Jesus Knows Me This I Love

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands

                                                                               Isaiah 49:16a

Then Jesus shouted out in a loud voice "It is finished!"

And it was. He had done it. Jesus had rescued the whole world.

"Father!" Jesus cried. "I give you my life." And with a great sigh he let himself die.

At the first glimmer of dawn, Mary Magdalene and other women headed to the tomb to wash Jesus' body. The early morning sun slanted through the ancient olive trees, drops of dew glittering on leaves and grasses- little tears everywhere. The friends walked quietly along the hilly path, through the olive groves, until they reached the tomb. And immediately noticed something odd- it was wide open.

They peered through the opening into the dark tomb. Jesus' body was gone! And something else: a shining man was there, with clothes made from lightning.

"Don't be scared," the angel said. But (they couldn't help it) they screamed anyway.

The angel asked them, "What are you doing here? This is a tomb, and tombs are for dead people." The women couldn't speak.

"Jesus isn't dead anymore!" he said. "He's alive again!"

And their hearts leaped. And the angel laughed with such gladness, that they felt, 

for a moment, as if they had woken from a nightmare.

"I don't know where Jesus is!" Mary said urgently. "I can't find him."

But it was all right. Jesus knew where she was. And he had found her.

"Mary!"

Only one person said her name like that. She could hear her heart thumping. She turned around. She could just make out a figure. She shaded her eyes to see...  and thought that she was dreaming. But she wasn't dreaming. She was seeing.

"Jesus!"

(from The Jesus Storybook Bible)