“And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” (Matthew 28:9 NASB)

They were not even expecting it. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were on their way to report Jesus’ resurrection to His disciples. They weren’t anticipating that they would have this encounter — but “Jesus met them.” It led to worship (“they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him”) and His subsequent direction for their lives (“take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee”). But the key was: He met them.

This is what we need as well. What we need more than anything else is an encounter with Jesus. We don’t need mere “religious meetings” or activities. We need to meet with Jesus. This is what we should be praying for. But how do we encounter Him?

The Holy Spirit of Jesus will meet with us when we seek to engage Him though prayer and His word. Just like it did with the women that day, our meeting with Him should result in real worship — “taking hold of His feet” by faith and worshiping Him — and hearing His directions for our lives from His word. For our part, we need to truly be seeking HIM: we need to see past the mere “forms” of prayer and Bible teaching and really look to “meet with Him” by faith. Don’t merely “go to church”; go to meet Jesus! Don’t just “read your Bible” in the morning; go to meet Jesus! But make no mistake; what we need more than anything else is for it to be said of us that “Jesus met them.”