Come NearSample

By Name

By Allie Cooney  

PRAYER:

God, I thank you that you love me, you care for me, and you know me. You call me your child, not based on anything I’ve done but because of what you’ve done for me.

READING:

John, one of Jesus’ disciples and an eyewitness to his life and ministry, recorded this encounter Jesus had with Mary Magdalene after Jesus’ death:

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’s body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). John 20:11–16

This is a powerful part of the Easter story we often just breeze over. Let’s consider the stage that was set. Mary Magdalene was a friend of Jesus’, and she was weeping outside his empty tomb. Can you imagine the defeat she must have felt? She had just watched the crucifixion of her Savior. She was grieving, and all she wanted to do was give him a proper burial, but now even that was being taken away. 

Have you ever felt like that? Has it ever seemed that things kept getting worse? Have you ever been in a season when it seemed like things kept getting taken away from you? 

In Mary Magdalene’s moment of despair, Jesus appeared to her and said the most powerful, most affectionate, most important thing he could possibly have said to her. He said, “Mary.” He didn’t show up and scold her for her lack of faith. He didn’t give her answers or lay out everything that was going to happen or the reason everything had happened. He simply saw her and called her BY NAME. 

When you’re feeling defeated and looking for answers, one of the most powerful things is to be seen, really seen, by someone. That’s what Jesus did for Mary Magdalene—he saw her, called her by name, and offered her not words or explanations but himself and his presence.

Jesus invites us to come to him with our hurts, worries, grief, and despair. He calls us by name. Why would we want to miss the invitation to be with him and to be reminded of who we are and what he has done for us? He doesn’t want something from us; he wants to be with us. 

REFLECTION:

Have you felt defeated lately? Are you looking for answers? How can you make time to simply be with God and allow him to call you by name?  

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