Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, a woman named Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb.

Mary was one of Jesus’ most prominent converts. The Gospel Record tells us that Jesus had delivered her from seven demons. We don’t know what those demons were. But we do know this: Mary Magdalene was thoroughly converted. Christ was the Lord of her life.

In fact, of all the New Testament characters, Mary Magdalene is the only person mentioned by all the gospels as having been at the cross until the very end.

Mary saw his agony, heard his cries. She watched all hope drain from Christ’s face. Mary heard his last words, his final gasp.

While the male disciples were mostly in hiding.

Even Jesus’ biological brothers and sisters were nowhere to be found

at the end.

But there at the foot of the cross, Mary stayed faithful to the very end.

Now it’s the morning of the third day and it’s Mary Magdalene, making her way to Christ’s tomb. She discovers that the stone has been removed, and the body of her beloved Rabbi is gone. We can only imagine the thoughts that ran through her mind.

She ran to two of Jesus’ closest disciples and reported to them that someone had taken the Lord’s body.

Notice that she doesn’t even mention the possibility of resurrection. It’s important to understand that Jesus’ closest friends and followers, even Mary Magdalene, were totally taken off guard by his resurrection.

Even though Jesus had tried to prepare them, the idea was simply too big for them to entertain until they experienced it firsthand.

The two disciples ran to the tomb and confirmed what Mary had told them. The body was gone. Since there was nothing more that could be done, the men then went home.

Now Mary stands alone outside the tomb, grieving horrors of death and the horrors of human evil!

As Mary weeps, she bends over once more to look into the tomb. This time she sees two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

The angels ask her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

At this, Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

We can understand that. Her eyes were too full of tears.

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.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

And at the sound of her name, Mary Magdalene was brought back to reality.

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Many of you have been there, haven’t you?

A parent, a friend, perhaps even a child. You’ve stood there by a tomb and wept.

Perhaps you wept so hard that you could not even sense the risen Master standing next to you seeking to comfort you.

And now you are here, seeking as we all do, to hear your name called, to experience the kind of transformation Mary Magdalene experienced,

Seeking to have the fog of doubt and fear lifted from your mind and heart and to know that the Good News really is true.

Christ lives, and because he lives, you and I can receive the gift of eternal life.

It is natural for us to have these yearnings. Even the most skeptical among us still have a glimmer of hope that the Easter story is true—that Christ has been raised from the dead.

Mary Magdalene was there—crying at the tomb. And the Master spoke her name.

It is when she hears Christ speak her name that the veil of doubt and dread is removed. Even though her grief had blinded her to his presence, when Christ spoke her name, she knew who he was.

Have you ever heard Christ speak your name? God is speaking our name to anyone who will listen.

If you are crying on the inside this morning, wipe away your tears for a moment and listen.

God is here. Christ is alive. He’s speaking your name.

He’s saying to you, “It’s all real. I am with you. I have conquered death.”

Closing Prayer

God, we thank you for the life we have in Christ Jesus. We thank you for your victory over sin and death, for rekindling our hope, and rescuing us from despair and cynicism.  We thank you for the determined spirit of those who have gone before us. We thank you for those who have kept the faith alive and been kept by it. We thank you for those who gone through the darkness and refused to surrender to it. We thank you for those who have helped resurrect our spirits by their examples and who have blessed us by believing in us when we had only hints of, but no confidence in our own gifts. We thank you for Jesus who lives and reigns with you both now and forevermore.

Continue to lead us in the journey of faith in this world darkened by sin and death: Be our strength in times of testing and trial. Be our guide when the road ahead seems veiled. Be our rock when the ground beneath us begins to shake and then whisper into the ear of our heart, “Peace be with you.” Be our support when we doubt and waver. Be our confidence when we hear Jesus’ words, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

O God, give us your Holy Spirit to direct us, to sustain us, and to fulfill our mission. Continue to resurrect our souls. Temper our spirits and fill us with your compassion, love and understanding toward the least of your children. Give us a vision of a world remade and refashioned on your justice.  Give us the will to make it happen and always to remember that we are under a mandate. May we hear again Jesus words “so I send you.” We ask these things through the Risen Lord, Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray saying…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.