Jesus Met Me!

Matthew 28:9

And behold, Jesus met them and said, “ Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

As I sat in church yesterday, reading the story of the Resurrection of Jesus, once again, I was struck by this verse.  It's sandwiched in the middle of the women's heart-weary, worn, and grief stricken arrival at the tomb, and their joy-filled, overwhelmed, and ecstatic return to the disciples with the news that Jesus was ALIVE!  I love those three words:  Jesus met them.  The women had come to lovingly give to him, to sacrifice for him, even in his death.  They had come to honor him, as they anointed his body with spices; and, in turn, he honored them.  He met them!  Reflect on that incredible picture for one moment.  The verse, those three words, hardly captures all that incapsulates that scene.  The only key we have to the intensity of that instant when Jesus greeted them is the action that followed.  They fell to the grouond, and worshipped at his nail scarred feet.

When I started this Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday, it was with a little bit of a flippant attitude and a whisper of a prayer.  Flippant attitude: "I'm giving up giving-up for Lent."  Whispered prayer:  "As I add this prayer of examen, and spend forty days in soul-searching, will you bring me to Good Friday seeing myself as I really am?  Will you show me, anew, my need for Calvary that the Victorious Resurrection be an incredible celebration?"

This morning, as I sit to write this blog, I know why this verse stood out.  It meant something to me.  The whisper of my prayer, in spite of my flippant attitude, was answered.  Jesus met me.  In a sense, even with a cavalier spirit, he saw the intention of my heart really was to honor him with true celebration.  When we honor Jesus, he honors us...always!  I don't know why that still surprises me.  He always has, and he always will, because of his faithfulness.  All along my Lenten journey, I saw the need of my heart for the crucifixion.  When Friday came, it arrived with such gratitude, I was overwhelmed.  However, as I sat in church, yesterday, the sense of Jesus' ALIVENESS, over-shadowed the events of Friday, and I was filled with celebration, unlike I'd ever felt at Easter.  Jesus met me.  He had been walking with me all along this road, in a unique, and very personal way; but, when I read Matthew 28:9, I realized how much so, and it humbled me.  He had honored me, by meeting me on this journey!  All I could do, all any one of us could do, is take hold of his feet, and worship him.  What a day of Resurrection!