Trust in the risen Lord - Part II

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3 : 5

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go; tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” Mark 16 : 5-7

A quick recap of the first part of ‘Trust in the risen Lord’: We read about how Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to anoint Jesus’ body, forgetting about their weaknesses and their questions. They saw the stone at the entrance of the tomb had been rolled away and they were surprised. They entered and saw the tomb empty, as the young man dressed in white robes had told them. He also gave them the good news about the resurrection of Jesus, and passed on Jesus’ message  that He would go ahead of them and would meet them in Galilee.  

We normally try to avoid those people who were not with us during times of need. There is even a proverb about this. “A friend in need is a friend in deed.” The disciples who were with Jesus when He did all the miracles in front of their very own eyes, fled away from Him in times of trouble. The disciples who shared the bread and wine with Him, who saw Him turning water into wine, healing the lepers, opening the eyes of the blind, multiplying 5 loaves of breads & 2 fishes to feed 5000+ men & others, and raising the dead to life, fled away when He was arrested. Only John was with Jesus when He was on the Cross telling John that Mary is now his mother. The one who told Jesus that He could even give his life for Jesus, denied Him thrice before the rooster crowed.

Honestly, I would say, if I were Jesus, I would have gone to all these disciples as soon as I was risen and asked them all sorts of questions that would embarrass them. But Jesus didn’t do that. He was so loving to them, even after they gave up.

God never gives up on you, even if you give up on Him. He loves us even when we are quite unlovable, even when we fall into that sin which tempts us again & again, even when we curse Him like Peter did, even when we don’t have faith in Him. Trust in this risen Lord even when you have gone far away from Him. He loves you; there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more & there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less! He is gracious enough to forgive you and accept you as you are. But don’t take this grace for granted. The disciples, once they saw the resurrected power of Jesus, no longer stayed away from Him. They gave their lives for Him. Just like a ball, when thrown from a height, bounces back, get back and be aligned with God.