Preached by the Very Rev. Mike Kinman at Christ Church Cathedral at 8 am on Easter Sunday March 27, 2016.
In the name of the risen Christ, Amen.
Jesus said her name.
Mary.
There is something powerful about saying the name.
Names are about identity. Names are about value.
Names help us honor people but more than that they make it harder for us to dismiss people. They make it harder to turn people into faceless statistics or anecdotes.
Not, “someone got killed last night” but “Mary got killed last night.”
“Someone” is anonymous, not worthy of our attention or care.
Mary is somebody’s mother, daughter, sister, lover, friend.
When we baptize, we say the name.
Mary, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
When we bury, we say the name.
We commend to Almighty God our sister Mary, and we commit her body to the ground.
When Jesus calls us, he says the name.
Mary stood weeping at the tomb.
At first, Jesus said “Woman.” And she did not recognize him. She did not recognize him because she knew that Jesus saw her as more than just “woman.” More than just one interchangeable part among legions.
Jesus said, “Woman” – a functional label and then asked a functional question “whom are you looking for” to which she gave a functional answer “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him.”
And then Jesus said her name.
Mary.
Mary.
Mary.
And she saw that it was Jesus.
And the tears stopped. Or maybe they continued all the more.
And she dove into Jesus’ arms.
And she knew that Jesus who was lost was not lost at all.
She knew that Jesus who had died had risen again.
She knew that against all hope, against all odds, against all possibilities that she had seen the Lord. and that the hope, the light, the life he brought was for her.
All because Jesus said her name.
Mary.
Mary.
Mary.
We can believe in the joy of Easter. We can believe that Jesus died on the cross. That his body was laid in the tomb. We can believe that on Sunday morning, the stone was rolled away, and the body was gone. We can believe that he appeared to his disciples, and that he really did rise from the dead.
We can believe everything about Easter, and still it doesn’t matter unless we believe it is for us.
Unless we believe that the love that was so powerful that even death couldn’t kill it is for us.
Unless we believe that Jesus says our name, too.
Now I can tell you that he does.
I can tell you that as you stand weeping. As you wonder if it’s all been worth it. As you wonder if any of your life means anything. I can tell you that as you grieve over loss and pain and death in your own life that Jesus is standing there with you calling your name.
I can tell you that Easter means that Jesus is standing with you in your tears and saying:
Keith
Kris
Elizabeth.
Sharole.
I can tell you that, and I absolutely believe it. And maybe me saying it will help. Maybe you will even believe it, maybe you will even trust it, too.
But Jesus didn’t think that was enough. Jesus told Mary to go and tell the other disciples what she had seen. But he didn’t leave it there. He appeared to the disciples and said “as the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” He appeared to Peter on the beach and said “Do you love me? Feed my sheep.”
Being Easter people isn’t just believing a proposition. It isn’t just saying “Christ is risen, Alleluia!”
Being Easter people is being sent as Jesus is sent – into a world full of people sure they are being forgotten. It is loving as Jesus loves – deeply, passionately, individually.
Being Jesus is about saying her name.
This glorious morning, I hope you hear Jesus saying your name. I hope in whatever state you came into this space, you hear Jesus meeting you right where you are and calling you by name. Not only in the Gospel reading or in the prayers or in the smell of the lilies … but in this community.
I hope you hear Jesus saying your name because you have taken the time to share it and someone here has taken the time to learn it.
I hope you leave this place having heard Jesus say your name and remembering how that felt. Remembering how it feels to be honored by your name and not dismissed as faceless or anonymous.
And having heard Jesus say our names, I hope we take this Easter joy out into the streets, out into our lives. I hope we are sent as God sent Jesus. I hope out of love for Christ we feed Christ’s sheep.
I hope we remember the power of the name.
And that when we meet someone in pain, we say her name.
And when we see someone in poverty, we say her name.
And when we see someone sitting in brutal loneliness, we say her name.
And when we see someone abused, when we see someone who has been profiled and targeted, someone who has rejected and defamed, someone who has been reduced to a class, a gender or a color we say her name.
When we hear someone has died, we do not let her pass anonymously into the arms of God, we say her name.
There is something powerful about saying the name.
Names are about identity. Names are about value.
Mary stood outside the empty tomb. But Easter didn’t begin until Jesus said her name.
Remember the power of the name.
The power of the name to make the invisible visible.
The power of the name to bring the hopeless hope.
The power of the name to turn a faceless them into an exquisite us.
Jesus said her name.
Jesus says your name.
And if we are to be the body of the Risen Christ, we must say each other’s names as well.
So that when we do, each person, named and loved, will know that against all hope, against all odds, against all possibilities that she has seen the Lord. Amen.
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