Mercy Calls Your Name

        As I post today, my mind is full of thoughts of Easter. We have celebrated the Savior, His sacrifice on the cross, and the power of the resurrection. I am not ready to leave the story. We must never leave the wonder and miracle of His love. We must tell the story in how we live our lives. Yet, how often we mark the special day on our calendar,  raise our voices in praise, sing of His love, His life, His mercy.  Then, Easter Sunday is over and we go on with our spring breaks and the normal routine of our lives. I wonder if you might linger a little longer this week in the message of Easter. Let's soak in the hope, the promise, the mercy and love displayed by the Savior.
 
What difference does the cross and resurrection make in your  life? 
This Easter morning I sang the words to a powerful song entitled “Mercy Tree” with the choir at church.
​ The incredible lyrics keep stirring in my mind. Take a moment and ponder the words below. 
There is a wonderful youtube version of the song by Anthony Evans. 
Here is the link if you would like to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWgL7hE307E

​MERCY TREE
On a hill called Calvary
Stands an endless mercy tree.
Ev’ry broken, weary soul,
Find your rest and be made whole.

Stripes of blood that stain its frame,
Shed to wash away our shame;
From the scars, pure love released
Salvation by the mercy tree.

In the sky, between two thieves
Hung the blameless Prince of Peace;
Bruised and battered, scarred and scorned,
Sacred head pierced by our thorns.

“It is finished” was His cry;
The perfect Lamb was crucified.
His sacrifice our victory,
Our Savior chose the mercy tree.

Hope went dark that violent day.
The whole earth quaked at Love’s display.
Three days silent in the ground,
This body born for Heaven’s crown
​
On that bright and glorious day,
When Heaven opened up the grave!
And He’s alive and risen indeed!
Oh, praise Him for the mercy tree!

Death has died. 
Love has won!
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ has overcome;
He is risen from the dead!

One day soon we’ll see His face;
Ev’ry tear He’ll wipe away.
No more pain or suffering:
Praise Him for the mercy tree!

Death has died.
Love has won!
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ has overcome;
He is risen from the dead! 

On a hill called Calvary
​Stands an endless mercy tree.

---

       As I prepared my heart to sing the song this week, my mind kept going back to the Scriptures; to the disciples who  left everything and followed Jesus and to the women who served Him, loved Him, and followed Him all the way to the cross. How desperate they must have felt on that dark day. That day when they believed all hope was gone, all dreams crushed for their Savior had been crucified.
        As I reflect on the story of Mary Magdalene, whose name means “bitterness,” I imagine her at the cross, broken and weeping as she watches her Savior die. She doesn’t know what is coming.
She only knows that this One who cast out seven demons from her, her deliverer.....has breathed His last breath.
He is the One who changed her bitter life forever, gave her a reason to live.
He is the One who offered her and the other women dignity, worth, and love.

How could it be that her Jesus was now hanging lifeless on the cross?

​His body was broken for her, but she did not understand that yet.
​His love had saved her and her love had led her to the cross, and there she stayed through His suffering.
She, John and the other women stayed, unlike the others who fled in fear.
She stayed through the spectacle and horror of it all. 

And I wonder, would I have followed Him all the way to the cross? Would I have had the courage? Would you?

         Mary stayed and watched as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus down from the cross. They tenderly cleaned and wrapped his body in seventy five pounds of myrrh and aloe and placed Him in a new tomb in a garden. Only when the stone was sealed did Mary Magdalene leave; with the intention of returning after the Sabbath to further prepare His body for burial with more spices. 
         Read the account below of her return to the tomb in John 20:1-18. Try to place yourself in the scene as you read the Scriptures. Imagine what Mary Magdalene must have thought and felt when she saw the empty tomb that day.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

---

        The same love that held Mary at the foot of the cross brings her to the grave that early dark morning. I imagine the walk there was slow, weary and labored in her grief.  How her broken heart must have raced when she found the tomb empty with strips of linen that had been wrapped around His body lying on the floor. Desperate, Mary ran to tell the disciples. Imagine her pain as she wonders who could have taken Jesus and why? She believes she is robbed of her last act of devotion to care for His body in death.
​
​And she weeps.....
        Then she looks inside the tomb, and suddenly this woman who had been delivered of the presence of demons in her life was in the presence of angels! 

         And then the moment comes.... a man speaks words of compassion, “Why are you crying?” Mary, eyes blinded by her tears, mistakes Him as a gardener. Then Jesus, the resurrected, living Lord of her life, speaks her name, Mary.... And she knows.... And Jesus knows her,  every detail of her life. He knows that her overwhelming sense of gratitude and love for Him is what drove her to the cross and now to the grave.
​And He cares....deeply. 
​And Mercy calls her by name. ​
Her Savior Lives!     

---

"I Owe All to You" by my friend and artist Monica Wood.

      And she grabs hold of Him, clings to Him with a love that she will never let go. Her Lord, her teacher lives!
Mary Magdalene is the first one to see the resurrected Lord alive. 
Her despair turns to joy!

Death has died. Love has won!

​Her darkness is filled with the presence of His light. 
She has been faithful and He commissions her, as He does us,
to share the good news that He lives!

What will you do with this truth? 
​
Jesus knows your struggles and your darkness.
 When life seems overwhelming and tears flow, 
When you’re tempted to lose hope............
Jesus cares, Jesus saves,  and He knows your name. 

​You too can walk out of the tomb of whatever
​is holding you and live! 



​His love ran red for you.
​ Find your rest and be made whole in Him.

---

Artist: Antonio Bortoloso

Then....Live in the light of His presence,
                in the Resurrection power of His deliverance. 
Choose today to follow Jesus and live in the beauty
of His redeeming love, and extravagant grace.
​
Jesus chose to offer His life on the Mercy Tree for you.
​
Do you believe? Do you know Him as Savior and Lord?
Mercy calls your name. 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in Him
​should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

​In the powerful name of my Risen Lord,
Kathy

Resources: Mercy Tree, words and music by Krissy Nordhoff
and Michael Neale, Images: Pinterest, Monica Wood

---

​Be sure to join us each week for Monday Musings.  
Feel free to share on your social media.

Join our email subscription to receive the blog automatically each week in your email.  Sign up at the top right of this post. ​​​​

---