'Finding Light in Darkness: Hearing Jesus Call Your Name'
and the hardships follow us everywhere precisely because we bring ourselves and our struggles along. In these moments of despair, when no light seems visible and hope fades, we reach what feels like the darkest hour of the night.
Mary's story resonates with this universal human experience. Her background was rough, marked by demonic influence, fractured mental and emotional states, and estrangement from family. She couldn't help herself, and no one could help her—until Jesus entered her life. When He cast out her demons and restored her mind, emotions, and family relationships, Mary experienced the most miraculous healing of all: the restoration of broken connections. Given a new life, she followed Jesus devotedly, learning from His teaching and witnessing His power to heal others just as He had healed her.
Yet even after this transformation, Mary found herself in another dark moment—grieving by the tomb in the early morning darkness. Her profound sorrow was understandable; she had witnessed the brutal killing of the one who had saved her, the one to whom she owed a life debt of gratitude and service. Like many of us who have walked with the Lord but now feel that relationship is long past, Mary sat weeping, unaware that light was about to dawn.
Everything changed when Jesus called Mary by name. Though He had been present with her in her sorrow and confusion, she didn't recognize Him until that moment. The mysterious character of His resurrection body made Him unfamiliar at first, but the timbre of His voice—conveying both power and gentleness—was unmistakable. The first time He called her name her life was turned right side up. When Jesus died, her life turned upside down. With the resurrection, Jesus turned her life right side up again. In perhaps the most intimate moment of all resurrection stories, hearing her own name spoken from the lips of the one she thought dead but who lived again transformed Mary's world completely.
Like Mary, we may feel Jesus is dead to us. We have become numb by strain, disbelief, or emotional deadening. Yet the Good Shepherd still "calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." (John 10) In that beautiful passage, Jesus says that the Good Shepheard calls His sheep by name and leads them out. And the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. The movement from darkness to light, from despair to hope, begins when we recognize that Jesus is calling our name, inviting us to follow Him just as Mary did. In that moment of recognition, as we respond to His personal call, the darkness gives way to the incredible good news—that He is alive. Jesus knows you by name. He is calling you. Turn to Him. He alone has the resurrection power that you desperately need.
Grateful for who God is and His many blessings to me,
Jonathan