“He has risen, as He said.”  (Matt. 28:6)

It was the first day of the week. No doubt with a sense of gloom,
Mary Magdalen in the early morning, went to Jesus’ tomb.
Outside it was dark.  And she went there all alone.
But she saw that from the tomb, someone had moved the stone

Mary started running, to Simon Peter in haste.
No doubt she was breathless, felt no time to waste.
To Peter and to John she said, likely in a way not slow,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb…” where they put Him, we don’t know.

It was Peter and was John who were running now.
But Peter was the slower, of the two somehow.
It was John who arrived first, and there down He bent.
He saw the cloths of burial—a shocking event.

Upon his arrival, Peter himself went into the tomb.
This tomb was like a cave.  For Peter there was room.
He saw the cloths of burial and the cloth which covered the Lord’s head.
The scriptures now had been fulfilled: “He had to rise from the dead.”

The disciples went back to their homes.  But Mary stayed there weeping.
A heavy sorrow for our Lord, Mary’s heart was keeping.
She turned and she saw Jesus. Yet still thought things looked bleak.
She thought He was the gardener.  He asked: Whom do you seek?

Then Jesus called her “Mary.”  He called her by her name.
She called to Him “Teacher!”  Her excitement surely plain.
Mary had seen the Risen Lord.  To this she could lay claim.
She saw Him for she sought Him, with a loving heart aflame.

Jesus, like Mary Magdalene, may we seek You too.
May we seek You with loving hearts, in all we say and do.
And may we find You Jesus.  May our seeking not be in vain.
Lord Jesus may we find You, with loving hearts aflame.

For You have risen from the dead.  You have conquered sin.
You have sacrificed Your life, that heaven we may win.
We thank You now Lord Jesus.  We are healed by Your stripes.
For us, You suffered and You died.  May we find in You new life.