I have seen the Lord!

14She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15“Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

16“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

17“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

John 20:14-18

This Easter as I have read and listened to the Easter story, it was Mary Magdalene’s statement to the Disciples after her encounter with the Risen Jesus that caught my attention –

“I have seen the Lord!“

Imagine her excitement, the joy of seeing Jesus – Risen, no longer dead! The impact that this encounter must have had on her.

Today we live in the light of the Jesus’ resurrection. But we too can exclaim “I have seen the Lord”

As I look back across my life – to the blessings, times when a prayer has been answered, a tangible presence of the Lord around me – the evidence of Jesus in my life is visible. So often a path taken that looking back I see the guidance and perfect timing of the Lord. Or when He has met me in my pain or despair with His comfort and peace.

I have seen the Lord!

Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.

Psalm 23:13