4 Blessings of Lingering with Jesus

Have you ever rushed through your quiet time?

I hate to admit it, but I have. In fact, I did it just the other day.

As I sat with Bible in one hand and coffee in the other, I started to feel antsy. The day was getting away and I had so much to do…so I sped things up. I distractedly read a few verses, said a prayer and then moved on with my day.

Maybe you can relate.

Sometimes when to-do lists press in, lingering to seek Jesus feels like a speed bump to our productivity.

But this week, as I read the resurrection account, I saw a case for lingering longer.

Let me explain.

In John 20, Mary Magdalene was one of the women who went to Jesus’ tomb early Sunday morning—only to find the stone rolled away.

In shock and concern, she told Peter and John, who returned to check out the scene. Verses 5-9 tell us they looked inside, saw the abandoned grave clothes and believed. “Then,” says verse 10, “the disciples went back to where they were staying.” (NIV)

But here’s what I love: when everyone else went home, Mary lingered looking for Jesus.

Look at John 20:11-18:

But Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping; so as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they put Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and yet she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Thinking that He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you put Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. (NASB)

Because Mary lingered looking for Jesus, she received blessings others missed out on.

Here are four of them:

1. She saw God’s power to bring good out of an impossible situation.

Mary had the honor of being the first follower to see Jesus after His resurrection. Can you imagine this moment?

On Friday, she watched in horror as her loved One died a horrendous death. But on Sunday morning, she heard Him call her name.

The suffering and sorrow of Friday wasn’t the end of Jesus’ story. And likewise, Christ’s resurrection declares that sin, suffering and sorrow won’t be the end of ours.

Jesus can redeem the painful, dead parts of our lives. From hopes to relationships, nothing is beyond His transforming, resurrection power.

And yet even in areas where we don’t get our happy ending here on earth, we can know it’s coming. In heaven, God will wipe away every tear and make all things right. One way or another, God will bring good from our hardest circumstances.

But here’s the thing: this is a perspective we don’t get simply from going about our days, living moment to moment.

If we want a resurrection perspective on our lives, we have to linger like Mary, looking for Jesus and spending time with Him.

It’s there we find hope for the most hopeless of our situations.

2. She saw Jesus see her.

Jesus’ first words post-resurrection weren’t words that declared His vast power. They were words that demonstrated His tender compassion.

“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

“Mary!”

Jesus sees and cares deeply for His people. He cares about our grief, He cares about our confusion and He meets us in those places with the truth of who He is.

When we linger looking for Jesus, He calls us by name and opens our eyes to who He is. We can find comfort in both the presence and the person of our compassionate Savior.

3. She heard Jesus’ direction for her day.

In verse 17, Jesus says to Mary Magdalene: “…go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

Because Mary lingered looking for Jesus, her whole day was rearranged. Jesus had a task for her to accomplish! What an honor.

The truth is, Jesus has tasks for us to accomplish, too. He has truths He wants us to pass along, people He wants us to help and much more. But these may not be the tasks we have on our to-do lists at the day’s start.

It’s both challenging and confidence-building to realize: when we linger looking for Jesus, His own sweet voice will direct our day. His “Go… and say…” may rearrange our plans, but it will lead to a more eternal kind of productivity in the end.

4. She heard identity-changing truth.

There’s a lot of meaning in the message Jesus’ sent through Mary, but my favorite part is that Jesus calls God “My Father and your Father.”

This was big news. Because of the cross and empty tomb, God was no longer only Jesus’ Father. He was the disciples’ Father, too.

When we linger looking for Jesus, we are privy to identity-changing truths like this. We are not the sum of our failures. We are not what people’s rejection may suggest. We are beloved and chosen children of God. Oh, how we need that reminder.

Mary Magdalene shows us that lingering to look for Jesus brings many blessings.

But maybe you’re thinking, “lingering is a luxury I just don’t have right now.” And I get that.

Notice though: Mary’s encounter with Jesus didn’t actually happen in a comfy chair with coffee in hand. It happened out of the house in an unlikely place.

So today, how might you linger to look for Jesus both in—and out—of your quiet time?

Hearts that lovingly seek Jesus will find Him ready to meet with them anytime and anywhere.

This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my reading plan: “The Wonder of the Cross.” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along!

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org

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