On a First-Name Basis with Jesus
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
Whenever I fill out a form or sign up for something that involves advertising, I give them my name as Daniel. That way, if somebody calls or emails and asks for Daniel, I know it’s somebody that doesn’t know me. If I’m out in a crowd or at a store and I hear someone call “Dan,” I usually ignore it. There are a lot of Dans out there and it would be vain of me to think they were calling for me. But when I’m in a mob and somebody shouts “Sully!” I freeze in my tracks. I don’t know any other Sullys out there, except that is what I call my wife. If I hear that, I know somebody is calling me.
Mary was confused (understandably!) for most of Easter morning. She didn’t know if Jesus had been stolen or what. She didn’t recognize two men standing in the tomb as angels (so what exactly did they look like, Mary?!?!) and when she saw a man walking around the garden she thought he was the gardener.
It wasn’t until Jesus called her by name that she recognized Him. You know how it is. You have friends, and they all say your name differently. They have nicknames for you and silly things they say every time they see you that would be a dead giveaway if they were trying to disguise themselves and then accidentally said “Excelsior.”
Mary Magdelene loved Jesus a lot. She listened to Him teach many times. She was so close that modern culture can’t help but introduce silly love interests and other nonsense into her relationship with Jesus. All of that points to the explanation of what happened when Jesus called her by name. There was probably no other person that said that simple name the way Jesus said “Mary.”
You know where we’re going, don’t you?
Jesus calls you by name too. You might not hear it in your ears, but you can hear it in your soul. When Christ calls a person, He calls that person in their deepest most innermost being. He calls like nobody else. If you hear Him calling you today, fall at His feet, call Him your teacher, and watch what happens.
Mary was the first person He spoke to after He rose from the dead. She once had 7 demons in her, and today she was Jesus’ messenger number one.