The Other Side

 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” John 20:14-16...."In the place of despair, Jesus calls to us from the other side of the cross." Jack Hayford

There are not many of us who can truly understand what the disciples were feeling and thinking in the first hours and days after the crucifixion. Their beloved Lord was gone, taken from them. And it was so final. He was dead. What is more final than that. Despair was what they all felt. It was certainly what Mary and those with her were experiencing that morning as they went to the tomb. It was deepened, if that were possible, when they discovered that the body they had come to wash was gone. All Mary could do was weep. Sometimes, that's all we can do as well. I've been there. Maybe you've been there too. Maybe you're there now.

It is such a great tragedy that so many people who are living in that place are living in the place of no hope. It's an even greater tragedy when among them are found the people of God. In Christ, we are born into a Living Hope, but we seem to so easily forget that. Mary and all the disciples had. Have you? If we have, we need to hear and take to heart not only the words of Jack Hayford, but even more, the words of Christ Himself. He'd told the disciples, and Mary, that He would be taken from them, but that it would not be permanent. He'd promised that He'd not leave or forsake them. They'd forgotten that. Mary had forgotten that. Then she heard the voice of Jesus. A voice she instantly recognized when He called her by name. A voice that spoke to her from the other side of the cross.

I've known the place of the dead end, the place of no way out. I know the panic of despair, of hopelessness. With all glory to Him, I also know the place of His hearing His voice calling my name. I have heard Him call to me from the other side of the cross. In those places of seeming hopelessness, I still do. He never ceases to call to us in the place of despair, from the other side of the cross. The place of His resurrection. Not from His death, but from His risen life. Have you heard Him? Can you see Him? He's there, breaking through all the black clouds of despair and hopelessness. They cannot hold Him because death could not hold Him. They cannot hold Him now.

Wherever you are today, in your marriage, your family, relationships, finances, livelihoods, ministries, He calls to you from the other side of the cross. He calls your name, and with that call comes the instant wonder of His peace and joy. He's alive. He knows where we are, and no matter how desperate, He assures us that He has already overcome all that is against us in that place. That place cannot hold Him and it cannot hold us. I have this as the testimony of my life and am one of seeming unending numbers who do as well. May it be your testimony as well. In the place of despair, He calls to you from the other side of the cross. Hear His voice as He calls your name. Be lifted up from that place as He calls your name from the other side of the cross.

Blessings,

Pastor O