Empty and Full

<p>Mary Magdalene pressed a hand against her aching heart. "How do I still have tears left in me?" She had been mourning for three days, along with others who were Jesus’s friends, followers, and family, but the realization was still sinking in: he was actually gone. It was dawn on the third day, and Mary couldn’t wrap her mind around it—her heart was empty, and so was the tomb. She couldn’t even anoint his body for burial; someone had taken it away.</p><p>.</p><p>"I don’t understand," Mary wept, "You were strong enough to cast the seven demons out of me—you set me free. Why did you have to die? Why didn’t you put a stop to that crucifixion? Where are you now?" Mary clutched at the cold stone of the tomb to steady her shaking knees. She bent to peer into its emptiness once more.</p><p>.</p><p>Mary gasped. The tomb wasn’t empty! Two angels dressed in brilliant white were sitting where Jesus’s body had been, one of them perched by the cloth that had been wrapped around her Lord’s head. This angel was swinging his feet and smiling, the other was gazing at Mary with compassion. His voice carried over to her, soft and musical. “Why are you crying?”</p><p>.</p><p>“They have taken my Lord!” A sob stuck in Mary’s throat. “I don’t know where he is...” The unspoken words echoed in her heart, "Everything is empty without Him."</p><p>.</p><p>Exhausted with grief, she turned back to the tomb’s opening to take a deep breath, and there was a man standing before her. His eyes radiated warmth and kindness, which only made Mary cry harder. Then he asked, “Who are you looking for?”</p><p>.</p><p>"This must be the gardener," Mary thought. "Maybe he knows where my Jesus is!" “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where, and I will get him!”</p><p>.</p><p>“Mary.” That one word—her name—spoken soft as a spring rain falling on hard ground... Mary knew only one voice could speak her name in such a way. She looked up at him. “Teacher!”</p><p>.</p><p>Sorrow fled from her soul like the breaking of dawn—her Lord, her Jesus, was alive! H