Where is He?

The beginning of a year is always a good time to refocus and realign ourselves. We get so caught up in the frenzy of life that we have to force ourselves to sit down and take stock of where we are and what our priorities look like. Many people are fearful and troubled about the future, either on a personal level or in a broader sense. If there was one single thing that could transform your life for the better this year, would you do it?

Where is He?

I was reading in John chapter 20 a little while ago and was touched by the account given there of Mary Magdalene and the disciples’ discovery of the empty tomb. Three days earlier, two prominent Jewish leaders, who had encountered Jesus in the previous three years but through fear had been secret followers, begged Pontius Pilate to permit them to take Jesus’ body down from the cross so they could give Him a dignified burial rather than see Him thrown into a pit for common criminals.

Mark tells us in chapter 15 of his Gospel that “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid” (v.47). Imagine the grief these two women must have felt as the One whom they dearly loved, whom they had been following for a considerable time, and on whom their hopes were pinned, was now lifeless and bound in grave-clothes.

As they prepared spices and fragrant oils to embalm His body I suspect they spent much time weeping and wondering what the future held now that He was gone. Then came Sunday morning and Mary Magdalene could stay away no longer. Here is the account of what happened:

Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” (John 20:1,2)

When Peter and John came to the tomb and discovered Mary’s report was true, Peter didn’t seem to understand what it signified whereas John “saw and believed” (v.8) that Christ had risen, but both men promptly left and went back home.

What happened next? John continues the story:

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). (John 20:11-16)

The words that struck me were these: “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping” (v.11). She had come seeking Jesus, and when she didn’t immediately find Him, rather than run off home like Peter and John, she lingered. As a result of her lingering she was afforded a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus, the very One she came seeking. And He called her by name. In that instant all her hopes were restored as she recognized her Lord. 

Even believers who know the Lord need to constantly seek Him. It is so easy in our busy lives, even if we are faithfully serving Him, to lose sight of Jesus. We can try to live good lives, doing the best for our families, even helping out at church, but if our focus is not on our personal relationship with Him and we are not carving out real time spent in His Word, then we are missing out on the richness of what the Christian life can and should be. If we want to get to know someone really well then it requires spending real, quality time together.  

Then there is the vast majority who don’t even know to seek Jesus in the first place. The thought never crosses their minds, and they have no idea why they should. They are like the crowds who were milling around that execution site, where three men were hanging on wooden crosses, presuming that they were all criminals deserving of death. Or like the ones who thought that it was a shame that a good man like Jesus was being unfairly punished, but didn’t think much more about it.  

If there is an emptiness in your life or if you have no peace about the future, there is no better occupation than to start taking steps to seek Jesus right away. It is the only course of action that will bring complete and absolute fulfilment in this life and a guarantee for the next. There are some well-known verses in Jeremiah that offer assurance that if someone genuinely seeks God they will not be disappointed:

 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

These words were written to the Israelites who were physically in captivity in Babylon, but we can apply them to ourselves in a spiritual sense. God has a personal interest in each of us and He calls us by our names. He promises to release us from the one thing that holds captive every single person who has ever lived – sin. You might find offensive the idea of being a slave to sin but Jesus Himself said “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34) and if you make an honest assessment of your own life you will concede that it is true.

You may never have given God or His Son a second’s thought in your whole life and all this might sound completely foreign to you. You may have no regard at all for the Bible or for those who believe it, but what if the one thing that could transform your life this year is seeking Him?

I would ask you to just stop, and linger for a few minutes outside the empty tomb, so to speak.

That baby, whose birth much of the world was recently celebrating whether consciously or unconsciously, came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). God, the Creator of the universe, came to this earth in human form in order to die to make it possible for us to be rescued from the penalty of sin. 

You must start by admitting that you are a “lost” sinner – you cannot be saved if you do not think you are lost in the first place – then cry out to God to forgive you. Believe in the fact that the baby who was born in Bethlehem and was crucified on a cross 33 years later did it for you, as the perfect payment for your sin. We can be sure that it was perfect because of what Mary discovered at the tomb – God had raised His Son from the dead! God was satisfied with Jesus’ sacrifice and there is not a single good work that you or I can do or need to do in order to add to what He has already done to secure our future in heaven.

Commit your life to Him and you will know the peace that passes understanding. Your problems will not magically disappear but you will gain the strength, support and perspective to navigate through them with a deeper sense of peace and hope, knowing that God is with you through every challenge, and that you have unlimited access to Him through His Son, Jesus.   

What Mary discovered that day at the empty tomb is something you might not care to believe, but that does not mean it is not true. Please don’t disregard this as religious nonsense until you have taken some time to seek Jesus – start by reading the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and discover for yourself who He is, that He is indeed alive, and is waiting for you to find Him so He can give you a hope and a future, and transform your life like nothing and no one else can.