I've Seen Jesus

 "Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, 'I have seen the Lord.' " John 20:18......"As if till now, I've never lived. All that I'd done before won't matter anymore. I've just seen Jesus, and I'll never be the same again." Lyrics from "I've Just Seen Jesus," by Bill Gaither and Danny Daniel

Someone asked me in our church's Good Friday service what I thought the disciples were feeling after Christ's death on the cross. That wasn't difficult for me to answer. I told them that they were emotionally and spiritually devastated. They were crushed and in a state of despair. Mary Magdalene and other women had gone to the tomb to wash and anoint His body. The disciples were so terrified and without hope that they wouldn't venture out of hiding. All of this is recorded in Scripture, but it is not this information that allows me to answer their question. What makes me answering it possible is that I, like the disciples, have been in that same emotional and spiritual state that they were, and only experiencing what they were to experience, and Mary had experienced would suffice; I had to see Jesus too. Have you been there as well? Are you there now?

Let me ask a question here. Have you seen Jesus.....ever? I don't mean have you read of Him, heard of Him, and memorized all of what you've read and heard. I mean, have you "seen" Him? Not with your physical eyes, but your spiritual ones, the ones that are found in your heart. I have found, in so many ways, that He can be seen, will be seen with such eyes, eyes that are attuned to His voice, and are always seeking Him. I've also found that He can be seen best in the darkest conditions and most hopeless situations. His Light seems to show best in those places. Somehow, when all is bright and sunny, that is when our eyes are most prone to miss Him. Darkness and pain somehow awaken those spiritual eyes to Him, to the One who is always there.

As I said, Mary and all the others were broken beyond description at the seeming loss of their Lord. When she first encountered Him in the garden where the tomb was, she thought Him to be the gardener. She said with tears, "They have taken my Lord away." And then Jesus spoke her name, "Mary," and with the hearing of her name, she recognized her risen Lord. Suddenly, His Light came bursting through her darkness, just as Scripture promises that it always will. Weeping was turned into joy, mourning into dancing. In an instant, everything changed. Why? Because she'd just seen Jesus. When that happened, the lyrics to the Gaither-Daniels song became real to her. Have they ever become real to you?

I have seen the very dark places of despair and hopelessness in my life. I have wondered at times if somehow He was gone from my life as well. I am so thankful that in those places, He wooed my heart to His Presence, and opened the eyes of my heart to see Him, and I would find again, when I saw Jesus, that though the conditions might continue, they could not hold me because He was there. I "saw" Him in the hearing of His voice, and the sensing of His Presence.

So I say to you, if you find yourself in such a place today, "I've seen Jesus," and if you need to as well, take heart. He will never fail to show Himself to the heart that truly seeks Him. Trust Him to, in His time and way, show Himself, and turn your weeping to joy, and your mourning to dancing. I've seen Jesus, and so will you.

Blessings,

Pastor O