Mary Magdalene was with Jesus right up to the end and even took care of him after he died on the cross. She went to the tomb early after the Sabbath. Can you imagine her grief? Jesus was her Savior: because of him, she had been delivered; because of him she had been given new life. Her Master had been beaten and cruelly killed. It is just too much to bear. She returned to the tomb to get close to Jesus, even if his body was no longer alive.

What does she find? The stone was moved from the tomb. The body is gone. Just when she thought her grief could not get any worse, it does. The pieces of her broken heart were crushed. She ran to Peter and John. "They have even taken away his body. I don’t know where his body is." They all ran back together and did not know what to make of it. The men went home, but not Mary. She stayed at the tomb, crying. Jesus was her Savior and this was the last place she had seen his body. Where else could she go?

The text tells us that she sees Jesus himself but does not recognize him. Like the men who saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus, she did not recognize him until he revealed himself. For them, it was in the breaking of the bread. For her, it was when he called her name. There is nothing like picking up the phone and hearing your name called by the voice of one you love. This was no phone call. This was Jesus calling Mary by name. She turns, throws herself on him, calling the name she had for him: Teacher. This was her Savior, risen from the dead.

Of all the people who followed Jesus, Mary was the first to see him risen from the dead. Why Mary? Perhaps it was because she was there. I don’t mean that Jesus first appeared to Mary because she happened to be at the right place at the right time. I mean that Mary was always there with Jesus. Mary was there providing for Jesus and the others out of her own means. She was there right to the end when he was on the cross. She was there when Joseph of Arimathea took him down from the cross and when he laid him in the tomb. She was there early that Sunday morning. She stayed there when others had gone home. Mary was always there. She loved Jesus with her whole heart. She worshipped him. She was faithful to her master. God blessed that faithfulness.

Mary recognized Jesus when he called her name. Jesus called Mary by name and she knew who it was. We come to him in the same way. We hear him calling us personally. I know that his love is for me. He died for me. He rose for me. It is one thing to know that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. It is another thing to know he is your Savior, to know that he has called you by your name. He loves you. This is what Mary heard and she responded from the bottom of her heart, "my Teacher, my Master."

Do you know that call? Do you have that certain knowledge of God’s love for you, revealed to your mind and impressed on your heart by the Holy Spirit of God? That is what faith is. It comes by hearing the Word of God. Has the Holy Spirit impressed this knowledge of God’s love for you on your heart through the preaching of the Word? Have you heard the voice of Jesus call your name?

If you have not, then you need to hear that God’s love is for you. The Holy Spirit uses the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word to convince our minds and convert our hearts. If you do not know of God’s saving love for you, then you need to be in worship to hear the preaching of the Word. The Holy Spirit uses the preaching of the word in our hearts so we will have faith in Christ.

For us who believe, the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to build us up and give us that deep comfort of God’s love. In the Word—even the preaching of the Word, we hear that voice of Jesus telling us that he is alive and that he loves us. Do you know this love? Have you heard him call your name?