In this post I want to focus on one word that Jesus spoke after he was risen….the word is “Mary”.
In John 20 the following occurs
Verse 15 Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Verse 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
As I thought about this passage something struck me that had not previously, he called her by name. He knew her. That seems obvious, but put yourself in her position; she was devastated, she was in such a mindset that she did not recognize her Lord. The person she thought was the Messiah had been unjustly hung on a cross and she was hoping to go and comfort his body and grieve and she came face to face with her savior and he called her by name and she realized who this person really was standing in front of her. It is such a personal moment. I think we read that passage and say, yep he ran into Mary and she went off to tell people. But he took the time to call her by name, took time to greet her. He is waiting to do the same for us. He is waiting to greet us, call us by name and be our savior. He knew her. He knows us. He called her by name. He calls us by name. He is our personal savior. Yes, he is the savior of the world and he has done all of these things for all people but really think about this, he is YOUR savior. He would do anything for you, anything, even to the point of death…..and most importantly rising from the dead.
Now look at Mary’s reaction when she realized it was Jesus; she was ecstatic. What would it be like if we had that level of excitement? In Matthew 28:8 it says they hurried from the tomb and were filled with joy and ran to tell the disciples. Mary’s reaction is the one we should have, our savior is risen and he calls us by name. We should hurry away from the tomb (it is okay to acknowledge the tomb but we need to focus on what happened after that) and be filled with joy, the joy of knowing our savior lives! And we should tell everyone, we should go to great lengths to tell everyone we know…even those who are already disciples just as Mary did.
Now this does not mean we are called to stand on the corner and yell at people telling them they are going to hell if they do not convert, Jesus did not do that. He approached people with love and we are called to do the same. Jesus was also very blunt and called a sin a sin, we are called to do the same but out of love, not out of anger or preaching fear but out of love.
We are called to go to the ends of the earth and share the good news and to run with the joy Mary had when she realized her savior was risen and had called her name.
Romans verse. 10:14
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
thesefivesolas 