Now I know Jesus who is both my Savior and my Lord who died for my sins and invites me to follow Him into a new kind of life. And as I let His Holy Spirit live through me, I can re-experience Easter each and every day.

He is risen indeed!