Slices
Prepare
Reflect on the lyric, ‘All things once sown in weakness you raise in promise’.* What do these words stir in you?
*Sam Yoder, ‘All Things Rise’, Mercy/Vineyard Publishing, © 2015
Bible passage
Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 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.’ 14 At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, ‘Woman, 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.’
16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’
She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).
17 Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Explore
Left at the tomb, Mary is still walking grief’s valley, her path darkened by the disappearance of Jesus’ body. Resurrection is not on her radar. Through a haze of tears, the appearance of angels seems not to unsettle her – all we hear is her desperation: ‘Where is he? Where have you put him?’ How she longed to assuage her loss by completing his body’s hasty burial (Mark 16:1). So, in this garden, Mary ‘mistakes’ the second Adam for a gardener (another Genesis reference: Adam was created and commissioned to tend the earth).** I wonder how often we encounter Jesus without realising, distracted by our despair or determination…
What cuts through the confusion is a voice, a name (v 16). At creation the Spirit brought shape to the chaos and God’s voice formed light and relationship from the void. Now Jesus speaks a new era into existence – restored and renewed relationship between mankind and his Maker (v 17) – beginning with the person in front of him. He doesn’t start with emperors or aristocrats; he doesn’t even start with the twelve… He starts with a woman, insignificant in her society. Our God is not afraid to start small, and he invites us into the same (Zechariah 4:10).
**Tom Wright, John For Everyone: Part 2 Chapters 11–21, SPCK, 2002, p146
Respond
List some of the ways God has started small in your life. Thank him and ask for his help to see other small beginnings in and around you.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Joshua 1–3; Psalm 37
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the Year 6 Easter Eggsplored events being run in primary schools across Newbury by Mission Partner COINS. Pray too for the team of school workers, Kate, Kristina and Clare. Kristina and Clare joined the team in September; pray for them as they bring fresh insights to the work.
Don’t miss our brilliant training opportunities!
Throughout the year we offer free online training sessions to help equip you as you prepare for key times of the year (Easter, Summer, Halloween and Christmas). These sessions aren't about selling you our latest resources (as good as they may be!) but they are all about training and equipping you to engage with the 95% of under-18s not in church as they Connect, Explore, Respond and Grow in their journey of faith.