TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” 

The sound of a familiar voice can cut through a noisy crowd. An infant can recognize her mother’s voice even in the womb. And when a lost child hears a parent call his name, all is well again. In today’s Gospel, we find Mary Magdalene weeping at Jesus’ empty tomb, distraught that she can’t even give him a proper burial. She pleads with the man she thinks is the gardener to show her Jesus’ body. But then Jesus calls her name: Mary. His voice pierces through her grief and confusion, and suddenly, everything changes. She recognizes her Lord.

Mary didn’t expect to find Jesus alive. She had come to anoint the dead body of someone she had watched suffer and die. She ended up looking for a lost corpse. But Mary was the one who was lost: lost in the darkness of her doubt and disappointment. And so Jesus, the living One, found her and called her to himself. Like the Good Shepherd calling out to his lost sheep, Jesus sought her and called her by name. And Mary believed because she knew her shepherd’s voice (John 10:3-4).

John shared Mary’s encounter with the risen Jesus to encourage the first Christians to believe (John 20:31). He wanted them to trust that the same Jesus who sought out the lost and despairing disciples would seek after them as well. Jesus would call them by name, just as he did with Mary, Thomas, and Peter (John 20:16; 20:29; 21:15). And now, two thousand years later, the Good Shepherd still seeks and saves the lost.

Jesus calls each of us by name. And he asks, Whom are you looking for? What are you struggling to find? Why are you weeping? Our Good Shepherd wants to speak to our hearts, personally, with a familiar voice so that we can recognize him. He says, I am here with you.

This is the wonder of Easter. On our own, we can’t find Jesus. But he can find us. Our shepherd knows his sheep; he knows you. Your name is on his lips. At the sound of his voice, you can know the joy of being found.

“Jesus, my Shepherd, help me hear you call my name. Speak, Lord; I am listening.”

Acts 2:36-41
Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22
John 20:11-18