Picture the scene as Mary Magdalene weeps outside the tomb of Jesus. She’d already witnessed her Lord and friend murdered days earlier, nails hammered hard through his hands and feet, his body dying before her. And this morning she’s up early to clean and anoint him, but he isn’t here! His body’s missing!

“They’ve taken my Lord away,” she cries out, “I don’t know where they put him!”

A gardener calls over, “Lady, why are you crying?” Can you imagine someone daring to say that to you in a cemetery? And he goes on. “Why are you even looking for someone who’s alive in a place where all the dead people are?” Oh my God, the gall of this guy!

“Please,” she begs the gardener, “If you took his body somewhere, just let me know where, and I’ll go get him.”

“Mary,” he now whispers. Through her shock, Mary realizes he is Jesus. She didn’t recognize him the whole time, not until he says her name. After he’d completed his mission, performed all those miracles, and even rose from the dead, Jesus still had one more powerful truth to impart to his friends…

We should expect to see him.

We should expect to see Jesus, even after he’s been dead and buried. We should expect to see the Messiah, even though it’s completely illogical to see him again. And even beyond Jesus, we should expect to see all of God’s angels. We should expect to see all of God’s creation. We should expect to see angels, Jesus, our loved ones—all of them!

We should expect to see them!

At the back of the funeral parlor, we should expect to see the deceased standing there. At the cemetery, we should expect to see our loved one, perhaps standing apart from the crowd, watching us say goodbye. And even beyond these moments of death, even in the bank and the supermarket, the park, our job, or at home: we should expect them to appear to us!

When we live this life as the eternal soul we already are, we can see with illogical eyes and we can hear with nonsensical ears. That’s because our God is beyond all logic and common sense.

God wants us to see with the eyes of the soul.

Even the disciples didn’t recognize the risen Jesus when he first appeared to them. Even those who knew him, who ate and drank with him, who traveled the countryside and talked with him one on one, even they didn’t recognize him! God understands we won’t always succeed in seeing so purely.

We may not always see them, but we should always expect to see them!

Our eyes and our spirits are weak. We try our best, but we so often fail to see with the perfect vision God offers us. Even so, we need to expect. We need to expect to see God and the angels, our deceased family members, and friends. All of them! We must believe in the God-given power within us, the soul that’s already blessed with perfect vision and perfect hearing.

We should expect to see all people loved and embraced by God.

We should expect to see full inclusion in our churches. We should expect to see the change from within! Within ourselves, within our churches and communities, and throughout our world!

Expect God’s vision.
Expect God’s angels.
And always, always, always expect God’s love!

Image via flickr user Mike