A sermon on John 20:1-18 by Rev Richard Keith on Easter Day 2026
There is great power in using someone’s name. When the phone rings and someone calls me by name, even if I do not recognise the voice at first, I know that this is someone who knows me. But if they ask to speak to the manager of the phone bill, I know I can politely hang up. They do not know me. They are just trying to scam me.
Using each other’s names means we know one another. Using my name means you have my attention. It means that when you call, I might even do what you ask. We never really feel that we belong in a club, an institution, or even a church until someone in authority knows our name.
Today we are looking at the power of the name.
We see it first in John chapter 20. If there is one thing this passage makes clear, it is that the disciples were not expecting the resurrection of Jesus. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb before dawn on Sunday with perfume and spices. These were not gifts for a risen Lord. She was going to finish what she had begun, because there had not been time on Friday afternoon to prepare Jesus’ body properly for burial. Then the Sabbath came, and she had to stop. So early on Sunday morning, she returned.
When Mary saw that the stone had been rolled away, she did not rejoice. She did not run to greet the risen Christ. She ran away, assuming that someone had taken the body. She told the disciples that the Lord had been taken and that they did not know where he had been put.
The disciples did not cry out in celebration. Instead, they ran to the tomb. It was only when they arrived and saw that it was empty that they began to believe. But Mary did not, not yet. She had followed them, and when they left, she remained behind, standing outside the tomb weeping. She was distressed because the last thing she could do for Jesus, giving him a proper burial, had been taken from her as well.
When Mary looked into the tomb, she saw two angels in white, sitting where Jesus’ body had been. They asked her why she was weeping, and she repeated what she had already said. Someone had taken his body, and she did not know where it was. Even a vision of angels could not break through her grief.
She turned and saw someone in the garden and assumed he was the gardener. For the third time, she asked where the body of Jesus had been taken. It shows how people often see what they expect to see. In this moment, people are looking, but they are not yet seeing. They are close to the truth, but they do not recognise it.
Some claim that the disciples only saw Jesus because they expected to. They wanted it so much that they imagined it. But the Gospels show the opposite. They were not expecting to see him. When Jesus died, their hopes died with him. Mary did not recognise Jesus because she was not expecting to see him.
It was not until he spoke, not until he used the power of her name, that everything changed. “Mary,” he said.
Just one word. Her name. A moment before, he had been a stranger, just a gardener. But now she recognised the voice, the one who knew her and called her by name. This is exactly what Jesus had said: his sheep hear his voice, he knows them, and they follow him.
“Teacher,” she replied, and in that moment everything changed. Not only her understanding, but the world itself. This was not wishful thinking or imagination. The same Jesus who had died was now alive before her.
Like the first morning of creation, when God spoke light into darkness, the sound of her name brought her world back into order. The first person to see the risen Lord was not Peter, who had denied him, nor the other disciple who had outrun Peter to the tomb. It was Mary Magdalene, a woman whose testimony carried little weight in her culture. Yet the Lord chose her first and entrusted her with the news of the resurrection.
If you ever wonder whether you are significant enough to be noticed, remember Mary. The Lord knows you by name. He loves all people, but he loves each person personally. If you were the only one who needed saving, he would still have chosen the cross.
When the Lord wants your attention, he does not ask to speak to the manager of your soul. He calls you by name. Because he knows your name, you know that you belong to him. And when everything in life seems to fall apart, he is able to set it right again. His risen life is not only hope for the world, but hope for you.
We also see the power of the name in Romans chapter 10. The name that called Mary in the garden is the name we call on for salvation. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
The Easter message tells us that the Lord’s name is Jesus. The same Jesus who surrendered to the soldiers in the garden, who was falsely accused, condemned, and crucified, has been raised from the dead. He is the first of many, the promise that the grave is not the end, that no tomb can hold us, and that even if our bodies are scattered, we are not lost.
This man, condemned and mocked, was vindicated by his Father and made Lord of the living and the dead. Righteousness is not gained through strict observance of the law or religious rituals. Those who relied on such things stood against God’s chosen one. Instead, righteousness is given to those who trust in him, the one who ate with sinners, preached to the poor, healed the sick, and touched the unclean.
He is Lord. And this Lord has a name. We do not need to reach out to a distant, unknown deity. We can call him by name. Not a vague title, but a personal name that shows we belong to him and he belongs to us.
The name of the Lord is Jesus. By his suffering and confirmed by his resurrection, Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, Lord of heaven and earth, Lord of the living and the dead, Lord of all nations and peoples. And we know him by name.
So if you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. As the Scripture says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The name that calls you is the name you can call on. And that name is Jesus.