God the Seeker
11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Tommy's Thoughts:
Whenever we lost something, we often sit down and think through the places we went to, figuring out the time we lost it, we ask around and begin tracking and searching high and low for it. A lot of time, we failed, frustrated and give up searching. The next thing we know, it appears out of nowhere in front of us.
The same can describe some of us who begin our search for God with great intentions and eagerness. We say things like "I am going to start to church”; "I'm going to read the Bible"; "I'm going to stop this and that habits". All these go well for a while until we find ourselves don't have the strength to keep up our so-called reformation: to be what we think we can be, on our own.
C.S. Lewis once said, "I never had the experience of looking for God. It was the other way around. He was the hunter, I was the deer. He stalked me, took unerring aim, and fired." The Good News is that what we cannot do, God does. We don't seek Him, He seeks us. We don't change ourselves, He does. God longs for us. No matter how constant, urgent, and devoted our search for Him may be, He seeks and pursues us more relentlessly, more ardently, and more faithfully than we can imagine. All we need to do is to open the door for Him into our heart (Revelation 3:20)
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your care for me as Your treasured child. Thank You for seeking me, giving me a shelter when I’m lost and helpless on my own. Thank You for changing me to be more like Christ each day. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
Bee's Thoughts:
I used to wonder why when Jesus addressed Mary as "Woman" she could not recognise Jesus. Perhaps addressing Mary as "Woman" is unfamiliar to her, and it made her thought Jesus was a 'stranger'. But when Jesus addressed her as "Mary", she instantly recognised the voice of Jesus.
I could understand Mary's feeling better now as I too have experienced how when a person I loved could be like a stranger to me by changing the way he addressed me. I could not recognise the one I loved anymore... he's like a stranger to me though we do communicate, just like in Mary's case.
One word could make a difference.
One word could bring back familarity.
One word could make one recognises the speaker.
Dear Lord,
You gave and You took away... I don't undertand why, yet I know You have Your purpose. Just like Mary, I will not find what I have lost till You choose to reveal it to me. Let me hear You speaking. Amen.
.......the devotion of Bee & Tommy
