Listen

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni” (which means Teacher).

John 20:15-16

Think

“Mary.”

It’s her name, it’s being known, that helps Mary Magdalene finally recognize the risen Jesus. You can almost feel the exhale of relief that she lets out when she responds, “teacher.” Jesus and Mary didn’t need very many words, but they said a whole lot.

What are the things that make you feel truly known? Maybe it’s the name you were born with, or one you chose for yourself. Maybe it’s the friend who knows how you’re doing even before you can answer, or the mentor who named your gifts that you weren’t quite able to see yourself.

While the world might expect us to act or look or feel a certain way, [Take a deep breath. Really.] God meets us in quiet, honest encounters to say, “I know you, and I love you,” inviting us into sacred wholeness whether or not everyone else is there to see it. It’s a gift that Mary deserves – and so do you.

Allison Wehrung

Pray

Loving God, walk with me as a I seek to know myself.

And hearing you call me your own, help me to feel truly and wholly known in your presence.

Amen.

Go

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

C. Austin Miles in “In the Garden” (1913)