This is the time of year when things come back to life. The days grow a little longer, and the sun shines a little brighter. Grass grows greener, and butterflies can be seen floating and fluttering in their fields. Trees began to bud once again, and the birds that take up residence in them seem to sing a little more sweetly. All of this testifies that our creator God is a God of, not just life, but renewed life.

For all of our advances in knowledge, science, and technology, we cannot create life, or even renew life where it has been lost. Sure, we may be able to lengthen life, enhance the quality of life, and preserve life; but God alone has the power to breathe into the dust of the ground and create new life from nothingness. Is it any wonder then, that God alone can breathe life back into what was once dead?

Surely this world and all that is in it will soon come to pass, but the God of renewed life has the power and the authority to recover whatever has been lost, and usher it into eternity. For although this world is fading and fleeting, His Kingdom is Eternal, and the power by which He reigns is the power of resurrection.

Jesus appeared to Mary in the garden and asked her, “why are you weeping.” Mary was filled with a very deep kind of grief. Not only had she seen her Lord crucified in front of her very eyes on Friday, but now, on Sunday, His body was missing. This was salt in the wound. Mary probably felt more abandoned and alone than ever in that moment. It was what we could call a wilderness moment. But in the midst of that wilderness moment, in the midst of that grief and loneliness, Jesus spoke her name… and everything changed.

Like Mary, we live in a world of loss, and hurt, and grief; but the One is from the Promised land, He has crossed the wilderness, and defeated it. He is able to appear to us in the desert and in the darkness, bringing us eternal joy, and the promise of new life. He appears to us in our grief, and with love, He speaks our name.