April 20 to 20, 2025 Hope Dawns
Our Lenten journey of letting go and making space for grace has come to an end for this year. I hope that you have found meaning and healing in the journey. Now we enter the Great Fifty Days of Easter to consider what it means to be filled with God’s grace now that we have made a bit of room for it. This year we will focus on the dawning of hope for the world and in our own lives by considering some of the nuances of the resurrection appearances in John’s gospel. My prayer as we move through this season is that we will come to see more clearly how we too might open ourselves to live more fully in the resurrected life with Jesus by our sides. One thing that is helpful to remember is that the Great Fifty Days are always bathed in joy and hope, not just in learning. So, as you approach each devotion, take a moment to ask that the joy of the Lord and the abiding hope of the resurrection will surround and infuse you as you consider the day’s word for your life. Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
April 20 – Easter Day – John 20:11 – But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bend over to look into the tomb,
Today we are filled with the beauty and wonder of Easter Day. The heady scent of lilies, roses and wild flowers whisper to us from flowered crosses and children’s Easter baskets. Colored eggs and melting chocolate compete in our minds and hearts with the strange vision of an empty tomb, a strangely changed Jesus and the hope and confusion that his rising brings. In today’s verse, Mary Magdalene knows nothing of our bunnies and chocolates. She doesn’t even know anything of our hope and jubilation. Not yet. Even in the midst of earth changing wonder, she cannot imagine it. So she gets up at dawn, draws a robe around herself and sneaks in the shadows to the tomb, hoping to give Jesus one last loving action, to anoint him properly for burial. But what she never dreamed could get worse, just had. The tomb is unsealed. She knows that Jesus’ enemies have stolen him, leaving behind nothing but grave clothes. She runs for the men. They find only linen wrapping then head home in fear and confusion, leaving her behind without a thought. It just hurts too much, so she stands in the garden lost in grief, weeping for what she has lost and her hope that the loss took away from her. But. But. But. Was her hope really all gone? Why does she look inside? Can she not believe her eyes? Does she think that if she blinks the outcome will be different? We should not overlook this moment simply because we know the rest of the story. Sometimes we, too, carry our love and grief close when we lose those we love or even when things change faster than we can adapt. Grief needs to be honored. It is the soil in which hope buds. Grief needs to have its moment, or the bunnies and the chocolate have no more meaning than Mardi Gras beads. We do not just slide from palms to alleluias without feeling the enormity of what it might be like had God not raised Jesus. So today, for just a moment, stand with Mary outside the tomb. Wait with her a moment and see if sorrow ebbs, then look back to the place you last saw Jesus and get ready for your miracle. Hope is a part of our being, even when we cannot feel it.
Prayer: Gracious God, we know that our powerful emotions are important. We know that love and loss have much to teach us. Help us today to bring all that we are into your garden. Give us courage to look to you once more, even if we think we cannot find you. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 21 – John 20:12 – and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
Mary’s tears have dried into salt crystals on her eyelashes. Or maybe they are still free falling, cutting groves into her cheeks. Whatever the case, she has acknowledged her grief, and in so doing found something that began to feel like hope, or maybe wishful thinking. She has bent double, like a woman in labor, but with the eyes of her heart wide open, and looked into the empty tomb. Maybe she wants to double check. Maybe she wants the fine linen in which he was wrapped, not because it is expensive, but because it might still carry a bit of the smell of him. But this time the tomb is no longer empty. Two angels are waiting for her. Angels are always messengers of God. Their role is to bring us exactly what we need for our moment. They are the bringers of hope. I wonder if it took courage for Mary to bend and look again. My mother died recently, and I sat for a bit with the body she no longer needed. Perhaps for Mary it was a bit like that, a need to see, to be sure, to release. But whatever her motivation, she was met with a miracle, even though she did not immediately perceive it as such. Here, in the mystery of all we can never understand, in the mystery of the intersection of death and life, God sends angels to help us navigate the wild country, the fan the dying embers of hope that will endure anything. Have there been times when you received an angel’s presence just when needed most? Perhaps it was not a recognizable supernatural being. Maybe it was a book or a quote at the right time, or a hug, or a note of sympathy, or the flash of a hummingbird wing. However, they come to you, angles are always there to help you find your way to hope.
Prayer: Dear God, help us today to look to you for your guidance. Send to us the angels we need to help us see you, and what you are doing, more clearly. In that seeing, help us to respond with wonder and joy. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 22 – John 20:13 – They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.”
