Acts 2:36-43 / John 20:11-18 (2021 / 2023)
The gospel began with Mary staying outside the tomb weeping.
The gospel ends with Mary of Magdala going forth to tell the disciples that she had seen the Lord.
In between, something very personal, something very intimate, happened to Mary.
She heard the Risen Lord call her by her name, and she responded in Hebrew, her mother tongue, a language that was most intimate to her.
Before that, she was a broken person - weeping, grieving and lost.
But the experience of the Risen Lord gave her back her identity and a mission; she was Mary of Magdala and she had seen the Lord.
Similarly, the Peter who spoke on the day of Pentecost was a different person from the one who denied Jesus three times and wept.
Something happens when people experience the Risen Lord. They regain their identity and find a new purpose and mission in life.
So when we feel that life has come to a standstill, our dreams are broken, and we have more fears than hopes, the Risen Lord comes to us.
He calls out to us just as He called Mary. Mary responded with her heart.
We can't be always standing outside the tomb of emptiness or the tombs of pleasure, wealth and power and sin.
The Risen Lord calls us by our names. Let us respond with our hearts so that our lives can have a meaning and a mission.