“Who is this stranger?” A college student in Georgia (USA) asked that question when a fellow student texted him saying a DNA test showed they could be brothers. Separated by adoption almost twenty years earlier, the young man texted a reply in which he asked what name the other student had been given at birth. He immediately answered, “Tyler.” Replied the other, “Yes!!! You are my brother!” He was recognized by his name.
Consider how a name plays a key role in the Easter story. As it unfolds, Mary Magdalene comes to Christ’s tomb, and she weeps when she finds His body missing. “ ‘Dear woman, why are you crying?’ Jesus asked her” (John 20:15). She didn’t recognize Him, however, until He spoke her name, “Mary” (v. 16).
Hearing Him say it, she “cried out, ‘Rabboni!’ (which is Hebrew for ‘Teacher’)” (v. 16). Her reaction expresses the hope and joy believers in Jesus feel on Easter morning, recognizing that our risen Christ conquered death for all, knowing each of us as His children. As He told Mary, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (v. 17).
In Georgia, two reunited brothers bonded by name, have vowed to take “this relationship to the next level.” On Easter, we praise Jesus for already taking the utmost step to rise in sacrificial love for those He knows as His own. For you and me, indeed, He’s alive!
-Patricia Raybon
How does it feel knowing that Jesus rose again and knows you by name? How can you know Him better?
Your knowledge of me is humbling, dear Jesus. Thank You for the sacrificial gift of Your knowing love and the hope of eternal life with You.
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept,
she stooped and looked in.
12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head
and the other at the foot of the place where the
body of Jesus had been lying.
13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied,
“and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there.
It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him.
15 “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.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.She turned to him and cried out,
“Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “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.’ ”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them,
“I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
[Mary] turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
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