It is touching that the question the angels ask of Mary is not one of judgement or rebuke. It is full of tenderness. “Why are you weeping?” They know that there is no longer a cause for her deep distress, but they want her to name it so that her pain can be addressed directly. She responds with her deepest anguish and fear. Jesus has been taken from her, and she doesn’t know how to find him. Once I was having coffee with a new acquaintance that I had met through our work with the homeless. She seemed a bit nervous because I was a pastor. She told me that she had been raised in the church and was active even as an adult, but that she could no longer participate or even claim the faith. I asked her what had happened. She spoke of church scandals, and personal hardships. Then she became quiet and said, “They have taken Jesus from me, and I do not know where to find him.” Suddenly all I could see was Mary Magdalene, her deep love for Jesus and her grief at not being able to find him. Has there ever been a time when you felt that Jesus was lost to you? Was there a messenger to help you find your new way? If you are still awaiting that messenger, stop and breathe. Ask for the right messenger at the right moment. See if you can wait with hope.
Prayer: Dear God, sometimes we do not know how to find you either. We long for feelings of closeness we have known in the past to be constant unwavering experiences. That is just not the way it is. Help us today to bring the truth of our longing for you to you, trusting that you will always meet our need in the way that is best for us. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 23 – John 20:14-15a – When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.
The Bible is full of stories of God showing up incognito in order to accompany or test believers. In the book of Hebrews, the writer tells us to be sure to welcome strangers because they might be angels, and we just don’t see it. By the Oaks of Mamre, God addressed Abraham and Sarah, at the time that they had given up hope for a child, in the guise of fellow travelers. Jacob wrestles all night with a strange opponent only to realize, looking back, that the one he tried to best was indeed God. In Mary’s case, this is more than a test. It is also a teaching moment about the nature of resurrected life. Mary’s initial lack of recognition reminds us that resurrected bodies are different in form, even as souls remain the same. It is also worth noting that when we are grieving or afraid, we often don’t recognize Jesus in the ways he comes to us either. It has often been said that people do not see things as they are. Rather we see things as we are. When we are frightened and despairing, we see the world around us as frightening and full of despair. When we believe that there is no help for us, particularly supernatural help, we often do not recognize it when it comes. When we are only willing to entertain that which we have always believed to be true, (in Mary’s case that the dead stay dead) then we see only what we are conditioned to see. This is not to say that our certainties have no meaning. Nor is it to say that we should expect the laws of physics to be suspended willy nilly. It is to say that there is always more going on with God than meets the eye. Love will not be contained, even in the tomb. Like Mary, we can find that hard to believe sometimes. Has there ever been a time when the love of God approached you in an unexpected guise and you missed it, or just couldn’t believe your eyes because life was such a mess that you had no energy or hope left to see through the turmoil to Love coming alongside you for the journey? If so, how and when did you see? If you still don’t see, ask God to awaken you to God’s Love all around you and within you today.
Prayer: Dear God, sometimes we cannot see you when you are standing right beside us. Our lives and responsibilities are like blinkers, and we don’t see you in the gifts of nature, the love of friends, the words of scripture, the sweetness of sacrament. Help us today, Lord, to see you everywhere we turn. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 24 – John 20:15a – Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
Jesus greets Mary by repeating the angels’ question. Why didn’t he just say, “Mary, buck up! I’m right here?” Perhaps it was because, as always, he wanted to understand her and to address the pain and confusion in which she found herself. This is our reality as well. While we may not meet Jesus in new flesh in a garden, he still draws near to us especially when we are hurting and hopeless, or when we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. This is so poignant! Jesus begins his new resurrected relationship with her by exploring her pain. If you find that you are befuddled and feeling hopeless in these wild days of division and change, stop the doom scrolling for a moment and accept that Christ is right there with you. Christ wants to understand all of how you are feeling, not in fancy words but in your own fumbling ones. Christ wants to accompany you in the midst of all the ups and downs in life, even if the downs seem overwhelming or are of your own making. Pause today and tell Christ why your soul weeps, or why it rejoices. Don’t try to fix any of it for a moment. Just share it all with Christ and see if you can begin to see the beautiful spiritual garden filled with hope all around you.
Prayer: Dear God, you care about every aspect of our lives. Thank you for inviting us to tell you our whole truth and for nudging us to recognize who you really are. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 25 – John 20:15b – Whom are you looking for?”
