As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’” Then they remembered His words. – Luke 24:5-8 BSB
I have been driving to the White Mountains every week for work this past month. There is a spot, a turn in the road where you see your first glimpse of the foothills of the mountains. It seems like both a promise and a disappointment at the same time. If you drive about a half an hour longer, the majesty of these great peaks spread before you and surround you on all sides with the awe of the breadth of the sheer granite faces. Yet, if you do not keep the course, you will miss the moment of breathtaking and almost unbearable beauty.
Mary was barely a woman when an angel told her she would be the vessel to give birth to God made flesh. She gave birth to and raised a King in the humblest of circumstances. Yet, as she watched, Jesus grew to be a man, filled with both wisdom and grace and a zeal for God’s word. As He began to teach, her heart swelled with pride. She saw Him perform a miracle, making wine from jars of water (John 2:1-11). Her friends told her about Him healing the sick and teaching in synagogues. But He starting saying things that made people angry. She went to talk to Him about it. She was just trying to help Him, to keep Him safe. He admonished her. It stung. (Mark 3:30-35).
And then they came for Him. She had felt the dread of it creeping in her imagination before it ever happened. She went to her son. It was beyond her nightmares. She watched helplessly as her son dragged the cross to Golgotha. She watched as her son hung before her, dying.
She went mechanically with the other women on that morning to prepare his body, plodding along behind them, dully noticing that the tomb was open and the stone rolled away and there was no body inside. As she hazily realized the significance of this, she was bewildered for a moment. Then she saw the two men with their clothing radiant and words unbelievable. “He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’” (Luke 24:6-7)
He told them just as He tells us today, “It is finished”. He is Emmanuel, God with us and from Him we can expect awe. Awe that His death paid the ransom for the sin that held us hostage. Awe that His resurrection has freed us from the prison of death. Awe that we can call on the Name of the Lord and He will hear our voice. Awe that He calls us friend, we who were his enemy.
Many of us know of Jesus but have not surrendered our hearts to Him. Many do not know the awe of living for Him. But we need not wander at the foothills of life with a sense of longing and slight disappointment. Rather, we are made to dance amidst the mountains, to live in the love of God, a love both breathtaking and immense. We were made to know awe and it can be known by calling on the name of Jesus Christ. The work that He finished was to reconcile our broken souls to God. By calling on Him you will have a new life. Expect awe when you call on His name.
Written by Janet Keefe
