by Sharon O | Apr 20, 2025 | Uncategorized
It is Sunday. the day of the resurrection.
Mary went to the tomb with spices where Jesus was laid.
She knew that needed to be done and because of her love for him, she made the long walk.
Arriving there she noticed the stone was moved and the tomb was empty.
Weeping and wondering she didn’t understand where he could be?
There were angels there and they asked her, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
He is not here, he has risen.
She just wanted to know where he was so she could see with her eyes and believe in her heart.
Just tell me where they placed him, and I will go find it.
The angels said, “HE is not here”.
Sorrow was upon her heart and at one point the angels asked her why she was crying.
She said, “if you have taken him somewhere please let me know.”
At that time Jesus said to her, “Mary”.
She was startled and happy wanting to cling to him and hold onto him.
He said, NO don’t. It is not time.
And Mary went to tell the disciples all that she saw and heard so that they could go see and hear also.
Now we have to back up a bit because the only one who could say her name with great meaning was JESUS.
“Mary”… personal and unique and heart felt from Jesus.
Her name. When someone says your name. it is a reflection of relationship and honor.
“Mary”… the same voice that spoke to her out of her old way of living.
The same voice that healed her heart in the way that ONLY Jesus could do.
I wonder if HE knew that was the only way her heart would believe.
Hearing his voice one more time would be just what she needed.
That would be amazing when you think of how she understood him to be gone.
Then hope came to her.
“Mary”.
A miracle story and a proclamation from her, “I have seen the Lord.”
It is Sunday the day of the resurrection.
And they said to her, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
by Sharon O | Apr 19, 2025 | Uncategorized
We are in the quiet time of Saturday. the day before the resurrection of Jesus.
They all knew there was a difference.
They saw and observed the horrific death of Jesus.
They observed the skies changing colors into deep darkness.
They knew something was taking place and even Jesus had told them it would happen.
Often, we go into denial when we are told news that our heart can’t take.
Listening but not taking it in emotionally.
I often think of Mary and Joseph.
Weeping and watching at the foot of the cross.
Any mother would be desperate to see her son not in pain or agony.
She knew he was different. She knew the prophecies were coming.
She was watching too.
I often think of Peter. Knowing he denied Jesus his friend, three times.
I often think of Judas. Knowing he betrayed Jesus, and his guilt was too much for him.
I often think of the disciples all watching, waiting and wondering.
I often think of Mary Magdalene, who found value and beauty through this Man called Jesus.
He believed in her and did not want her to go back to her old ways.
Now Jeus was in the tomb.
It was dark and the stone that was placed in front of it was just an example of the fears of the leaders.
Would he, could he, be able to move the stone?
The leaders felt for sure they made it difficult.
The quiet of Saturday was preparing all for the rejoiceful Sunday to come.
So much happened and so much to take in.
I would imagine the disciples talked among themselves about the times shared with him,
We often do that when someone we care for is no longer present in our lives.
We remember, we share, we find opportunity to honor that person who we cared for.
I wonder if they felt that too.
Oh, I wonder about even Jesus when on the cross he said, “FATHER” knowing HE was not seen or accepted.
The woundedness was horrible and the sorrow was deep.
There is so much I wonder about.
We are in the quiet time of Saturday the day before the resurrection of Jesus, and all would see the hope given to us soon..
by Sharon O | Apr 13, 2025 | Uncategorized
The three days wait begins at the start of good Friday, leading into Sunday the resurrected Easter.
We are not told anything about Mary and how she responded, or even Joseph.
They knew the birth of Jesus was significant and miraculous and they also knew HE was called to be different.
No one is prepared for a death of a child, no matter how old they are in your life.
No one could imagine a cross, especially a parent who has watched their child grow and mature and do ministry that they tried to understand.
Mary knew he had abilities to perform miracles, she had been there, seeing it with her own eyes.
I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of seeing YOUR child, however old he is, in a chaotic violent crowd then ultimately killed.
The disciples disappeared fearing for their own lives.
The intensity of the cross was a familiar way of dying in those times, although JESUS was God and man he still suffered in His humanity.
Through the town they drug him as they brutally beat and yelled at him.
The cross was horrific in every sense and not one part of the body was ignored.
Pain and sorrow were hand in hand as the followers watched him hang there.
At noon the word tells us that Jesus called out a loud cry, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?”
It was all a part of the original plan, but the isolation was so intense for him.
When he finally died the temple curtain in the sanctuary was torn from top to bottom.
Witnesses observed and said, “This truly was the son of God.”
Darkness covered the entire area in a very surreal way.
Those who were there knew something was very different.
Even the thieves on the crosses next to Jesus knew that he was unique and not like the others.
The man called Joseph of Arimathea was allowed to remove his body and prepare him for burial.
