See the SCRIPTURES for this message.

When Mary Magdalene came to the empty tomb of Jesus, she did not recognize the Lord until He called her by name, "Mary!"

We have no way of definitively saying why she did not recognize Jesus, but we do know that when He said her name, she knew it was Him, just as He had promised (John 10:1-4). And His promise wasn't just for Mary and the early disciples! It is for us, too! (For this promise, look at our graphic of the week!)

So the question for us is pretty simple: "How many times has Jesus spoken to us and we not recognize it is Him?"

Most of us have gone through times of despair, grief, loss, and pain. We can wonder if Jesus really knows us personally, does He really care about our personal issues, and do we really matter to Him. The answer of this story and the Bible is "YES!" Yes, Jesus knows us personally: the Lord knows our name, the hairs on our heads are numbered, and He has known us from the moment of conception and will know us through our dying breath. We sing it. The Bible says it. This is what we see in Jesus' ministry after the resurrection and in His ministry on earth.

But two questions are natural, because most of us miss the Lord's presence in our daily lives and in our times when we are gathered with other believers (look at 1 Corinthians 5:4 and Matthew 18:20!). Here are the two questions:

1. Does He really speak to us personally?
2. If He does speak to us, how do we know it is really Him?