Calling by Name – Br. Luke Ditewig
John 20:1-18
Jesus came standing next to Mary Magdalene, but she did not know it was him. When Jesus called Mary by name, she recognized him. A most brief and beautiful portrait, so intimate, so familiar. Mary felt she had lost everything: her Lord, her friend, her way. Called by her name, Mary was found; she regained sight, saw Jesus beside her.
Jesus calls us by name. Some people hear God speak literally, audibly, as Mary did. That is not my experience. If it is, I missed it. If you experience that, be grateful. I do hear God call me by name, and it is powerful, resurrection power, like what Mary experienced. I bet you have experienced it too.
Like Mary, we experience much death. We have lost friends and teachers. We have lost our way. We have lost health, relationship, abilities, and dreams. Grief, confusion, and fear are frequent in the first Easter stories, at in us. Death is not simply at the end. We die and die again, losing more and more. Life is so hard. It kills us. What is killing you today? What have you lost or are losing?
God comes to us when we are face-first with death. As with people of scripture including Mary, Peter, John, Martha, Jairus, Abraham, Sarah, Leah, Rachel, Hannah, God comes amid our weeping, when we can’t see or imagine anything more.When all we can hear is: “It is finished” and all we can see is death. Jesus comes acknowledging our weeping, our fears, and our questions. Jesus stands beside and calls us by name.
Have you had this experience? How do you remember it? Not literally for me, but I have heard God call me by name through brothers and friends, people I know well. I have also heard God speak through strangers, those I whom I had not me, and sometimes did not want to meet or with whom I would not likely interact.
Friends, neighbors, and strangers sometimes speak a word, ask a question, or are present such that we are touched, turned, encouraged, known. It may be a word of encouragement or an affirmation. Their question may prompt new directions.
Perhaps it was a person palpably present with you as companion, welcoming, sharing space, listening such that you felt known and divinely called by name. Perhaps a friend or stranger was present with you as companion and host. Perhaps it was having someone listen to you to that you felt called by name. Sometimes when I have reached out to others to offer presence or a word, even for a brief moment, and I have had a profound sense of receiving and Jesus knowing me, too. Another’s word, question, or presence often helps, even saves, us.
Jesus calling our name may be a feeling of peace or calm, of wonder or exhilaration that comes, well, you know where you have experienced it. Maybe in a garden, or at the beach, or in the woods, in a museum, when baking or building, writing, running, or singing. It may be through the words, stories, or people of scripture, or of literature, drama, and the arts.
Pay attention to tears for they help inform us that we are being touched and known. Called by name is being known. We like it when someone remembers our name. Much more when someone we love says our name. Jesus knows your name, knows who you are, how you are, everywhere you’ve been. God knows what your pain and suffering, your desires, your joys, your life. God’s got your number. God adores you. God has come and will come calling you by name.
Since much of life keeps killing us, we need Jesus’ power to turn often, return to sight, to life, to love. How do we experience resurrection power in order to face tomorrow?
Look back. Draw on your memory. Jesus is victorious but not as the world expects and often not as we imagine or want. Resurrection power comes surprising in the ordinary and informal, including our past. How has Jesus called you by name before? How have you made it through death already, through past losses? Look back and remember past deaths and losses. What are you grateful for during those times? Recalling gratitude helps us see God.
Resurrection comes small like seeds and leaven. One little word of encouragement, one affirmation, perhaps evoking one smile or laugh. One little gift can change us. There is more power when we look back, remember, and give thanks. Memory is the wellspring of hope for the future we cannot see. Memory is the wellspring of hope for the future we cannot see.
Remember. Remember gifts, that for which you are grateful. For the words, questions, and presence of friends and strangers who have helped you, saved you. For the places, experiences, moments, tears which touched you. Hold onto them as hope for tomorrow.
What brings you here today? Perhaps you usually come at Easter. Perhaps you felt a nudge to come today, or perhaps you are often here. Maybe you did not expect or want to be here, but somehow you came. No matter your answer, God is behind it. God invited you here. For God knows you and desires you. God loves you as you are, today. God has brought you to life before, and will bring you to life again. God will provide for you.
Look back to remember. Look up to give thanks. Look forward in hope. Resurrection power is here for you today.Jesus stands beside, calling you by name.
We are now between Easter and Pentecost Sundays. What a beautiful Eastertide message.
