Try though I may, to avoid the blood rushing to my face turning me a rather beetroot-esque colour, when I tell people my middle name and wait for them to hear in their head how the combination of my first and middle name sounds; it dawned on me throughout easter, the blessing that lies in a name. Catherine Mary. That's it, the most Catholic name a christian girl, from a christian family, could ask for, perhaps with the exception of Mary Catherine. I remember when I was about 7 years old, that I disliked my name, I wanted a "cooler" sounding name, like Rebecca, or Rachel or Laila. Catherine sounded too old, too traditional. So in an attempt to make it "cooler" (in my head at least), I varied in the years between 1997 and 2003 with Cathy, Cath, Cat, and I seem to recall being called "caffee" by one of my friends (though granted, she couldn't make the 'TH' sound, and so what was meant to be Cathy became Caffee, and eventually "coffee" as a joke"). I had decided Cat was the coolest way that I could get my name to sound, even though a number of my closest friends had still called me "cath", and it stuck like glue! Catherine is now a name that I adore and am so grateful to my parents for thinking of (despite being called Jake when they thought I was going to be a boy...their bad?)!
The name Mary however took me some getting used to, and ashamed though I am to admit it, it was not really until this easter that I began to find a real appreciation of what it means to share a name with one of the most Godly and awe-astounding women of the bible- Mary Magdalene. Granted, Jesus' mother too shared the same name, but for me personally, there was a resounding joy in the knowledge of Mary Magdalene's relationship with Jesus.
The first we hear of Mary is in Luke 8.2, where it talks about how Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Mary (called Magdelene) from whom seven demons had come out... Perhaps one of the most astonishing things that struck me when I read this was that at various points throughout the bible you read about people being healed, demons being cast out, and the blind receiving sight, but these are miracles in themselves, where people experience God through Jesus and then believe, but the following of Jesus is an internal understanding, not necessarily involving an external response. Yet Mary, through this awesome purification commits her life to following him. Scholars have described her as "a part of Jesus' ministry", and having been listed with the Disciples not only in Luke, but at the time of the Crucifixion, it is clear to see how loved by Jesus she was, and she loved him as her Saviour.
Though as striking as this is, what resounded with me this easter was her relevance and presence from the death of Jesus to His resurrection and her importance in everything that was to happen. John 19.25 says that near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. It must be noticed the significance of her relevance as being the last mentioned, and being the only one mentioned as an individual in her own right. Jesus however only speaks to John and His mother when He is on the cross, and this seemed so unusual to me considering her commitment to him, in following Him and her very presence at His crucifixion. However, that was before I had read how He had loved her so that she would be the first person to whom Jesus would appear after His death, and in His resurrection. She was the first to find the tomb empty, and the first to see Him. How sickened the Disciples must have felt to have missed that moment!
John 20.10 says Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the food. I love how easy it is to read the bible and just respond in such a way that you bypass verses like this, thinking, "ah yes, well seeing the odd angel wasn't unusual in Jesus' time"... Utterly ridiculous. This would have been a mind-boggling, ground breaking experience for Mary, in her position I would have imagined that the grief would have stricken so deep causing hallucinations, but I suppose that is the way of the unbelieving creature, so eager to rationalize everything away. Yet Mary did not. She was in fact engaged in conversation at two points by the tomb- asked the same question, giving the same response. First from the angels, second from Jesus. "Woman", he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?". So gently the way Jesus approached her, realizing she was blinded by her grief from losing her Saviour, that He would ask her, and simply wait for her to figure it out. He only has to say her name, and she realizes. How awesome she must have felt knowing that her relationship with Jesus meant just as much to Him as it had done to her. Everything that she had been with Him through, her loyalty, her whole being living for her God, meant that she would see Him, face to face, and be the first to do it.
This is nothing new to those who spend a lot of time in their bibles, but revisiting this made my heart beat with a new found love for Jesus, in the realization that I often find myself feeling so broken and unworthy of such an amazing relationship with the One who saved my life, and you only have to look at Mary to realize that He's waiting for you to see how He loves His relationship with you vastly more than you could even try to love your relationship with Him. His Grace Changes Everything.
This is lovely Cat!
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