A Word from Bob: I’ve taken today’s blog post from my 31-day devotional, Grief: Walking with Jesus. 

“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’  Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher)” (John 20:15-16).

The Explosive Power of Hope 

The grand narrative of the Bible does not end on the cross. The Bible’s redemptive narrative progresses to the explosive power of Christ’s hope-giving resurrection.

Your grief narrative does not end with loss. God’s redemptive narrative invades your grief with the promise of resurrection hope.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

We grieve, but never as the hopeless ones. 

Jesus Knows Your Name 

It’s one thing to hear about resurrection hope. It’s quite another to personalize it. Mary experienced that as she saw the empty tomb and even saw the risen Savior! However, until she heard her name, “Mary,” she did not believe in him and receive his resurrection hope.  

It’s the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb so early it’s still dark. Seeing the stone rolled away, rather than believing Christ’s promises about his resurrection, she assumes someone had taken Jesus out of the tomb. Mary stands weeping outside the tomb. She turns around and sees Jesus standing outside the tomb—but she doesn’t know it’s him.

Jesus asks her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” (John 20:15). Mary thinks Jesus is the gardener and wants to know where he’s put Jesus! Then, “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary” (John 20:16). Jesus not only knows her name. He calls her by her name: “Mary.” 

Ascension Hope

Finally, Mary recognizes him, calling him Rabboni (Teacher). Jesus exhorts Mary not to cling to him—which at first blush might seem a tad confusing. But Jesus doesn’t want her clinging to earthly hope. He wants Mary to cling to eternal, heavenly, resurrection hope.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).

The Bible’s narrative doesn’t even end with resurrection hope. It moves to ascension hope—Jesus sovereignly seated on his throne. That’s hope. That’s the hope we need when our earthly story is replete with defeat. We need to hear our resurrected Savior and ascended reigning King reminding us personally—by name—that he has ascended to the Father.

The same power that paid for our sins, that raised Jesus from the dead, that crushed Satan, and that seated Christ at the right hand of the Father is at work within us who believe (Ephesians 1:15-23). It is transforming our earthly story of grief into an ascension story of victory.

Applying Gospel Truth to Your Grief Journey 

Christ’s resurrection and ascension are not simply theological doctrines—they are life truths to apply to our life story. What does it mean for you to personalize these doctrines—to hear the resurrected and ascended Savior calling you by name and reminding you personally of your victory in Jesus?

In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul prays that the saints at Ephesus will have eyes to apply Christ’s resurrection and ascension to their life story. Read Ephesians 1:15-23, praying that the Spirit will open the eyes of your heart to see how Christ’s resurrection and ascension impact your grief journey.