The Garden
“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher”
(John 20:1).
Mary’s heart had never left the garden. Over the years Jesus had won her affections and although the Sabbath routine had to be kept, I’m sure Mary’s heart was not in it. In heart she was still in the garden, at the mouth of the sepulcher. Her Lord had died. What would she do? As soon as custom would allow she came back to the garden. This is devotion. Nothing would come between her and her Lord — even if He was dead. She wanted to be close to Him, even if it just meant being close to His dead body.
Are we that devoted to Him? Is the remembrance of His death that drawing power that brings us together every Lord’s Day morning?
Later on we read of the early believers, “Upon the first day of the week…the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7). The Lord has requested, “This do in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24).