The two Mary’s watched and followed.
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The leaders were unsure of Jesus power, so they placed a very LARGE stone in front of the entrance of the tomb where they laid him.
Three days wait begins at the start of good Friday.
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by Sharon O | Apr 11, 2025 | Uncategorized
This week has great meaning for many Christians.
Churches will be full of visitors and others who make it a normal part of their week.
It is a serious week.
Soon we will experience the quiet Wednesday before everything begins to change.
Jesus understood and knew the magnitude of this time for him.
Just as when he was a little baby being born, laboring and struggling through the process of life.
This time he is laboring and struggling towards his death.
He knew it was a difficult death in fact in the garden he even pleaded with God, “Father, is there any other way?”
I can’t imagine him walking the pathways of crosses with those who had been placed there before him.
I can’t imagine the heart wrenching reality of all that would take place.
In the garden when he needed others to be with him, they moved to safety or even fell asleep.
It was a struggle as he worked through what was to come for him.
He knew it had to take place for the story to be fulfilled.
He was there from the beginning, and he knew he would be there to the end.
The middle part was the hardest.
Isn’t that kind of like life? The middle part is where it all happens then it’s soon over.
Nothing was a surprise for him.
The agony and the abandonment, the weight of so much on his shoulders, the week would be a multitude of emotions.
Through it all HE KNEW HE WOULD WIN.
But the process had to take place.
Just as the journey to Bethlehem for Mary and Joseph before birth was long and scary and often difficult.
The journey of the cross is not much different.
I would not want to be there.
When I was a little girl, I remember hearing the song, “were you there, when they crucified my Lord?”
NO, I would not want to be there. I want warm calm moments.
I cannot be around violent scenes or issues.
Every player in the journey to the cross had to play a part and be an important part of the plan.
They all had jobs to do even if they fully didn’t understand the role they played.
This week has great meaning for many Christians as we wait in the quiet.
by Sharon O | Apr 8, 2025 | Uncategorized
Palm Sunday the week before Easter.
The final entrance for Jesus.
Everything he had done up to this time prepared him for what was to come in the days ahead of him.
Christmas was the story of his birth; Palm Sunday is the story fulfilling his death.
I remember the years in church where we would sing the songs of triumph.
Easter cantatas by choirs dressed in the finest of clothes. Sometimes robes.
“Praise him blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord.”
It was a joyous time and a time of celebrations.
But there is always another side of this, and we will soon see it all take place.
In Mark 11
As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem they came to the towns of Bethpage and Bethany on the mount of olives.
Jeus sent two of them on ahead.
“Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden.
Untie it and bring it here, if anyone asks what you are you doing?
just say the Lord needs it and will return it soon.”
The two disciples left and found the colt, standing in the street tied outside the front door.
They were questioned and after they explained they were given permission to take the colt.
Jesus placed his garments upon the colt and then began his ride into the town.
I’m sure he was feeling the ‘gut’ ache one would feel knowing the journey is taking an intense turn.
The disciples had no clue the dramatic events that will be surrounding them.
It was all a part of the plan and all a part of Jesus journey.
Palm Sunday the week before Easter and the intensity and the emotions will soon begin. i
by Sharon O | Apr 7, 2025 | Uncategorized
This is the season leading up to Easter and in the Chirstian world many are choosing a purposeful time of sabbath.
A quiet shift reflecting the deep meaning of what is to come within the story.
The story of Easter is hard.
It is celebrations and also great grief.
Words cannot begin to share the emotional season around this time.
Palm Sunday when people were welcoming Jesus, happy and celebrating him.
They praised him and greeted him with joy as he rode the donkey into town.
Just as his mother Mary rode the donkey to his birthing place, HE rode the donkey to his dying place.
Did you know that every donkey has a cross on its back deep into the fur?
Interesting fact. Not accidental.
Celebrations and happy greetings and then not even a week later anger and hatred towards him.
The passion of Jesus as he entered into this season was filled with many heart wrenching moments.
It is a most horrific way to die. He knew it.
We must grasp the power and imagery of the idea that ‘God SO loved all of us so much that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish.’
He chose to do this. For US, people who often rejected him.
It is all about choice. and belief and hope given to a world who desperately needs it.
The journey to the cross was a difficult finality of the life Jesus had here.
It was planned. It was orchestrated just as his birth was in details and in placement of people.
The rejection from his ‘tribe’ of men who walked with him and believed in his teachings.
Had to be hard for him. Yet I believe he knew they would do that.
He knew what they would say or do or choose and HE gave grace to them anyway.
Peter said to him, “I will never deny you,” But he did, three times.
When times of testing take place all of us have a choice.
Fear or faith.
This is the season leading up to Easter and those who believe will watch and remember all that he told them.
