The Resurrection
On the morrow with despondency still in us,
Seen forsaken, we were shaken to our core;
As for Mary, her bewilderment was showing,
For the tomb did not hold Jesus anymore.
So she told us of the empty tomb she’d witnessed,
How the massive, heavy stone was rolled away;
And she wondered where somebody might have moved Him...
So we had to see that tomb without delay.
Thus I hastened to the tomb, and John ran with me.
He just peered inside but balked at going in;
So I pressed inside and found it as she told us:
Empty linens where the body should have been.
So we took this message back to His disciples;
Distraught Mary stayed outside the tomb and wept.
Stooping down and looking on this somber chamber,
She saw something that her eyes could not accept.
There were angels, both in white, serenely sitting
Where the body had been placed and tightly bound;
And they asked the weeping Mary, “Why this crying?”
“They have taken ‘way my Lord, He's nowhere found.”
When she said this, she half-turned, and she saw Jesus
And supposed that He was just a gard’ner there.
He then asked her who it was that she was seeking;
She responded in a tone of clear despair,
“If You carried Him away, pray, kindly tell me,
And I'll come and see He's spirited away.”
With one word Christ Jesus garnered her attention—
It was, “Mary,” and her night was turned to day.
With “Raboni!” she responded to His speaking,
For she could not quite believe her weary eyes!
“Go and tell My close disciples where they'll see Me.”
Mary went as she was told to so advise.
On the first day of the week, while they assembled,
The disciples heard a voice they recognized.
Jesus stood amidst them saying, “Peace be with you.”
They were glad with joy that could not be disguised.
“As the Father sent Me forth, you are to follow;
And receive the Holy Spirit—My command;
You have seen and you believe I am Messiah...
Blest are those who haven't seen yet understand.”
Donald Penn Neal
from Hosannas Led the Way
Copyright 2020