Thank you, Bro. Luke for recalling us to remember the soft caresses of this life.
Thank you, Br. Luke. Today I will look for resurrection power as I go about my daily life. I believe it is there; I believe I will see it.
Thank you.
This message was such a great reminder a reminder to not only look back on the many ways in which God can be present to us and to cherish those times and they come in such a variety of ways. Some times completely out of the blue and sometimes I feel he is gently laughing at me and I always want to join in!
margaret.
I ran into a friend today who has been estranged from his son for quite some time. Over Easter a change occurred and he was able to meet his grandchild for the first time and help his son get into counselling. I walked away thanking God for letting me hear of this miracle, answering prayer and showing me what hope looks like. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory. Elizabeth+
Reading to-day’s meditation by Br. Luke, I remembered singing “Jesus, calls us o’er the tumult”.
1 Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult
of our life’s wild, restless sea;
day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
saying, “Christian, follow me.”
Jesus calls us from the worship
of the vain world’s golden store,
from each idol that would keep us,
saying, “Christian, love me more.”
2 In our joys and in our sorrows,
days of toil and hours of ease,
still He calls, in cares and pleasures,
“Christian, love me more than these.”
Jesus calls us– by Thy mercies,
Savior, may we hear Thy call;
give our hearts to Thine obedience,
serve and love Thee best of all.
Source: Hymns to the Living God #256
He most certainly calls, and, of late, there is much tumult that He must call “o’er”. Happily and most thankfully He does. One of my hopes for my life was to experience as much as possible. At 89, I have done so and continue to do so> Along the way, I have experienced those things which Br. Luke set out in his third paragraph, such as the loss of a job after 25 years, the death of a child, the loss of friends, many, sadly by my own neglect, etc.. The experiences have many times been depressing but, more often, happy and joyful — friendships, receiving good counsel, having a drink or a meal. On Easter Sunday, yesterday, a new friendship was cemented, and I was resurrected when I was taken back to my home parish after a long absence, caused by a problem of limited mobility. Looking back, I: remember, give thanks, and look foward. One could not do anything else could one considering the beautiful creation surrounding us. Ruth, I underscore, as you wrote, our need to listen truly and to remember that his voice, as it has for me, can come from many sources, including a non-believer. Richard, yes, men can weep. I do at the drop of a hat or before it drops. Doing so is a recognized medical condition, Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA).
Dear Mr. Spangler. Thank you (a year later) for your email and the hymn. //This is really an add-on- to the final part of your words. //My husband suffered with Parkinson’s Disease for some years, and not long before his death be developed Cancer too. But before the last stages of his life, he would sit at the kitchen table and weep. Not just a tear here and there; really weeping. We never knew about PBA. We would try to comfort him and asked the question again and again, What is it John. Why are you crying. He never had an answer – he didn’t seem to know what brought to tears. I used to wonder whether it was lost sorrows in the back of his mind from a lifetime of lost times. Christina
Thank you brother for your inspiring words…I needed to hear them today. Having lost a dear friend on Maundy Thursday this year I wept while reading this homily, but felt Jesus’ hand on my shoulder and heard him whisper my name softly…
God bless you. Christ is risen. Alleluia!
My mother had a saying: “Good things come in small packages.” Brother Luke’s sermon reminds me that not everything about resurrection is a big event. I had calls from my closest family yesterday on Easter. I made a longer than usual call to my sister yesterday. It was longer because the conversation was better than it sometimes has been. These things are gifts of resurrection after setbacks in family relationships which have been overcome. A couple I knew as a teenager always treated me as a close friend. He has gone to God’s nearer presence; she is still living. All these people have been God’s way of calling my name.
As I read your words this morning, I was deeply touched, my eyes moistened – men don’t weep do they. Then I read “Pay attention to tears for they help inform us that we are being touched and known”.
Wow.
Bless you Brother Luke, and thank you.
I was struck by the “tears” comment as well. I truly believe that it is a sign of encountering God’s love and compassion.
The Lord has often called my name. Not always the same way. So often it is in reading scripture. Sometimes it is in the words of a hymn. I hope I always have the sense of hearing when he calls.
Not just hearing, but truly listening. The noises around us have a way of canceling his voice if we do not give priority to Him.
Thanks for this good homily, Br. Luke.