“Mary”

This morning I visited John Chapter 20, verses 1 – 18. I don’t think there is any word in the Bible, nay, in all creation, more beautiful than the word “Mary” coming from the lips of Jesus in this passage. For in that name, the name “Mary”, is contained all the names of all the boys and girls, and all the men and women, who have sought Him, been drawn to Him, have found Him, and to whom He has appeared.

The name “Mary” is a stone dropped into a placid ocean of names, and from that name, from the voice that utters that name, expanding circles of names are enlivened by the breath of the One who speaks that first name uttered on Easter, “Mary”. In “Mary” we find Michael, and Pauline, and David, and Sally; in “Mary” we find names in languages strange to Western ears and all but unpronounceable to us; in “Mary” we hear our own names from the breath of Jesus; you hear your name, I hear my name.

Easter is not an esoteric ideal, a cosmic cloud of star dust. Easter is not about spring. Easter is not about the impersonal. The infinite-personal God, incarnate, was personally crucified for our personal sins and was personally raised to life again, having personally defeated death and Satan, and His first recorded act was to personally call a woman by her personal name - “Mary.” Ever since then He has been calling people by their name; what began with Mary has continued through the ages.

…the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20