Holy Week – John 20:1-18

They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!”

Mary had to name her grief and loss in order to see that Jesus was present with her. Her tears had blinded her to the fact that he was right there in front of her. She had accepted that he was dead but was angry and confused that the body was gone. Looking around to accuse, confront, and to place blame, she seeks a focus for her anger.

When he calls her by her name she turns and recognises him. In that instant she is changed. No longer seeking the dead but discovering that her beloved is living. This is resurrection.