Dave spoke from John 20 this morning, looking at how Jesus met with Mary after the Resurrection. You might expect the resurrection accounts to be dazzling and marvellous, given the amazing content of the news that Christ has risen, but as with so many things in the Christian life, God does not always work in the ways we would expect. Instead of bolts of lightning and triumph, we find confused disciples not really knowing what to believe, even after they have been told that Christ is alive. The diversity of the witness accounts in the Gospels should not cause us to doubt the veracity of these accounts, but simply reflects the different perspectives of the people involved.
Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had earlier cast seven demons, had been present at the crucifixion and was desperate to hold on to her Saviour, even if that simply meant helping to anoint His dead body. She, along with the other women, displayed an ability to hold on, even in the midst of grief and suffering. The thought that she could no longer help Jesus was devastating to her, hence her tears. She did not recognise Jesus when she met Him, mistaking Him for the gardener; she could not cope with this amazing news that He was alive again. It was only when He spoke her name that she recognised Him.
Whilst we know that Jesus appeared to His disciples in groups and to more than 500 people on one occasion, the fact remains that the majority of the accounts of the Resurrection are personal: how Jesus appeared to individuals, restoring and reassuring them (as He did with Peter and Thomas and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, for example.) The strugglers and the stragglers were just as important to Jesus as the crowds. The Resurrection – the most earth-shattering event in history – was nonetheless immensely personal. What matters to us today as much as our actual belief in the Resurrection of Christ is that we create a climate in which people can meet Christ for themselves. We need that real and living encounter with a real and living Christ if we are to be transformed as the early disciples were, from fearful, grieving followers to bold apostles, confident and sure in their proclamation of Christ.