Yesterday in his encounter with Mary, Jesus demonstrated how important it is to him to understand and be present to us when we are hurting or confused. In today’s verse he continues this intimate exploration by repeating the very first words he spoke in John’s Gospel.(1:38) In the first instance the question is often translated as “what are you looking for?” When we hold those two translations together we can see the risen Christ both asking what we really seek and whether we can identify the one who can actually deliver that which we most deeply desire. Mary is too befuddled at this point to answer the question from the deep places of her longing. We will see that tomorrow. But what about you? Can you answer this poignant question as Christ puts it to you today? What do you seek? For what do you hope? Whom are you looking for? Take a moment today to sit honestly with those questions. What are you looking for in your life? What do you need most? What beliefs or fears are hampering your search? As you think about these things, see if you can imagine telling all of that to Jesus Christ? Is it possible that Jesus is the one you are really looking for? Is it possible that you can have a new and deeper relationship with him? Is it possible that Jesus can be a more present and durable part of your life? If the idea of a man/god who lived in Palestine 2000+ years ago seems a bridge too far, what about imagining One who is the greatest love possible in the universe, the greatest wisdom and compassion in the universe, stopping by to visit and asking what you want. What will you say? Know that Jesus is not nearly as concerned with how you talk to him as he is with your growth and with meeting your needs.
Prayer: Dear God, Thank you for inviting us to tell you our whole truth and for nudging us to recognize what and whom we really need and can rely upon. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 26 – John 20:15c – Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
How lovely to learn that even when we don’t recognize Jesus. he is still standing right beside us. Mary’s desperation and the finality, and horror, of death has hidden the possibility of that kind of intimacy from her. All she wants in this moment is to find her rabbi’s body and prevent it from being desecrated or used as a tool to discredit or persecute their movement. When she sees this stranger in the garden who seems so kind and interested in her, she naturally begs him for the concrete help she longs for. She needs an ally and she knows it. Could this gardener be such an ally? More than she dreamed. Sometimes we need allies too when our lives have come apart at the seams. At my mom’s funeral a few weeks ago, I knew I needed those allies to help me see beyond that moment to the hope and grace of eternity. And they were there, my husband on one side of me and my best friend since third grade on the other. There are times when we all seek an ally to provide comfort, companionship, perspective, a magnifying of our energy to move forward. Who are those to whom you turn for help? How can you be a good ally to those who are struggling, persecuted or in pain? How does God meet this need in your life? Take a moment today to think about the ways that Jesus has come to your aid through others. In what ways do you experience Jesus as your ally in stormy times? How does that kindle your hope?
Prayer: Dear God, sometimes we turn first one way then another to find the allies we need. Help us today to find you aid, even if we do not know that it is you. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 27 – John 20:16 – Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” which means Teacher).
Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells his followers that he is the Good Shepherd and that his sheep will recognize his voice when he calls to them. Here we see that promise lived out. In the times of Jesus, names were crucially important. A name was not simply a signifier so that one could tell the difference between Jane and Joan. A name had spiritual power. All of who a person was, was contained in the very syllables of their name. When Jesus called Mary by name, (that simple name, which was in Hebrew Miryam and meant rebellion,) it carried into their new relationship a sense of complete recognition and acceptance. In his calling her name, she recognizes him. This is an intensely intimate moment and one that is available to each of us. Actually, the word Rabbouni is Aramaic, the semitic language that Jesus and most of his followers spoke on a daily basis. (By this time Hebrew was mostly used in worship, for reading scripture and in ritual.) Rabbouni is a more solemn word than the more familiar Hebrew word, rabbi. It was often associated with God or godliness. Some scholars suggest that Mary’s one word response is the first creed of the Christian church. Today I’d like you to try a prayer experiment. Find a short time to be quiet and undisturbed. Sit for a moment and see if you can stop the swirl of thoughts and responsibilities, even if for just a second or two. In those small spaces, just say the prayer “Rabbouni, it’s …..” and fill in your own name. See if you can feel the divine recognition and acknowledgement of all that you are. Don’t try to fill the space up too fast with wants or apologies. Just sit for a moment in the intimacy of being known and met. See what arises and give thanks.
Prayer: Dear God, how can it be true that you know us and accept us even when we don’t understand a thing. Help the beauty of recognizing your love and presence fill our hearts with hope today. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 28 – John 20:17a – Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.”
