The Love
of Christ Compels....
Saturday,
July 27, 2013
Scriptures: John 20:11-17; II
Corinthians 5:13-15; James 3:1
Does
the love of Christ compel us? Is that love the motivating factor in
our lives?
An
example of Jesus' love is found in the gospel of John. Jesus had
just risen from the dead. Mary Magdalene was standing outside of the
tomb of Christ weeping, still in grief from her Lord's death. She
thought that someone had taken Jesus' body. She didn't yet realize
that Jesus was risen from the dead. When she first saw Jesus
standing there in front of her, she didn't recognize Him.
Too
caught up in her grief, focused on the situation and not really
focused on Christ.
Jesus
asks her whom she is seeking. She asks her Lord where the body of
her Lord is.
Jesus
simply calls her in love by name....”Mary”.
I
can hear the concern and love in His voice for her as He calls her
name. As His voice breaks through her grief, she turns to Him and
says “Rabboni!”.
Several
translations of the bible use an exclamation point at the end of her
statement, indicating excitement and fervor.
In
various versions of the bible the word “Rabboni” seems to be
translated in two ways.
- Teacher
- Master
Master
combined with the exclamation point, shows Mary's joyful, exuberant
and willful surrender to her master, Jesus.
There
is no better person to surrender yourself to. His love is a perfect
love. No one else can understand grief and loss better than our
Lord.
The
grief and loss that our Lord felt when the first human beings (Adam
and Eve) sinned drove Him to the cross to pay for our sins and buy us
back with His blood.
That's
what the compelling love of Christ is.
In
Christ our Lord,
Don
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