The Triumph

Among my father's books was a biography of the daughter of William Booth - Catherine Booth, called the "Maréchale."
Her life was one of unquestioned spiritual authority,
     And her ministry first in England, later in France, 
          and later traveling, was as a flame of fire.
 She had signed the flyleaf of the biography.
      And written also:
          "Love won on Calvary."

As we come to another Easter in the midst the ever advancing years of our lives we think again of the work of our salvation.
Jesus' death was instigated, pursued, and brought about by the ones who represented the church of that day. 
The theologians and spiritual leaders of Israel 
     were the ones who should have first been aware of Who He was, 
          and yet they were the ones who could not accept Him.

"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mat. 15.9) said Jesus.
What a condemnation is this for those who think they can decipher with the mind the inscrutable workings of God.
How easy it is to sit in the chair of the learned, and opine about things we have never experienced.

How dangerous to reject what does not pass muster with our theological interpretations.
     The prophets were rejected in the Old Testament,
          the apostles were rejected in the New Testament,
               so was Luther rejected by the authorities in his day,
                    so also with Wesley, Whitefield.

We look back with awe to the revival in the Hebrides islands.
But while it was happening, a world famous expositor was walking the dock on the island saying, "God is not in any of this."

It was "religion" which killed Jesus.
It was the Spirit of God which raised Jesus from the dead.
And the religious Jews were determined to deny it to the world, 
even when they heard that He had risen.
 
Jeremiah shows the way to God:
(Jer. 29.13) "And ye shall seek me, and find Me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

When Mary went to the tomb on Easter morning, 
I wonder was there something moving within her which was more than just a desire to see the tomb and anoint Jesus with spices?

Was there something deep within that unconsciously drew her to the place where death seemed to have overcome His Matchless Life?
However it was; 
     when she heard Him speak, 
          her reply was "Master" ... 

"She turned" ... quickened by a wondrous awareness.
She spoke,  ... illuminated by a wondrous recognition.

 "Rabboni" ... Master," - the One Who Was beyond all her doubts and fears.
 She met, with shocked awareness, 
     the Eternal Master, 
          the Eternal Answer to all of life. 
               The past had fled, and the future extended boundless. 

                        And so it is for all who truly see Him.