John 20:15-16 (NIVUK)
15 He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’
16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’
She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).
One word totally transforms Mary, her name. Jesus speaks her name and she immediately knows it is him and that he has risen from the dead. What is it about this one word? Is it the tenderness with which it is said? Is it the simple fact that the ‘gardener’ miraculous knows what it is? No doubt there was an element of both, but I suspect it was everything that lay behind it, the weight of the relationship that they had shared.
God knows you by name. He knit you together and watches over you with compassion and grace. Hear him speak your name today. How do you respond?
Original image contributed to FreeBibleImages by the LUMO project
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