Our psalmist, long before the incarnation of Christ Jesus, recognized that: “This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. On this day, the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

It is not easy for us to “rejoice and be glad” in the dark days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, nor in the miserable mess of the world around us, whether in our personal lives or around the world. Yet, once we experience the resurrection power of Easter, of fresh new life bursting forth from what appeared to be lost forever, we know what the psalmist meant. We recognize the hand of God at work in our own lives, as well as in the lives of all God's children everywhere, and it is indeed “marvelous in our eyes”.

When we realize that what we see before us is “the Lord's doing”, we can take heart and have the courage to face whatever challenges appear before us, trusting that Christ Jesus is with us here and now and will bring us through whatever comes our way in the new life God has prepared for us to walk in. We, along with Mary Magdalene, can experience the Beloved calling us by name, enabling us to share the good news that on this Easter day and on all the other days of resurrection we have experienced in our lives, we know: “The Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”