Your Name

 "She glanced over her shoulder and saw someone standing behind her. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize Him. '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. 'Mary,' Jesus said. She turned toward Him and exclaimed, 'Teacher!' John 20:14-16....Mary's tears ceased, because she heard His voice calling her name." Watchman Nee

I love the old chorus that has the lyric, "Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name." I don't think that there are words enough in any language to contain or describe all that is in the name of Jesus. All the attributes of God are found in His name. In His name is joy, peace, power, strength, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation. We are given the indescribable privilege of bringing our prayers before the Father, and asking in His name. All is in submission to the name of Jesus, including the greatest of the human race's enemies, death. Yet there is something that though not equally beautiful, is wondrous to behold and know, and we see it in the risen Christ's discourse Mary Magdalene.

Mary had come to the tomb to anoint and wash the body of Jesus. She was heartbroken to discover He wasn't there. The past few days had been devastating. Her Lord taken, beaten and abused, tortured on the cross, killed, and then buried. Her emotions and spirit were raw and buried in despair. His missing body was too much. All she could do was weep. Sometimes, it appears our only option in the midst of circumstances is to weep. Likely you've been in that place. Maybe you're there now. Jesus had transformed the life of Mary Magdalene. Now He was gone. Why? What would happen to and with her now? She longed for her Lord, but He wasn't there. At least, to her He wasn't.

Scripture tells us that she then noticed someone behind her. When she turned, she saw someone she didn't recognize and believed him to be the gardener. It was in reality, the Lord Himself. Isn't it so often that in our lives crisis moments, we have no ability to see or recognize Him? Sorrow, exhaustion, fear, our world falling in upon us can do that. Too often it does do that. Yet it did not cause Him to turn from her, but to her. Jesus asked her why she was weeping? That may seem a cruel question since He knew why she was, but in truth, hadn't He told her, and all the disciples what He had to suffer, of the cross, His death, but then, of His rising again? Yet in her great pain, she, and all of them, had forgotten it. These things can blind the human heart. They can blind us to Jesus. Jesus won't leave us in that place.

After Mary tells Jesus the reason for her sorrow, He simply says, "Mary." When He spoke her name, everything changed. When He spoke her name, her eyes were opened to His reality. When He spoke her name, all her sorrow, despair, fear, and weakness vanished, and all she saw and knew was Jesus. Jesus her Lord. There is indeed something about His name, but there is also something wonderful and beautiful beyond words of His speaking our name. I believe He is always speaking our name, especially in the darkest places, but the darkness dulls our hearing, and so we don't hear, and then don't see, that He is there....right with us. Wherever we are this day, He speaks our name. The One whose name is above all names, knows our name, and our name is always upon His lips. Your name is upon His lips this very moment. Can you hear Him speak it?

I have walked through some very dark places. Like Mary, I believed those places would be the end of me. They weren't. In those place, every time, His voice would pierce the darkness, and in His voice, I would hear Him speak by name. Not so much audibly as by the witness of His Spirit. He was with me. He'd not abandoned me to the darkness. He knew my name, spoke my name, and continually gave me His name as assurance. If you are in the darkness, He will do the same. Listen for His still, small voice. It will yield a wonder beyond description. He knows your name. Let us all know the wonder of His.

Blessings,

Pastor O