Called by name!

John 20:11-18

Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’ – which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.

Food for thought: What's in the name?

In this reading something interesting happens. It is the name calling. When the angels found Mary, they called her "woman". When Jesus found Mary he also referred to her as "woman". As long as Mary was being referred to as "woman" she could not connect the dots; she could not know that it was Jesus.

Mary could not recognize Jesus because she was taking him to be a mere gardener. The gospel says that "Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him." It was when Jesus called her by her name “Mary” that she discovered who Jesus was. In other words, as soon as Jesus called her by name, she immediately k

new him to be Jesus. All this shows us that names are important in our life; we need them for identification. We do well to call ourselves by names and not by our titles. Titles are about our job; our names are about our person; titles are about what we do, while our names are about what we are. Titles can be lost; names cannot.

Sometimes we demand others to not call us by our name; we prefer being called by our titles like doctor, sir, Madame, mister and misses.  We feel offended when someone calls us by our real name.  When Jesus  addressed Mary by her name, she finally came to know who Jesus is.

Another reason Mary could not recognize Jesus was because of her tears. Four times the word weeping appears in the gospel reading: 

*Mary stayed outside near the tomb, **weeping**. Then, still **weeping**, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why

are you **weeping?**’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you **weeping?”***

The tears blinded her eyes so that she could not see Jesus clearly. That is natural and common. When we are crying we don't see things clearly. We focus on our agony and nothing else matters but our agony. In aby way, we must never allow our tears to blind us to the promises of God. Tears there must be, but through the tears we should remind ourselves of God's promises. Sometimes in the face of tragedy and disappointment, we can only hide ourselves in the promises of God until the storm passes by. We have to reassure our heart with the facts of God when we can’t calculate the sums of life. We have to tell ourselves the truth, regardless of appearances to the

 contrary: Not some things, but all things work together.

Twice Mary was asked *Woman, why are you ***weeping? **She was consistently and constantly crying. When sorrow comes, we must never let tears blind our eyes to Jesus. Because of their tears some people gave up on Jesus; they couldn't see him through their tears. As I have always said, our problems and tears should not take us away from the Lord but to him. The more we cry the more we should hold onto him, because he promised us that he will never abandon us, come what may.