SOME MILD DEBATE EXISTS regarding just how “Rabboni!” should be interpreted in John’s resurrection account. Mary Magdalene is at the tomb early on Sunday morning, and sees Jesus. “Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’” (John 20:15b-16) Apparently this theological concern goes all the way back to the earliest of the biblical texts, for here in the canon of scripture we find the parenthetical insertion of this explanation: (“which means Teacher.”) (John 20:16b) The exact meaning is no doubt occluded by time and influenced by idiom, yet a plain and certainly satisfactory meaning is clear.
Mary Magdalene had been reduced to prostitution through whatever circumstances had driven her—it was not uncommon for women of little means to find themselves forced into the sex-worker industry of the time, much as they are today. Jesus cleansed her of seven demons, and loved her in a way no man had ever loved her before. She found herself valued by him, and found hope and value in her new life. She became a new person, no longer weighed down by insurmountable sin. She became a person with the hope of a different destiny. She is a finished example of Paul’s teaching: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)
Crushed into unrelenting despair by Jesus’ death on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only served to diminish hope further. She had gone to his tomb on Sunday morning to honor him by treating his body with tender care as some last thing she could do to honor him, only to find him gone, with just the unsatisfying empty grave clothes left in the tomb. “Mary stood outside the tomb crying. They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” (John 20:11-13b)
She is inconsolable, but then the man she’d mistaken as a gardener speaks; it is only a single word, but it changes everything. She hears her name, ‘Mary,’ and it is not just a word, and it is not only her name; the inflection and tone are unique, and only one person has ever said it in this way. ‘Rabboni!’ Her response is energetic, filled with the beginning of a joy that rises up in her like an upwelling artesian spring. ‘Rabboni!’ This word echoes in her own mind and reverberates in her spirit. ‘Which means Teacher,’ is so bland, merely a clarifying phrase an anonymous scribe appended into the scriptures, and which has lasted like steady footsteps down the corridors of history. We know, however, that this is merely a pedantic grammatical correction that does not bear witness to the depth of Mary’s emotions. ‘Rabboni!’ For Mary, this one word is permeated and refreshed by all of her hopes, her dreams, and a future that had suddenly been restored when it seemed that all was ashes. And so she joyously says, ‘Rabboni!’ —my beloved teacher, initiator of my hopes and dreams, restorer of my soul!—you live, and so I also live! Your words are truth, and they are life to me!”
One word from the Lord at the right time has inestimable worth to the listening ear. “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men.” (Pro. 2:12) “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” (Pro. 25:11) What if the word is retracted, or not spoken at all? The Apostle Peter knows the anguish that might bring; he tasted bitter separation after his three denials of Jesus, even though earlier his mind perceived the inestimable worth of Jesus. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) There is a deeper level than our minds, however, and it is one of tangible intimacy. This level is only unlocked by the use of our name by someone who loves us, and if it is to completely plumb the depths of intimacy it is found in symbiotic reciprocity—just as we love to hear our name spoken by one who loves us, so we also are bound in rapport of soul and spirit by speaking the name of our beloved.
Mary found this in Jesus. She found it first when he cast her seven demons out. Suddenly free, feeling purity, honor, and self-worth for the first time in ages, she becomes a disciple and begins a life worth living. Now, believing that she had lost all this with the death of Jesus, that same driving expression to maintain values of freedom and purity is now heightened, and she redoubles her sense of commitment and passion. Jesus, however, must caution her. “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17) He detaches himself from her, but as he does so, ever the encourager, the teacher— ‘Rabboni’ —he captures her focused energy and tasks her with an important mission. “Tell the others.” (John 20:17)
It is the same way with all of Jesus’ disciples across the ages, and it is the same way for you and me. He is always there at the end of ourselves. This is the moment he has been waiting for. He separates us from what we think we know. He lets us fall, but not past recovery. He is there at precisely the right moment, and he is an expert in this process. It is very uncomfortable for us; in the pain of our process, we feel as though the trial has been too great, and lasted too long. But he is God, and we are not, and at just the right moment, he speaks our name. And, out of our broken-ness, miraculously, we are suddenly made whole. “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psa. 30:5)
Scripture affirms that there is a name above all others cf. Phil. 2:9), and if we are true disciples of Jesus, we are entitled to speak his name. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” (John 14:13) We have great confidence in his name, because “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) Our love for Jesus is tested and proven in our response to him. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” (John 14:23) But his love for us was ultimately tested and eternally proven by the cross. “Later, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty,’ and ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:28-30)
Father, how grateful we are for the forever-finished work of Jesus on our behalf. How he climbed the hill at Golgotha and endured the agony of the cross is beyond our understanding, but that he did it is not. Thank you, Father, that we can pray to you in, by, and through the name of Jesus. We love you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Q. Do I know that I am known by name by the Name I know?
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