An excerpt from Rev. Nate’s Easter Sermon, “Called by Name.” John 20:1-18.
For fifteen verses, for 80% of our story…
Mary lingers in the shadows.
Unrecognized. Unnamed.
And if you’ve ever had a season of invisibility in your life…
maybe you know a little of the way Mary feels.
“I’m starting out at a new school. And it’s not at all like my last school.
No one seems to notice me. Or realize what I’m good at.”
Or, “I’ve moved out to California with my partner. And I like the weather.
But I don’t have any connections out here. I’ve been looking for a job for months.”
Or, “I can tell that I am getting older.
People just brush by me on the street now, like I don’t even exist.”
Or, “No one appreciates the work I do behind the scenes.
To keep my household going. To keep my small business afloat.”
Or, “I’m m a person of color…or a woman,
in a world dominated by white masculinity.
By males still racing each other, and getting attention for it.”
Nobody sees me, really.
No one can see me for who I am.
80 percent of the story. Mary is in the shadows.
And if know what it’s like to be in the shadows, for whatever reason…
then you know how powerful it is…
at that peak of alienation…at the moment of starting to lose all strength…
to hear what you haven’t heard for a long time.
Your name. Your very own name!
Verse 16, Jesus says to her, “Mary!”
And she turns.
And in that same instant, when she is recognized…
Mary recognizes Jesus.
“Rabbouni. My teacher,” she says.
Do you get how powerful that is?
In that same instant, when she is seen, for who she is…
Mary sees the one she had been looking for. Her God.
It took us some time to come to the good news today, but here it is.
When God reveals herself…
When the risen Christ chooses to come back, and step out of the shadows…
He doesn’t do it, by saying “Here I am, world!”
He does it by saying, “There YOU are.”
“You, whom the world has not noticed.
“You, whom the others have not named.
“You are seen. You are loved.”