Galatians 5:6 ⁶For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Mark 16:1-4 And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

Is your love holding even when adversity impacts your life, when faith and hope have taken a monster hit? Hold on to that Love.

Scripture tells us that there was about six women that came to Jesus’ tomb after the Sabbath. Some of these women could have come from different directions, at even slightly different times, which would explain the varieties in details of that morning among the gospel writers. But let us focus on Mary Magdalene.

Here is what we know about her:

She had suffered greatly until Jesus delivered her from seven demons. After her encounter with Jesus, she became a loyal follower of Jesus who with other women helped support Jesus and His disciples from their own means (Luke 8:3). Mary Magdalene’s love and loyalty to Jesus is shown not only by her presence at the cross, but as a witness to the placement of the body in the tomb (Matthew 27:61) and her presence at the tomb on resurrection morning. She had lost hope, but had not lost love. Love brought her and the women to the tomb. Love kept her loyal when hope had died. On resurrection morning, Jesus restored Mary’s hope, but He didn’t need to restore her love. She never lost that!

Faith in Jesus Christ produces Love, “Faith which works by love.” To experience the Love of God in Jesus Christ changes our hearts to love as Christ unconditionally loved us. For while we were sinners, His plan of salvation paid for our sin. “Faith which works by love.” Love, then, does not work of itself, except in the strength of faith. Love is so entirely dependent upon faith that, as I have already said, it cannot exist without it. No man loves a Savior in whom he posesses no confidence. There may be an admiration of the character of Christ, but the emotion which the Scripture treats as, “love,” only comes into the heart when we trust in Jesus. “We love Him because He first loved us.” When we have a belief in His love and a sense of it, then we begin to love Jesus, but love to Jesus cannot exist without faith in Him.

Is your love holding even when adversity impacts your life, when faith and hope have taken a monster hit? Hold on to that love. Jesus will make His presence known to you as He did to Mary Magdalene.

Pastor Rick Mootoo

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