Risen Life Day #3: The Tears That Blind Us

Jesus/Grace Talk, Ram's Corner

“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.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.'” — John 20:15-16 (NIV)

THE JOURNEY

Chloe had spent seven years building a non-profit designed to help single mothers find affordable housing. It was her passion, her calling, and her entire identity. But after a sudden shift in local grant funding and a brutal economic downturn, the organization ran out of money.

Chloe had to close the doors. She spent her final day in the office packing cardboard boxes, weeping bitterly. She felt a profound sense of betrayal—not just by the donors, but by God. She had prayed, fasted, and worked herself to the bone. Why would He let her God-given dream die?

A few weeks later, still thick in the fog of her grief, Chloe took a temporary, unglamorous job working at the front desk of a local community college just to pay her rent. She hated it. She felt overqualified, invisible, and forgotten by God.

One afternoon, a young woman came to the desk in tears, overwhelmed by the financial aid paperwork, on the verge of dropping out. Chloe recognized the look in the young woman’s eyes—it was the exact same look the single mothers at her non-profit used to have. Chloe stepped out from behind the desk, sat with her for an hour, helped her navigate the system, and prayed with her in the parking lot.

As the young woman hugged her and walked away, a sudden, piercing clarity hit Chloe.

God had not abandoned her. He was right there in the lobby of the community college. Chloe had been so busy mourning the “dead body” of her non-profit that she had completely failed to recognize the living presence of God in her new, seemingly mundane assignment. She thought her calling was dead, but the Master had simply moved to a new garden.

Heart of the Matter

On Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene stands weeping outside the empty tomb. She is devastated. Jesus—the man who saved her, loved her, and restored her dignity—has been murdered. And now, she believes His body has been stolen.

Jesus stands right in front of her, but she doesn’t recognize Him. She assumes He is just the gardener. Why?

First, tears literally blur our vision. Profound grief, disappointment, and pain have a way of creating tunnel vision. When we are hurting, all we can see is what we have lost.

Second, Mary was looking for a corpse. She was looking for the Jesus of Friday, not the Jesus of Sunday. She expected to find her Savior exactly where she left Him.

How often do we do the exact same thing? We experience the painful death of a dream, a relationship, or a season of life. We stand outside the tomb of our expectations, weeping, demanding that God give us our past back. And all the while, the Risen Christ is standing right next to us, disguised as a mundane new job, a quiet conversation, or a forced pivot.

Here is the dynamic of Risen Life sight:

  • You love God by wiping your eyes and turning around. You grieve your losses, but you refuse to stare into the empty tomb forever. You stop demanding that God resuscitate your past, and you start looking for where He is breathing life into your present.
  • He loves you back by calling your name. Jesus didn’t break through Mary’s grief with a theological lecture; He broke through by intimately speaking her name. God loves you enough to meet you in the middle of your tears, gently turning your head away from what is dead so you can see Who is alive.

Faith in Action

We cannot see the Risen Christ if we are obsessed with guarding a grave.

The Challenge: Identify one “tomb” you are currently staring into. What past failure, lost opportunity, or dead dream are you still weeping over?

  • Today, make a physical and spiritual pivot.
  • Write down the thing you lost. Look at it one last time, and say: “Lord, I release my demand for this to be resurrected the way I want it.”
  • Now, physically turn your body away from the paper. Ask out loud: “Master, where are You working in my life right now? Give me the eyes to recognize You in the ordinary.”
  • Look for one opportunity to serve someone today in your current, “mundane” circumstances.

Prayer for the Day

Living Savior, I confess that my tears and my disappointments often blind me to Your presence. I get so fixated on how I think my life should look that I miss You when You show up in unexpected ways. Forgive me for staring into empty tombs. Speak my name today. Cut through the fog of my frustration and give me spiritual sight. Help me to recognize You, even when You are disguised in the ordinary, the frustrating, or the mundane. I want to follow the living Christ, not the ghost of my past expectations. Amen.

VICTORY Note

“Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” — Psalm 30:5