John 20:11-18

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

The Bible passage for this evening is John 20:11-18:

¹¹ But Mary [Magdalene; see 20:1] stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

This is perhaps the most poignant moment of that first Easter morning.

Mary Magdalene has been devoted to Jesus ever since he healed her of possession by “seven demons.” Made whole by his loving power, she joined a group of women who provided for Jesus and the disciples “out of their means” (Lk. 8:2-3). On Good Friday, she was present at Jesus’s crucifixion and burial. She loved him. His death was traumatic in the extreme, but now it gets worse: she finds the tomb empty and his body gone.

She weeps. Not just a few tears, but great gulping sobs. The angels ask her why she’s weeping. So does Jesus, who knows her well enough to add “Whom [not ‘what’] are you seeking?” She mistakes him for the gardener, but confirms her total focus on Jesus by her repetition of “him”: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

Then Jesus speaks her name. Just the one word: “Mary.” With that single word, spoken with such gentleness and compassion, Mary’s world changes. Jesus is alive. He’s present, there, with her of all people. She names him, “Rabboni.” He’s been her teacher. Now, despite his cruel death, he is again her living teacher. Overcome, she hugs him. This is no ghost: he can be held.

Jesus gently disentangles himself from her hug, and gives her a task. She, a woman, the very first person to whom the risen Christ has shown himself, is to tell his male disciples the good news. How hard it must have been for her to leave Jesus, but she does as he bids. She “announces”—what a grand word here, not a shy, timid, dubious whisper but a bold, confident, joyous announcement—“I have seen the Lord.”

It’s the deeply personal nature of this brief encounter that makes it so poignant. Jesus isn’t teaching, let alone preaching, he’s speaking to her by name: “Mary.” That’s all and it’s enough to change everything.

The risen Christ speaks to every one of his brothers and sisters by name. We may not hear an audible voice, as Mary did, but we hear his voice all the same. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name …  and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (Jn 10:3-4). We are not saved en masse; we are saved individually, when the Spirit of Christ calls us by name and speaks the good news to us: “Christ is risen. His death on the cross and his resurrection to life was for you, yes, you, whom God loves and knows by name.” That he speaks in this way to millions doesn’t change the fact that he speaks in this way to each of us individually. The risen Christ’s personal love for each one of us changes everything.

Your brother in Christ,

Max