What’s In a Name

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). John 20:16

Such a tender scene. A group of women, including Mary Magdalene, went to the tomb where Jesus was buried. When they arrived, the stone was rolled away from the front of the tomb and Jesus’s body was gone. Understandably, the women were shocked and grieved because they didn’t know what had happened to his body.

After going to tell the disciples what they had seen, Mary returned to the tomb, distraught. She saw a man standing in the garden and begged him to tell her where Jesus’s body had been taken.

Jesus simply said her name, “Mary.” Immediately, Mary knew who Jesus was. No one said her name with the love that Jesus did. Tenderness, love, peace. No other voice sounded like His. No one’s voice thrilled her like His.

What power and love fills Jesus’s voice. When you hear Him say your name, His voice is unmistakable, but not undeniable.

One night, after watching Billy Graham on TV, I heard God call my name. Not audibly, of course, but in my heart. I was amazed and overwhelmed by the sense of love I felt.

When we hear Jesus say our names, in that moment, we have a choice. I had that choice. We either turn to Him, respond to His love, and worship Him, or we turn away and deny Him.

I responded to His love and never looked back. Life has certainly not been easy, but that sense of love and His presence has never faded.

There is power in His voice. Love and acceptance in His voice. He accepts us as we are; we must accept Him for who He is.

Once we accept Him, He becomes our Father. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus tells His followers that God is their heavenly Father. Over and over, Paul calls God our Father. Read the disciple John’s words in 1 John 3:1:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 

When you place your faith in God, you become His child. He is your Father.

There is nothing He desires more than to be your Father. He loves you more deeply and completely than any earthly father.

Turn to Him, and He will eagerly become your Father!

 What does it mean to you that the God of the Universe is your Father?

 

Like us, God has a name – many of them, in fact. Throughout Scripture, those who worshipped Him responded to His unique work in their lives by giving Him a unique name that expressed what He had done for them in their desperate situations.

Over the next few weeks, I will explore some of these names, the people who used them,  and the circumstances that moved them to call out to Him in such a personal way. I pray that an understanding of His names will draw us even closer to Him.