Known, Seen, Called

Based on John 20:1-18

I think it’s easy to forget that Easter morning started in the dark. It started with all of Jesus’ followers in the deepest grief. The person they thought was the saviour of the world, the person they had trusted and believed in, well that person was dead. I wonder what had been going through their minds, what questions and doubts. Had it been real? What Jesus had said had sounded so good, but was it too good to be true? Alongside these questions was perhaps a deep grief for the teacher and friend they had lost. They had, after all, gone through so much together and travelled so many miles. We will never know exactly what was going through their heads, but one thing is for certain, Easter morning starts in the dark. Through the literal dark of night, and through the darkness of emotions and feelings, Mary Magdalene makes a journey to the tomb, with no idea what awaited her.

An empty tomb, with the linens neatly folded and two glowing angels asking her why she was crying. This must have been utterly strange, shocking and perhaps quite confusing. What on earth was going on. She runs back to tell the other disciples, and they come running checking for themselves before running back to their friends again. Mary though, she lingered. Perhaps she wasn’t as quick to believe, or maybe she just needed the time to process, but by staying she was the one who got to meet Jesus and have a conversation with him.

I think this is important. Jesus didn’t appear in the high up places, in the houses of the rich and the temples amongst the high priests, rather Jesus appeared to a woman who was in the midst of confusion and grief. He appeared to her just as she was. Jesus didn’t demand that she have it all together, that she fully understand, Jesus simply met her in the middle of her humanity and stood with her as she began to slowly understand. As Jesus stood with Mary, he called her by name. She wasn’t a number or a statistic, she wasn’t a postcode or a stranger, she was Mary, who Jesus knew. Names are powerful and important, and when someone calls us by our name, when someone sees us and knows us just as we are it can be a very incredible experience.

This is the thing, Jesus doesn’t just know Mary’s name, I believe that he knows all our names, that he sees us and knows us just as we are. And just like with Mary, Jesus doesn’t demand that we jump through hoops, doesn’t need us to have it all together or have our beliefs in a neat tidy line. Instead, he simply meets us in the middle of our very human, and sometimes our very messy feelings and situations and calls us by name, waiting patiently for us to respond. Easter starts in the dark, and Jesus is not afraid to come and sit in the dark with us, full of grace and forgiveness, loving us just as we are in this moment.