Mary. That is all He said. But before He speaks her name, Jesus is deliberately hiding from Her. Mary Magdalene has gone to the tomb where the crucified Savior was placed, but He is not there - where is He? She was on a quest to find Him, and yet He hid - why? This seems an unloving and strange thing that Jesus did. What was He doing? It seems at times, in our relating to Him, that Jesus is hiding - and indeed we see here, in John chapter 20, at times, He is. He could have quickly spoken - he could have alleviated her anxiety right away, but He did not. We see upon the very pages of our Bibles that when relating to those whom He loved, Jesus often left space.
Frankly - I do not like the space, space renders me feeling full of uncertainty and ambiguity, I feel forgotten and alone, I feel overcome and desperate, full of anxiety and fear. I do not like that. And yet, there is an intentionality in Christ to leave His disciples exactly there, with no sense of His nearness. Please know that our experiences and circumstances are not always the best indicators of our reality - - we must know that Jesus is always near! Jesus was near to Mary Magdalene. He was watching, but at times He leaves us feeling that He is not.
It is in these moments of life that we truly get to Know Jesus - and ourselves - simultaneously. Here we see the veracity of our faith. Will we wait for Him? Will we long for Him? Will we trust Him? Or will we run to fill that space with some cheap substitute? Sometimes we are faithful and sometimes we are not. We learn also about Jesus in the space - He is always faithful, and He is always training our hearts to trust and love Him, and He does in deed work everything to our good - even hard things.
Do not fear the spaces - know that Jesus uses them with great purposefulness! Wait and do not grow weary - and from his lips we will hear the most precious and beautiful thing we will ever hear - our own names - as he beckons our eyes and our hearts to behold Him!
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