The Joy Of Mary Magdalene

            On Easter Friday, the Louisville Chinese Christian Church was watching the last part of the series ‘Easter Experience’. 

            The saddest word is ‘hopeless’. Many may think that ‘death’ is the saddest word; but what can death compare to a living person without hope? Without hope, there is a loss of motivation. 

            A person who has an incurable disease feels hopeless, though he/she is living yet the clock is ticking. Only no one knows when the time will run out. Any person who had experience of depression or Depression patient knows how much devastation ‘hopeless’ can bring. It is the state when nothing else matters because there is no ‘hope’. Without hope, there is no beauty, happiness, or future.

            The video showed Mary Magdalene lost all hopes when she found that Jesus’ body is gone. What if someone had stolen Jesus’ body to torture or abuse him? All Mary wanted was to take good care of her teacher’s body. 

            Hopeless. Lost.

            Death is often associated with darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. While hopeless is the absence of hope. Jesus and His resurrection becomes hope that shines light into hopelessness. He became “the first of a great harvest of all who have died” (1 Corinthian 15:20, NLT). 

            When Mary Magdalene found Jesus alive, her hopeless is filled with joy that cannot be contained. In the video, it shows that Mary was running around the town and shaking everyone to tell them about Jesus.

            I have learned two important lessons from this video. 

First, this is for those who are not Christians:

If life and the goals of life is Hope, how big is hope? How big can hope be when it has limits (deadlines, warranty) and can be objectified?

Second, a self-check for Christians:

If you do not feel it in your gut to speak to someone about the gospel, maybe you need to experience the joy of knowing Jesus.

If we do not experience Jesus’ fellowship daily, how can we feel the joy? How will we have the courage to let others know that Jesus is alive?

If you are sharing the gospel, are you sharing the facts or the fellowship?