I have spoken before about some of the losses our family has faced. In the immediate aftermath of a bereavement, without God’s help, it can feel as though life cannot continue without that loved one. However, thank God for His Word that sustains and holds us together during the very darkest times of our lives.

I have been trying to put myself in the shoes of the friends of Jesus: the disciples, the people who were his companions during his life on Earth. I have been wondering what they must have felt after he was executed? What was it like after Jesus was resurrected? How did they feel when they saw him again for the first time since the atrocity of his death?

Mary Magdalene was one of those friends. She was a woman with a dark past whose life had been changed forever after an encounter with Jesus. Although she must have known he was the messiah, did she experience any doubt after she witnessed his death? Did she wonder if Jesus was really coming back? Did she experience despair and grief? Even when we know the truth, in the dark experiences of our lives, it can be easy to focus on the circumstances of what we see.

Whatever she felt, whether it was hope or hopelessness, we know that on Resurrection morning, after Jesus rose from the dead, everything changed. Matthew 28 says ‘Suddenly, Jesus met them.’

This word ‘suddenly’ is very important to me personally because it reminds me that just at my point of need, just when I need him most, that is when Jesus appears.

For Mary Magdalene (and the others who saw the risen Christ), when Jesus met them, in an instant, hope and peace was restored: they could see a future. They knew they would get through this. In that moment, they experienced the resurrection for themselves.

The resurrection was not just an event in history – it was an event which brought hope to the friends of Jesus, hope to all who witnessed it, and hope for today’s world, thousands of years later.

Whatever you are going through, even if it seems like an impossible situation, the death and life of Jesus reminds us that there is a future, and that because of the resurrection, whatever life brings our way, we can have hope and peace. When Jesus meets us, everything changes.