Matthew 28:9

This verse comes from the resurrection account in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus had been crucified and buried, and his followers were devastated. Early on the first day of the week, a group of women — including Mary Magdalene — went to the tomb and found it empty. An angel told them Jesus had risen from the dead. As they ran to tell the disciples, Jesus himself suddenly appeared to them. Their response was immediate and physical — they grabbed his feet and worshiped him. The word 'suddenly' matters: the risen Jesus wasn't scheduled or predictable. He simply appeared. This is the first recorded encounter with the resurrected Christ.

Jesus, you showed up that morning when grief felt final. You show up still. Open my eyes to the moments when you're suddenly present — in the unexpected, the quiet, the ordinary chaos of my days. Help me respond with the same desperate, wholehearted worship as those women. Amen.

Nobody puts 'meet the risen Jesus' on their morning to-do list. The women that first Easter morning were grief-stricken and running — literally running from the empty tomb, trying to process the most disorienting morning of their lives. They weren't on a spiritual retreat. They weren't in a posture of quiet readiness. They were in chaos. And then, suddenly — Jesus. Not after a long theological process. Not after they'd sorted out what to believe. Just suddenly. That word is worth holding. God doesn't always wait for you to be ready. Sometimes grace crashes into your ordinary — or even your terrible — Tuesday without warning. The women's response wasn't a polished prayer or a theological declaration. It was desperate, physical, wholehearted contact with the one they thought they'd lost forever. When was the last time something broke through your routine and felt unmistakably like Jesus showing up? Stay alert. He has a habit of arriving suddenly.