Scripture of the week

This week Phil Arbon will be speaking to us from John 20:11-18. Phil is a friend of ours and one of the leaders of the Scottish Network of Churches. He’s part of Life Church in Paisley and leads 2gether Renfrewshire (encouraging unity and churches working together in the Paisley area). Phil’s talk is called, “TURN – ENCOUNTER – GO”.

The drama of the story  shows Mary Magdalene looking into the tomb – the place of death, but she needed to turn to encounter Jesus in the garden – the place of life!

• When we are in times of crisis what practical steps can we take to make sure we turn to look in the right direction to encounter Jesus?
• What had you not noticed about this story before?

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.