Grace

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned toward him and exclaimed, “Teacher!” John 20:15-16

In Saving Private Ryan, the compelling movie about World War II, a turning point comes when Captain Miller and his band of soldiers find Private Ryan. Since Ryan’s three brothers have already died in action, the unit is charged with finding him and bringin him safely from the front so that he might be sent home. But Ryan says he doesn’t want to return. His fellow soldiers, he argues, have suffered losses and needed him.

Then one of Captain Miller’s soldiers says to Ryan, “Two of us died buyin’ you this ticket home.” At that moment it is as if Ryan has been hit by a bullet.

Ryan askes, “What are their names?”

“Wade and Caparzo,” the soldier answers.

Ryan repeats them quietly, then says to Captain Miller, “Sir, this doesn’t make any sense. What have I done to deserve special treatment?”

If there is one clear turning point in the first Easter, one moment when the lights go on, it is that moment when Mary Magdalene hears her name from the lips of Jesus (John 20:16). Until that point there are only tears, bewilderment, and disappointment. After Mary hears her name, she understands; she sees the Lord and grasps the truth of his resurrection—and everything changes.

Jesus did not die for us as some nebulous throng of indistinguishable souls—he died for us as individuals with names, people created by God and precious to him. Jesus gave himself and searched us out, calling us by name.

With Private Ryan, we say, “This doesn’t make any sense. what have I done to deserve special treatment?” But with Mary Magdalene, we say, “I have seen the Lord!”

—Harry Heintz

Reflection

When did I first realize that I was a name to God, a person whom he loved as an individual?

Prayer

Oh God, giver of every perfect gift. I son’t know why you chose to grant me the greatest gift of all—your salvation in Christ. I know I haven’t earned it! But let me, humbly and thankfully, live in such a way as to respond to that gift.

“Your life is not like a gift, your life is a gift. That is a very important grammatical point. And until you learn to receive your life gift, you are lost.”
—Stanley Hauerwas, theologian and writer