I Have Seen the Lord
3 April 2018
I want to recommend to you a practice I find powerful in my times of prayer: Make some time each day, find a private space and read the readings of the day out loud.
There is no better time than now, in the flow of Easter. We have started Acts of the Apostles in the first reading and are working through the appearances of the risen Lord in the gospels. These are the foundational texts of our faith. The key is to let the words resonate as you read them out loud. If a particular word or line catches your attention, pause and reread it. Let the Spirit write the words on your heart.
Today’s readings are so rich, it’s hard to choose what to highlight, but this line from the end of the gospel struck me:
So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord
The Greek text puts it in the first person: Mary announced to the disciples “I have seen the Lord.” Powerful words.
The resurrection of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth is the absolute bedrock of our faith. It is the foundation upon which everything else is built. Anyone who conscientiously takes the name Christian will at some point have to come to the same conviction that Mary had when she left the garden: “Jesus is raised from the dead. I know He is alive.” Mary had the advantage of encountering the risen Christ as a physical person. What a privilege for this extraordinary disciple. By the grace of the Spirit, and with the eyes of faith, we are invited to encounter Him too.
Beloved Holy Spirit, write these words on our hearts: “Jesus is raised from the dead. I know He is alive!”