John 20:15
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and said to him, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him."
How did Mary Magdalene not recognize Jesus? This man whom she had followed, loved and adored stood in front of her and she thought he was a gardener.
I'm sure there was some difference in Jesus' appearance, but before we wag a finger at Mary and think ourselves better than her, consider the moment: it was early in the morning and still dark, she had been crying (probably for days at this point), she was probably scared and tired and she only looked up at Him for a moment. Can you see how she could have missed Him?
How do we miss Jesus standing before us? Is our vision blurred by the darkness of our own sin? Is our own pain keeping our eyes to see beyond our circumstances? Are we afraid of what we'll see if we take an honest look at Jesus? Or do we only take quick glances at Him? When you put it that way, I think I miss recognizing Jesus' presence pretty often.
During this Easter season especially, let's try to recognize and remove some of the distractions that keep us from realizing Jesus is in our midst.
