I couldn’t believe it. I had to see for myself.

I finished gathering all the spices I needed. It was the last thing I could do to honor him.

I wipe the tears from my face.

Peter must have been wrong. He’s been wrong before. it’s something we all accept about him.

Still, I had to get there. And so I started walking.

I notice how green everything is as I walk to where they put him. And then they rolled a big stone in front of the tomb.

I can feel my heart breaking all over again, just thinking about him.

It was painful seeing him on that cross, hanging there, suffering. And for what? What was his crime?

I’ll tell you what it was — love. He loved people like no one I had ever known. And he touched them. With his hands, with his caring heart.

And how did they repay him? By calling him Messiah one day, laying their palm branches down for his ride into Jerusalem and one week later, they change their screams,

“Crucify him, Crucify him!”

He was only guilty of one thing. Loving people, no matter who they were, no matter what they had done. He loved them all. Even the ones who nailed him to that cross.

And he loved me. Oh, how he loved me.

Sometimes when he looked at me, it felt like he could see all the way through me. He knew me like no one else ever did.

My heart is beating out of my chest. What will I find when I get there? How will I even touch this one who has touched me so deeply?

I see the clearing up ahead. I’m almost there. I catch my breath just to lose it again.

For there is the tomb, but where is the stone that was in front of it?

I have to go in. To see for myself. But the tomb is as empty as my heart.

Who would do this? Who would take him?

This one who had come and changed our lives. This one who had given all he had in just the short time he was here.

Where is he?

Up ahead I see a man standing there. He must be the gardener. Maybe he saw something. I don’t care, I have to ask.

“Sir, what did you do with my Master?”

I had to know, as my heart cries out, What did you do with Jesus?

Now I can’t even finish what I had come to do. To get him ready for burial. Someone had come and taken him away.

He looks up, into my eyes. I can’t stop my tears. I wait for his answer. It feels like a million years.

But when his eyes meet mine, he softly says my name, “Mary.”

My heart stops. I fall to the ground before him and kiss his beautiful feet.

“Master,…oh, Master.”

“Do not hold onto me, for I have not fully ascended to my Father,” Jesus tells me.

I step away, but my heart is still holding on.

He’s not dead. He’s alive!

I can finally breathe.

*   *   *

This is not just a story. It’s true. And it’s something applicable to each and every one of us.

One day, we will be standing before God. And he’ll have a question for us. It won’t be:

What did you do with your life?

Which church did you go to? 

Did you go to church?

No. God will tell us, “I sent my Son, my only Son. And they ridiculed him, they spit on him, and ripped his beard off. Then they nailed him to the cross. They mocked him and they put a spear into his side. And my Son shed his precious blood.”

And God will ask, What did you do with Jesus?”

The Truth

God loved the world so much he sent his Son to die for us. To pay for every sin we’ve ever committed. And the Bible tells us, when we agree with God that we are sinners, when we accept the gift that God gave, by letting his Son pay for our sins with his perfect blood, our sins are gone.

In Titus 3:5, it says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.”

In Roman’s 4:5, it says, “To him that works not, but believes on him who justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

In 1John it tells us, “These things have I written unto you so that you may know you have eternal life. He that has the Son has life, he that has not the Son does not have life.”

When Jesus died on the cross, there was another man on each side of him on two other crosses. One man realized who Jesus was. And to that man, Jesus said, 

“Verily, I say to you, this day you will be with me in paradise.”

There was no time for that man to change his life. Yet, Jesus told him he would be in heaven. Why? Because he recognized and acknowledged who Jesus was.

And when Jesus died he said the words, “It is finished.”

And those words meant, “Paid in full.”

His death canceled our debt. And all he requires is that we put out trust in what he already did.

To add anything to what Jesus did on that cross is to tell him, “it was NOT enough.”

We don’t have to wonder if we’ll go to heaven some day. God says we can know. So the question is, do you have the Son?

What did you do with Jesus?

Free eBook

If you or someone you know is not sure that they will be going to Heaven, I’d like to offer you my free eBook. Real Love is my story of how I found God without even looking. To receive your copy of Real Love Click Here.