I Have Seen the Lord

This Easter reflection invites us to sit with Mary Magdalene in the darkness before the dawn, reminding us that resurrection doesn't always arrive on our schedule. We encounter Mary as she comes to the tomb while it's still dark, carrying the weight of grief, loss, and images she cannot unsee. The empty tomb isn't good news to her yet—it's just another layer of pain. This message beautifully weaves together John 20:1-18 with Jeremiah's prophetic word about God's chesed, that untranslatable Hebrew word meaning steadfast, covenant love that simply refuses to let go. We're reminded that God's faithfulness isn't contingent on our circumstances or dependent on whether everything makes sense. Instead, it's a love that runs underground like a river, pressing up through the rubble like a vine through concrete. The most powerful moment comes when Jesus speaks just one word: 'Mary.' The resurrection's first gift isn't a proof or an argument—it's the intimate sound of our own name spoken by the One who has always known us. This challenges us to ask: Where have we seen the Lord? Where has that stubborn, persistent love shown up in places where it should have run out? We carry not certainty, but encounter—the fragile, irreducible announcement that love has had the last word.