She couldn’t take it anymore, there was no sense in crying in the house, the people inside were trying to understand this horror and were all grieving differently. Creeping outside as silently as she could, her sandals crunching the sandy rocks beneath her feet, she stopped and held her breath, listening for any sounds of male feet suddenly moving. No sounds were heard and she stepped carefully onward heading down the stone steps, adjusting her basket as to not click the small clay jars of ointment inside. The further she walked, slowly sights came into view as the mists of night were shredded by fingers of pale light. Her heart skipped a beat as she considered how she might get past the guards. Frowning thru the overwhelming rush of emotions that threatened to break her voice open into loud weeping, she held her breath while she walked to force back the waves of tears. Her perception of what had happened, had left her frozen in a labyrinth of scenes she could not unsee in her mind. His hand opening and then slowly gripping the nail that fastened it to the cross. The sound of his voice from above when he spoke down to his mother and John, from within tortures grasp. His tears of blood dripping down on the rocks below. Scene after scene played out in her mind as she stepped quicker towards the grave. The last scene of his lifeless bare arm slipping out from the white burial cloth and dangling next to the ground while others carried him was too much to bear. She quickened her steps to focus her mind against the power of death that she has watched when he died. She wanted to get there.... the last place he was.... Stumbled by a root in the ground she suddenly realized he would be just around the corner in the rocky tomb. She rounded the corner and stopped short in the scruffy grass, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in a silent scream. In disbelief and dismay, with shocked fear she was suddenly aghast! The soldiers were gone..... the tomb was open... where was the stone? Her head jerked back and forth in confusion where was the stone? With a thud the basket dropped to the ground, yet she was unaware that she had done so. Where were the soldiers! Her eyes saw the darkened opening of the tomb, but in her mind she made a confused decision. “they have taken the body of my Lord!!! WHY!!!!”
Her breath became ragged, her heart increased its rate with adrenaline and urgency. “WHERE WOULD THEY HAVE TAKEN HIM?!?”
In slow motion she feels her body moving towards the darkened opening. One foot step inside, one racing heartbeat and one sound changed everything!
In a daze she stepped back outside her eyes filled with tears and her heart blinded to what had been said inside from the stone ledge. Mary sees a man standing outside in the sunlight.... he called her name.... in disbelief she realizes
“HE CALLED MY NAME.”
Instantly she recognized Jesus’ low voice that said “Mary”....... his familiar voice with a certain sound that said “I know you Mary”. With his spoken words to her, JESUS caused everything to shift in the human experience of knowledge of death and burial.
The quantum leap from death to life, was that a woman would be the first voice to share the good news of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ with the world. Her mourning was turned to dancing by the bravery she personally had, to go to the tomb.
And she cried ....... again.
Dr Gayla Holley
Comments