jc on JC: Alive!

Photo: Manila Bay Sun (3-24-05)

Have you ever pinned your hopes on something only to watch it die? Have you ever felt the pain of losing a dream, something you’ve wanted so badly that every fiber of your being ached for it, only to have it disappear from your very grasp?

I have. And I am sure sometime in your life, you have experienced it, too. A loss too personal, too painful to even articulate. It may be the death of a relationship, a life-long ambition, or a deeply-cherished vision.

As I sit here at my desk this Easter morning, I am taken back to the day my dream had died. All I could do then was to lay my broken heart down at the foot of the cross. And as I stood there grieving, God gently reminded me of the story of Mary Magdalene and her encounter with Jesus that first Easter morn.

Seeing an empty tomb, the disciples decided to go back home, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other a the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”


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

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking, he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned around toward him and cried out Aramiac, “Teacher!” (John 20:10-16)

I have read this passage many times in the Bible since then, but it never fails to enthrall me still. Mary had lost all hope. All her dreams had died along with her Messiah. In her grief, she did not even comprehend she had just talked to angels. But God was not finished with her yet. A few heartbeats later, He unfolded to Mary the biggest surprise of them all—Jesus! Alive!

I imagine that that one look, that one word took away all the pain and grief that Mary had bore. And in that instant, all her hopes for the future, all the unspoken prayers of her heart, all the dreams she had long cherished within her were made alive again.

Jesus is alive! Can you comprehend all that this implies? He was made alive for you, for me, so that we can hope hopes and dream dreams again. Hopes and dreams that will never die or be taken away. Hopes and dreams that He will one day lovingly fulfill, if only we believe.

This is what Easter means to me. And this, I believe, is His message for you today.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives