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JUNE 16
A LORD FULL OF SURPRISES
“When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And
very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went
to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the
stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw
that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they
entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting
on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be
alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has
been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.’” (Mk 16:
1-6)
The Sabbath was over, and a new day had begun, in more ways than one.
The women have a well-intended plan for this day – not a perfect one, I
might add, because the stone is way too big for them to roll away… In any
event, things do not go according to plan, because of the most unexpected
news. He is not there, where they expected to find Him.
Let the most unexpected news of the Lord’s resurrection; of enormous
suffering, injustice, abandonment, physical and spiritual torture and
death, unexpectedly overcome, defeated, trampled, and turned to light,
joy, and eternal meaning – let this news be ever-new to me, and ever
present in my heart and mind.
I do have a Lord Who overcomes the darkest of hours, and death itself,
in me. I have a Lord, as someone once said, “Who knows His way out of a
tomb.” I also have a Lord Who often surprises me with unexpected events
and circumstances, despite my well-intended plans. Let me be open to
His will and His surprises today, and be willing to re-discover Him in
some place other than where I had expected.
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