BEST Morning! - An Easter Poem

Best Morning!

I could never forget His face,
Sweet face of forgiving,
Stern face of Temple-cleansing,
Marred face on Skull Hill-
I saw them all.
And yet that morning,
That best morning,
I did not recognize Him
When first I saw Him.
But in my heart a curtain tore
From top to bottom,
Tore when He spoke my name.
And something within me
That had been sorrow
Became eternal life!

-by Russell Metcalfe

I wrote this more than fifty years ago. This is the meeting of Mary Magdalene with Jesus near the empty tomb. If you look at all the post-Resurrection meetings with Jesu in the Gospels you see this seeming hesitation, and then the assurance from Jesus Himself. The definitive "text" that seems to make this come alive is 2 Corinthians 5:16 wher Paul says even if we knew Jesus while he was teaching and doing miracles, which some of the Corinthian people seem to have done, they do not know Him that way any longer. No, "if ANY person by in Christ he or she is A NEW CREATION. (2 Corinthians 5:17) This exciting declaration means that we, you and I, can know Jesus in the same way that the disciuples knew Him after the Resurrection: He comes and speaks to us, and calls us by name. He calls that sorrow and discouragement within to faith, and like Mary, like Thomas, we say, "Master! My Lord and my God!"