From Sorrow to HOPE

John 20:11–18

Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

Not quietly.
Not composed.
She was weeping—deep, aching, gut-wrenching grief.

Mary bent down and looked into the tomb.

Two angels asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

Her answer was so honest:

“They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put Him.”

I understand that kind of grief.

When our daughter Joy died, we met with the funeral director.

There was a hearse sitting in the driveway, and I asked, “Is Joy there?”

He said, “No… she’s not here. Her body was sent for an autopsy.”

We didn’t know.

No one had told us.

We didn’t know where her body was.

And that realization added another layer of grief
to an already unbearable pain.

That’s where Mary was.

“Where did they take Him?”

And then—there was Jesus.

She turned and saw Him… but didn’t recognize Him.

And the first words spoken by the risen Savior were:
“Woman, why are you crying?”

He could have appeared to anyone—
to Peter, to John, to the disciples—

But He chose her.

Not just a woman— but a woman who had once been possessed by 7 demons.

A woman society overlooked.

He asked, “Who are you looking for?”

Still not recognizing Him, she said, “ Sir, if you’ve carried Him away, tell me where You’ve put Him, and I will get Him.”

And then—everything changed with one word:

“Mary.”

And in that moment, she knew.

“Rabboni!” — Teacher.

The voice of her Savior broke through her sorrow.

The One she thought was gone was standing right in front of her.

Alive.

What’s even more powerful is what happened next.

Jesus said,

“Go… and tell.”

Mary Magdalene— a woman in a culture where women couldn’t testify in court—was chosen to carry the greatest news in history.

She became the first witness of the resurrection.

The first messenger of HOPE.

The first to proclaim: He is alive.

She came to the tomb weeping…

She left with describable JOY.

And here’s the beauty:

The same Jesus who called Mary by name calls me by name.

The same Jesus who met her in her grief meets me in mine.

And the same commission she was given—

“Go and tell”—

Has been given to me.

As I’ve reflected on the resurrection story, I imagine myself as Mary Magdalene—running from sorrow into overwhelming JOY and unshakable HOPE, because Jesus is alive.

Because in the presence of Jesus, grief is not the end of the story.

HOPE IS!