Passage: John 20
Speaker: Cheryl Baird
When God Shows Up
In her fear and stress, Mary did not recognize Jesus until He spoke her name. What was it like for the eyewitnesses in John 20 to navigate the reality of the resurrection? How could they absorb the living Jesus when they still felt the trauma of His death? When our pain is fresh and unrelenting, how do we live as people of the resurrection?
The scenes in John 20 are intense. There was running, there was stooping, a cloth was folded, people were retreating, there was crying, and then a beautiful and world changing announcement that Jesus had been seen!
Jesus walked through locked doors to breathe peace and His spirit upon those very scared people.
In our stress and grief, we can miss the hand, breath and presence of God.
The Easter story has so many complexities to it, and we’ll take some time to unpack John 20 and look at the week after Easter for the closest followers of Jesus.