"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"

Quick Summary

Mary discovers Jesus’ tomb is empty. She sits down, and cries, because it appears someone has stolen the body. While she sobs, someone sits down beside her, and asks her what it wrong. When she says Jesus’ body has been stolen, the stranger says, “Mary.” She looks up into the face of the risen Lord, Jesus.

The Point

Jesus conquers death. Look for God to show you the good that he is doing.

Questions for Family Time

        1.     Why was Mary crying?

               a. Jesus was dead, and now his body was gone. She thought someone had stolen it.

        2.     Who said her name?

              a.      Jesus!

        3.     Who did she think it was?

              a.      The gardener.

        4.    Why is it important Jesus rose from the grave?

               a.     It means he really was God-with-skin-on. He conquered death, and we will too if we follow him.                 He promises life forever with him and God in a new heaven and a new earth.

Deeper

How fitting for our last KICK lesson of the year to be the climactic story of the Christian faith! You heard me right. You may be thinking, “I thought it was all about the cross,” but Jesus death means nothing without the resurrection. There were many prophets who taught the people how to live and many rebels who stood up for Israel’s independence, but no one else rose from the dead. This is what makes Jesus utterly different and why we recognize him not only as fully human, but also at the same time fully God. As we shared with the kids when one of them asked why we talk about Jesus and not God, “Jesus is God with skin on.” 

Not only does the resurrection change who we understand Jesus to be, but it also lays the groundwork for what we believe about eternity. Jesus conquered death. He is the first to rise from the dead, and he promises that we will rise again to new life. He promises not a heaven in which we all become angels, but a new heaven and a new earth, in which we will live with God free of sin and brokenness. 

Our story this week focused on one person’s experience of that resurrection. Mary came to honor Jesus with a proper burial. He had been rushed to the tomb before the day of rest began without the proper perfuming and treating of the body. She had come to honor the body that had been shamed in one last way. When Mary saw the empty tomb, her mind could only fathom one possibility. Someone had stolen the body of her leader and teacher, the one she came to honor. 

She began to cry. I imagine those were tears of grief over the death of someone she loved, frustration that he had been so shamed in death and now after death, and anger that even in death his body was not allowed to rest in peace.

As tears clouded her sight, Jesus came to her. This woman whose heart was pure enough to treat even a dead body with honor now saw God…with skin on. She was the first to see the risen Jesus.  She saw in his body that not even death could beat Jesus. She saw that we could kill God and his love would compel him to rescue us, even from the grave. 

            Jesus calls out each of our names in the midst of our grief, frustration, and anger. He wants us to look and see God has not abandon us, that evil has not won. He wants us to see that Jesus’ promise of eternity in a new heaven and earth with him is valid and true. He wants us to see that God is beside us, and he will be with us forever.

Personal Reflection

1.     What is clouding you from seeing Jesus? Do you hear him calling your name? How does seeing God change how you see the world?