Mary, however, stood there and cried as she looked at the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked inside. She saw two angels in white clothes. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. One angel was where Jesus’ head had been, and the other was where his feet had been. The angels asked her why she was crying.
Mary told
them, “They have removed my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”
After she
said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. However, she didn’t
know that it was Jesus. Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you
looking for?”Mary thought it was the gardener speaking to her. So she said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I’ll remove him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
Mary turned around and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabboni!” (This word means “teacher.”)
(John
20:11-16, GW)
"Ask the right questions if you're going to find the right answers." (Vanessa Redgrave)
When
Jesus ask a question of anyone in scripture there is always more to the inquiry
than was initially thought. When Jesus asked Mary Magdalene “Why are you
crying?” This was not an obvious, uncaring
statement, but one that was not considering what could be. Mary Magdalene was unaware that the Person
she thought was the Gardner was actually her Risen Lord. Greif often
necessitates us in seeking out the answers to life’s big questions.“I wanted to answer big questions about humanity about how it is that we understand about the world. How we can know as much as we do why human nature is the way that it is…It always seemed to me that you find answers to those questions by looking at children.” (Alison Gopnik)
I am sure Jesus knew Mary Magdalene’s personality (and emotional desperation at that moment), and chose not to directly answer her last question of “Who are you looking for?” In some form (or another) everyone is seeking to answer this question with meaning and joy in all of our existences.
Like Mary Magdalene, we needed make sure that we are open-minded with our questions. The true answer may be completely out of the realm of anything imaginable.
“Work hard. Laugh when you feel like crying. Keep an open mind, open eyes, and an open spirit.” (Rachael Ray)
Like Mary Magdalene seeing an open,
empty tomb (with two angels inside), always crucial to make sure you have studied
the right data to ask the important question that needs to be voiced.
“Wisdom is a love affair with
questions. Knowledge is a love affair with answers.” (Julio Olalla)
“Asking
the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers.”
(Robert Half)
Christians throughout the ages have listened to God’s clear voice to perform His work, and do their best to answer His crucial questions. Is your heart in tune to the voice of your Heavenly Father?
Christians throughout the ages have listened to God’s clear voice to perform His work, and do their best to answer His crucial questions. Is your heart in tune to the voice of your Heavenly Father?
“My sheep know My voice, and I
know them. They follow Me, and I give them eternal life so that they will never
be lost. No one can snatch them out of My hand.” (John
10:27-28, CEV)
“Are you learning to say things after
listening to God, or are you saying things and trying to make God's word fit
in?” (Oswald Chambers)
“Listening to other people's needs is
listening to God. Noticing simple, natural beauty, hearing music, even
confronting the challenge of pain and problems…can all be listening to God
too.” (Peter Kreeft)[i]
[i] Inspired
by the sermon Questions Jesus Asked: Who Are You Looking For? (Installment
eight, final) Easter Sunday,
April 16, 2017 Dave Jansen CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH
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