He Knows Your Name

A church we attended for many years had the most wonderful way

to celebrate resurrection morning—

I can still hear the sound of hundreds of voices raised in resounding cheer:

“Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

 And He lives forever, With His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Halleluiah, Christ arose!”

It wasn’t like that on the first morning of the week after Jesus’ death.

It was very still and very quiet.

Come with me as I stand in the shadows and watch.  

As the sun began its journey and darkness began to lighten,

a shadow appeared among the trees—or maybe there were two--

women carrying precious spices, bowed down with grief.

Matthew, as he wrote, identified them as Mary Magdalene—

from whom Jesus had cast the demons and who owed him her sanity

and “the other Mary”—

this was not Mary, Jesus’ mother,

she was safely at home with John to whom Jesus had entrusted her.

These women had come with him from Galilee,

had cared for his needs and those of the disciples.

They had been there on that terrible day,

watching as their beloved Master suffered on that cross.

They had watched him take his last breath,

committing his spirit into his Father’s hands,

 watched as his body was taken from the cross,

and carried by Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb,

had seen the stone rolled over the entrance.

They had waited what must have seemed an interminable Sabbath,

and now here they were,

to minister one more time to their beloved Master.

They hurried in silence, each lost in her grief.

As they neared the tomb, they began to wonder about that stone—

who would roll it away for them.

But then, the miracle, the stone had been rolled away!

Let’s pick up the story as John recalled it.

He calls his friend Simon Peter –

although Peter had long dropped the reminder of who he had been

before he became one of Jesus’ closest friends,

and John identifies himself as “the other disciple, the one Jesus loved.

Mary Magdalene ran to tell these two.

They ran to the tomb, went in and saw only the linen that had wrapped Jesus.

John writes that he believed,

even though he adds that they didn’t understand.

They left.

Let’s stay and watch Mary Magdalene.

She is huddled over with grief.

As she weeps, she looks into the tomb

and sees two angels who ask her why she is crying.

“They’ve taken away my Lord,” she says,

“and I don’t know where they have put him.”

And then the amazing thing.

She turns, sees a man standing there

and thinks he must be a gardener who works there

and maybe he knows where the body has gone.

He says, “Mary.”

And she turns to him in wonder. “Rabboni!”

I wonder that she didn’t recognize him.

I wonder if we sometimes are the same.

I wonder, have you heard your name spoken in that way by this risen Lord?

Do you hear him this morning as you celebrate his resurrection again

and all it means to you?

Do we understand truly what he did?

Do we realize how personal his sacrifice is for each of us.

As I have read through the stories of this part of his journey

in each of the gospels,

I have been amazed at how many people are mentioned by name

and not just their name but some information about them

so you will know exactly who the writer is talking about.

This is our God who loved the whole world

and died for whoever would believe in Him.

This is your God, your Father,

Who knows your name and everything about you

and to whom you are so special and important.

Come today,

come closer,

be loved,

be the Beloved.

Enter into the joy of your Lord.

The prophet Isaiah tells us in the words he recorded

of his prophetic foreseeing of Jesus’ suffering.

“After the suffering of his soul

He will see the light of life

and be satisfied.”

One translation says,

“He will see the result of the suffering of his soul

and be satisfied.”

And we are part of that result.

May our lives bring him that satisfaction,

that his sacrifice was not in vain,

that our lives reflect the glory for which he paid the price.

References:

Lyrics by Robert Lowry 1874

Matthew 28:1

John 20:1-16

Isaiah 53:11