By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Why Are You Crying?

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“He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
John 20:15 New International Version

Gardens are beautiful places.  They are full of growing plants and trees and flowers and life except when the garden is a cemetery.  Even though we often place flowers in cemeteries, we know that the residents there are not alive, but dead.

This is Mary’s reality when she shows up at the cemetery outside Jerusalem on that Easter Sunday morning.  She is not impressed by the beauty of the garden, but she is distressed by the death she had witnessed three days before.  She had seen her Lord die upon a cross and be buried in that garden.  And now she has come looking for his dead body.

But she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.  The One that she thought was dead is alive.  He asks her, “Woman, why are you crying?  Who is it you are looking for?”  And in the midst of the cemetery, Mary finds Life.  Not just a live person, but the One who is the Resurrection and the Life, who gives life to all who would believe in Him.

Perhaps you have been to a cemetery lately.  Where you found yourself crying at the death of a loved one and frustrated at the futility of a life taken away from you.  Perhaps you have wondered if there will ever be life for you again.

Do not be afraid.  You may see death around you, but Jesus is alive and He brings life in the midst of death.  He arose on that Easter morning and He gives life to all who would believe in Him.

Who is it you are looking for?  If you are looking for a risen Savior, for eternal life, and for hope in the midst of death, you have come to the right place even if you have come to the garden alone…

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado