Her Story, Her StrengthSample

Mary Magdalene: The Strength in a Name

By the time Mary got back to Jesus’s tomb, Peter and John had left. After Mary and the other women told them they’d found the tomb empty that morning, the men wanted to see for themselves. But now they were gone, and Mary was alone. All the sadness and fear of the last three days and the shock of the morning broke over her at once, and she began to cry.

After a few minutes, she bent to look in the tomb again, peering through the darkness and her tears. The two men in dazzling clothes that she’d seen that morning were back! “Dear woman, why are you crying?” they asked.

“They have taken my Lord away,” Mary sobbed, “and I don’t know where they have put him!”

A noise behind her made her spin. A man stood there–likely one of the gardeners who take care of the area around the tomb. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the man asked. “Who are you looking for?”

“Sir,” Mary sniffled, “if you took the body away, just tell me where he is, and I will go get him.”

“Mary!”

She knew that voice! She had first heard it calling to her through the noise of seven evil spirits that once lived inside her. It was the dearest voice to Mary, and she had thought she would never hear it again.

She whirled around, her eyes confirming what her ears already knew. “Rabboni!” she cried out in joy. My teacher!

Over the centuries, many people have been curious about Mary Magdalene, and many stories, legends, and traditions have been made up about her. But the Bible doesn’t tell us very much about Mary, only that Jesus saved her from evil spirits and that she was one of his followers. She was near Jesus’s cross when he died and went to his tomb that Easter Sunday morning. And she was one of the first people Jesus appeared to and spoke to after his resurrection.

But Jesus knew all about Mary. And when he spoke her name, she knew him. Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd who knows each of his sheep, and his sheep know his voice. If you are one of Jesus’s sheep, he knows your name and everything about you. As you follow him, his voice will become more familiar to you every day.