Every Woman's Bible Journaling Edition, Filament Enabled - Book - Page 49
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Mary Magdalene
IDENTIT Y
When the Worst Happens
Mary Magdalene remembers . . .
What do you do when the worst happens, when everything you believe in, trust in, disappears?
That was the question ricocheting through my tortured mind as I approached his tomb. My
tears increased as my steps slowed, delaying what I didn’t want to face.
Suddenly I stopped. Something was wrong! The stone was gone from the entrance!
I approached hesitantly, leaned to look inside. No body, but two men who looked like
angels. It made no sense.
“Why are you crying?” they asked.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” I sobbed, “and I don’t know where they have put
him” (John 20:13).
Turning to leave I saw another man, probably the gardener. He, too, asked why I was crying.
How could they not know?
“Sir,” I begged, “if you have taken him away, tell me where . . . ”
Wait for Jesus.
“Mary!” (20:16).
The voice, so familiar, came from the gardener, but . . . I
He always comes.
raised my eyes to his. Not the gardener. Jesus! Alive!
Despite the horror I’d witnessed three days ago—alive! I
was overcome with joy, but he wasn’t finished speaking yet: “Go find my brothers and tell them,
‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father’ “ (20:17).
Only later did the questions come: Why me? Why did God honor me with the most
momentous announcement of all time? Why not Peter or John who’d just been at the tomb?
I don’t have the answer to that question, but I do to my other question: What do you do
when the worst happens? You wait for Jesus. He always comes.
MARY MAGDALENE’S STORY IS TOLD IN JOHN 20:1-18; SHE ALSO APPEARS IN MATTHEW 27:55-61; 28:1-10;
MARK 15:40, 47; 16:1-11; LUKE 8:2-3; 24:1-10; JOHN 19:25.
IDENTIFY
Can you think of a time
when you’d lost all hope?
When did Jesus show up
then?
Are you waiting now for
Jesus to show up? How
does waiting affect how
you relate to him?
“My family fractured, and my
mom-heart spent endless
time devising solutions.
Terrified of making things
worse, I did nothing, hoping
God would step in. Months
passed with holidays and
birthdays celebrated separately. I resigned myself to
a split family. Then a knock
on the door. The person
looked like family, but all I
saw was Jesus.”
JANICE MAYO MATHERS
is author of multiple
books and Bible studies,
including Every Season:
Embracing a Forever Kind
of Purpose (Stonecroft)
and Mothers-in-Law
vs. Daughters-in-Law:
Let There Be Peace. She
helps women see adverse
circumstances as godly
challenges.
