This post is the third in a series of truths that the Lord has really been revealing to me in new and personal ways of late. The first initial thought is that death is a gift and when we break down that idea further we find that through death we are also given hope in and intimacy with Christ. There is one final thought that I have been considering regarding this topic and that is through death we find healing.
I know that may sound like an oxymoron to you. If one is dead, there is no healing going on. Whatever sickness or injury they had was so severe that it resulted in a total system shut-down. There is no recovery period for death. It’s the end of all things…or is it?
Every spring we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a combination of all the worst and all the best of the history of humanity. At the beginning of the week Jesus is ushered into Jerusalem as a local hero and celebrity. At the end of that week He is betrayed by one in His inner circle, falsely accused and arrested, abandoned by His friends, forced to endure a humiliating trial that was rigged from the beginning, then whipped within an inch of His life by Roman soldiers who were skilled in creating as much pain as possible without killing a person. Following that He could have been released, but due to the cowardice of the political leaders of the day and the manipulation of the spiritual leaders of the Jews, His life was traded for a well-known criminal and Jesus was crucified. After He was declared dead, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus quickly bound His body with spices and laid Jesus in a nearby tomb so that they would not defile the Sabbath day…and that was it. At the end of His perfectly sinless and selfless life He enjoyed a brief moment of celebration and then a whirlwind execution to be hurriedly thrown into the side of a hill to decompose. His followers were left confused and grieving with nowhere to turn. But what seemed like the end of all things to them was only the beginning.
On the morning of the third day, just before dawn, Mary Magdalene came with two other ladies to the tomb with the intention of properly preparing Jesus’ body for burial. When they arrived, they found the massive stone that was protecting the opening of the tomb had been rolled away and Jesus was gone. John chapter 20 tells us that Mary ran to tell Peter and John that someone had moved the body and together they returned to the tomb. The men were in and out. They saw the head cloth folded neatly and laid apart from the rest of the rags and that was all they needed. They rushed out to find the other disciples, not stopping to explain what they had seen. It seems that Mary’s helpers followed the two disciples leaving her alone in her grief.
Mary was familiar with loneliness and pain. When she met Jesus she was possessed with seven demons. Based on other Scriptural accounts we know that this kind of affliction was often accompanied by physical pain, some kind of handicap such as blindness or deafness, and even mental torment that today we would call clinical insanity. Just the presence of one demon within a person could have any or all of these effects, so imagine Mary’s pitiful state by being inflicted with seven such spirits. What friends or family would stand by one in such a condition? What happiness could a person feel when burdened with so much evil? Mary lived every single moment in utter torment until she met the Savior.
Jesus released her from her hell on earth and with that healing came joy unspeakable and eternal gratitude. From then on, Mary could be found following the footsteps of Jesus. If she wasn’t at His side ministering to Him in some capacity, she wasn’t far away. Rather than wallowing in the shame and guilt of her former life of bondage, Mary lived in freedom, whole-heartedly serving the One that had delivered her. She devoted her whole life to Him. She ministered to Him as part of the band of followers that traveled with Him and she is even named as one that stood by Him as He was dying. When the men took Jesus from the cross, Mary followed them to the tomb so that she could come back later and give His body the proper burial it deserved. But now, she couldn’t administer this final show of love to Him because He wasn’t there. The tomb was empty and Mary was beside herself.
Stooping to look into the tomb again she saw two angels sitting on either side of the bench that had been carved out of the rock where the body was laid. She was so upset that rather than being startled at seeing these beings that were not there moments before, she simply replied to their question of why she was crying. “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” She was focused on Jesus and only Jesus, even in her deepest grief. Turning away from them she saw a man and assumed He was the keeper of the garden where the tomb was located. Hoping that He might have some answers for her she said, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.”
And then came the moment that changed everything. With all of the love and gentleness that He had for this faithful follower, He spoke her name. “Mary.” Through the tears that clouded her eyes, through the pain that tore at her heart, and through the grief that had her soul in turmoil pierced the voice of her Savior. There was only One that had ever said her name with such love. Only One had ever shown her such gentleness and kindness despite her past. “Rabboni!”
That moment is one of the dearest in all of Scripture to me. It speaks to me for several reasons. This moment was the very first time Jesus revealed Himself to someone after His resurrection. There were many other times in the days to follow, but He chose Mary to be the first. The Scriptures do not explain why He chose Mary, but I believe it was because of her great love and faithfulness to Him. He was the focus of her love and devotion. He had healed her physically from the grasp of the demons, and with His death and resurrection, He had healed her spiritually so that she might live with Him forever. Her cry of joy brings a smile to my face every time I think of it. I hope such moments are recorded for us in Heaven. I have played the scene over and over in my mind, but I would love to see it take place with my own eyes.
But there is more to this scene than this wonderful display of love and devotion. There is a little mystery too. In this case and in several other instances where Jesus appeared to people after His resurrection, His followers didn’t immediately recognize Him. Part of Mary’s lack of understanding, I believe, is due to her extreme grief. When you are really upset, not only is it hard to see or focus on anything, but things that are happening around you aren’t really registering in your mind. So I can understand why His first words to her didn’t register until He said her name. But I also believe that Jesus didn’t look quite the same. The extreme torture that He endured during the beating and execution would have severely mangled His body, but there is no mention of Him looking distorted except for the holes where the nails pierced His hands and feet, and where the spear pierced His side. When I think about that, I am reminded of the lyrics of the song “Heal the Wound” sung by Point of Grace. I think that if Mary Magdalene was alive today, this would be her favorite song.
I used to wish that I could rewrite history
I used to dream that each mistake could be erased
Then I could just pretend
I never knew the me back thenI used to pray that You would take this shame away
Hide all the evidence of who I’ve been
But it’s the memory of
The place You brought me from
That keeps me on my knees
And even though I’m freeHeal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I believe that Jesus left the scars of the nails and the spear to remind us of how merciful He is. For all of eternity He will bear the scars of my sin. Just as the song says, there are many days that I have wished I could forget the things I’ve done, the attitudes I’ve had, the people I’ve wronged—but God leaves those memories in my mind to remind me of where He’s brought me from. I’m sure Mary felt the same way. I’ve sure she had evidences on her body of her former life that remained after Jesus healed her, but with every glance at her past, she was reminded of His great love and mercy toward her.
The scars that Jesus bears in His body to this very day prove to us the depths of His mercy and grace. He took our sin on His shoulders so that we could be healed in our bodies and souls. Without His sacrifice, healing is impossible. It was only through His death and resurrection that we have been given the power to believe on Him and be saved. Without His death, we could not live in victory over our past lives and without His death, we could not live in wholeness with Him for eternity.
When we are finally free from these bodies wrecked with sin, it is then that we will be completely made whole in Him. Our physical deaths are nothing but a release from the final chains that keep dragging us back to our sin. But if we have believed in Jesus as our Savior, “it is not death to die.” It’s just the beginning.