He is Risen!

Early in the morning, before the sun had fully risen, Mary Magdalene walked in grief to the tomb. Her heart was broken. Her hope, buried. Her world, shattered. The man who had delivered her from darkness, the one who had healed her, taught with truth and authority, loved her in spite of her sin, and forgave her was gone. She came to that solemn place, the tomb of her Lord, to mourn.

But what she found rattled her. The stone, the large one that sealed the entrance and that was sealed with official mark, the one guarded by Roman legionaries, was rolled away from the entrance.  She ran. She told Peter and John. They ran. They looked. They saw the linen cloths and the empty space where Jesus’ body once lay. But they did not yet understand, so they went home. Mary, however, stayed.

She stood outside the tomb, weeping. She looked again. She saw two angels. They asked her why she was weeping. “They have taken my Lord,” she said, “and I do not know where they have laid Him.” And then, turning, she saw a man she thought is the gardener. He also asked her, “Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” And then came the turning point of the entire affair.

He said her name: “Mary.” And just like that, everything changed for her.

Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!