[Mary Magdalene] turned to leave [Jesus’ tomb] and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
—John 20:14-18
I love the deep care and special attention Jesus shows to Mary Magdalene in this passage. Peter and John leave the empty tomb, but Mary remains a bit longer. Jesus chose to reveal Himself first, in His risen body, to a woman, and to Mary Magdalene. WHAT AN HONOR!
Apparently Mary did not quite recognize the Lord who just days before she saw beaten, bloodied, and crucified.
I love how Jesus let her know who He was. It’s so personal. So intimate.
He knew exactly how Mary would recognize Him.
He called her by name!
Names had great significance in the Jewish culture. If other people knew your name, they knew you.
And Jesus knew Mary.
His voice alone wasn’t enough. Mary thought the gardener spoke to her. But when Jesus called her name, Mary knew it was her Lord’s voice and she knew Jesus lived!
Her response? Mary fell to the ground, grabbing His ankles in worship. Jesus encouraged her to let go and to share the wonderful news that SHE ALONE knew. Not the apostles. Not the men.
Mary.
It brings me to tears.
Jesus knows my name. He knows me, too. He knows me through and through. And He knows exactly how to reveal Himself to me. I can’t know Jesus without His help, unless He calls my name.
He knows you, too. He knows your name.
And He wants to reveal Himself to women in your communities, in mine. He wants them to discover that He knows them, that He knows them by name.
And just as Jesus sent Mary to tell the others that He rose from the dead, He sends us to tell others He can raise them from the dead.
What a privilege. WHAT AN HONOR!
Oh, Lord—
Please let me hear you call my name. Please do what only you can do: reveal yourself more deeply to me. Reveal yourself in such a way that I respond by becoming spiritually prostrate—shocked, and humbled and thrilled that you indeed know and love me. Then give me your heart to reveal the truth of your amazing Gospel to the women around me. Amen.