Mary’s response seems so natural to me. Certainly, she wanted to touch him, to hug him, to hold his hand, to fall at his feet. When Jesus tells her not to do that, it can seem like a rebuff. It was not that. In the Greek of this passage the word translated as touch or in some versions as ‘hold on’, does not refer to the casual or even loving touching of another. It means ‘to hinder’, to stop something important. Jesus may well have longed for the touch of her hand too, but he was on a larger mission, and he did not want their reunion to derail him. And he has a new mission for her as well which we will explore tomorrow. As is no doubt obvious to those of you who are reading these devotions daily, I am still in the early weeks of processing my mother’s death. The last time I was with her, just hours before she died, I just wanted to hold her hand. I wanted to feel the life in it, the small pulse, the knotty fingers. I wanted to hold on to her. I have since wondered if I had not left to go get supper, if she would have continued to hold on to this life longer than she needed to just to meet my need. So many loved ones seem to do that as they approach the end of this life. Very often the one on the journey waits until the loved ones have left the room to make their way into their new lives. While my emotions don’t always support this, I do believe that my staying would have hindered her, and she needed to go. I understand both Mary’s need to hold on and Jesus’ need for her to release. Are their times when you know you need to let go and not hinder another’s journey? Maybe when you drop a child at preschool or college. Maybe when someone you love doesn’t love you in return? Take a moment to think about those moments. What is the hope that lies within them and on the other side of them?
Prayer: Dear God, please gently teach us the power of letting go at the right time. Fill us with hope as we follow your way. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 29 – John 20:17b- “but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
We saw yesterday that Jesus didn’t want Mary to hinder his mission. We see today that he wanted to include her in it. The word we translate as ‘brothers’ is the larger word for family. It is not a gender limited word. He is sending her to find the family of his disciples and give them the good news of the resurrection. He ties this good news with his ascension to the Father. While that change in sphere may feel like painful abandonment to them, it is actually the best possible news. Not only does it indicate that death is transcend-able, it also makes the gift of the Spirit more universally available. Jesus is no longer limited to one time or place. What an amazing mission Jesus entrusted to Mary! She is to be his witness, his messenger, to the others. She is to be his mouthpiece and declare to them that death no longer wins, and that Jesus’ spirit will accompany them still. That is our message, too. Like Mary we may not fully understand it. We may not be able to adequately describe it or answer all of others questions. Still, when we experience the power of Christ’s indomitable saving love, we too are asked to tell others about it. We aren’t asked to explain it fully. We cannot. We are simply asked to proclaim that Christ is risen, that the love he preached and displayed has not been silenced in this world and there is still purpose in our lives. Last weekend, I led a Lenten retreat for a colleague’s church. It was a very special time. After we closed, a man who had participated, and also filmed my sessions, came up to me and said, “All I want in this life is to declare the good news of Jesus Christ.’ It was an electric moment. Imagine what your life might be like if you made that same statement with conviction. Today, tune into the inner work of your soul, if you can. Ask God to help you hear when, where and how, you may take good news to those who need it most.
Prayer: Dear God, as we look at Jesus’ mission for Mary we realize that one does not have to be perfect or full of understanding to share the incomparable love of God with others. Mary’s mission is our own. Help us today to respond as she did. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
April 30 – John 20:18 – Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.”
Jesus has touchingly included Mary in his plans. He has given her a particular mission. Today we see just how she responds to it. Mary obeys without question. She goes on Jesus’ command and tells the others what she has experienced. We are not told that she somehow argued for an easier task, shared concerns about how she would be received, or tried to persuade him that someone else would be better for the job. No. She went. That is the heart of evangelism: Go as you are led and share what you have experienced. Not what you have read about, or heard that someone else experienced, but what you have experienced. That will be enough. Your experience does not have to be as grand or confounding as Mary’s. It can be as simple as a moment of awakening when you realized that you were loved into a bigger picture, or that no good-bye is ever a final goodbye. Perhaps you had a moment in worship or with scripture that shimmered, and something shifted and changed in you. Perhaps you had an insight or a moment of peace in the midst of hardship or the wily chaos of these days. That is your story to share, and it is amazing what the Spirit can do with those simple moments. Our scripture doesn’t tell us how the others responded to her. At least not in John. Luke tells us that the others thought the women’s witness was an idle tale. Others may sometimes think that of us as well. That may be difficult, but it is unimportant. Our story is ours to tell. Take a moment today to think about your spiritual life. If you have some leisure time you might want to create a timeline of the most special moments that you can recall. In any case ask yourself, what is my story of hope to share? Allow that story to restore your energy and create openings for sharing.
Prayer: Dear God, we thank you for the model of Mary Magdalene, a person of passion, perseverance and obedience. Develop those qualities in us so that we too may be worthy evangelists, carriers of your good news in our broken and fearful world. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.