Saturday, April 17, 2010

Another Mary: He Knew Her Name

One of the most touching words in the entire Bible to me is in the Easter story.

After Jesus was killed, Mary Magdalene (one whom Jesus had driven out 7 demons: Mark 16:9) went to the tomb. To say that Jesus had radically changed her life is surely an understatement. Can you imagine how she felt when He was killed, and all of her hope with Him. All she knew to do was to go to where He had been buried. I imagine she just needed to be close to Him.

She stood outside of his tomb crying when she realized that his body was not where it had been buried. Not only did she lose him, but she lost the ability to even grieve where his body had been laid. As she was crying, Jesus Himself came up and talked to her, but she didn't realize that it was Him.

She was carried away with grief, feeling hopeless and lost, until He said one word:

"Mary" John 20:16

When He said her name, she knew who He was, hope was restored and she ran to tell the disciples the very good news.

That one word changed everything for her; He called her by name. We can spend our lives knowing about Jesus, hearing about all He has done and all that He has done even for us. But life changes drastically when you hear Him call YOUR name.

As we live beyond Easter and the good news of "He is risen. He is alive." My prayer is that you would hear Him call you by name. I pray that, like Mary, you will experience all of the hope and life change that she did when she realized that He knew her and called her by name!