Voices: Stand up. Jesus is calling your name

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My grandmother now lives with God, but I recall her favorite song, “Hush, Hush, Somebody’s Callin’ My Name.” This song reflects hope in a hard time, just as many spiritual songs have done in African American music history.

The struggle as a people has been sure, but so is the progress. We never can call the benediction on hope because of Jesus.

Read the words of “Hush, Hush, Somebody’s Callin’ My Name,” as you consider Mary’s sadness, as well as the other women gathered at the tomb of Jesus (John 20:11-18; Luke 24:10; Mark 16:9).

“Hush, Hush, Somebody’s callin’ my name.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do?

“Sounds like Jesus. Somebody’s callin’ my name.”

A change in her posture

In John’s account of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb early and discovered a missing Jesus. She was hysterical. She stooped down to grieve.

Then she saw Jesus standing in the midst but didn’t recognize him. She perceived him to be the gardener.

Jesus said to her, “Mary” (John 20:16).

Mary had to be overwhelmed not to recognize her Master, teacher and friend.

Does it feel like Jesus is missing in your life? Or do you no longer recognize him?


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Jesus is present in purpose and in power.

This is a good time to refocus.

When Jesus called Mary’s name, there was a change in her, in her posture and in her perspective. Her posture had reflected she worshiped her own worry and forgot God’s promises.

We must stand and not stoop in faith. Recall God’s track record.

Jesus lifted women

Women were not validated in Mary’s society. Jesus could have appeared to the people society deemed most “creditable,” but Jesus—in Jesus-fashion—always turned the value system of the day on its head.

Perhaps Jesus appeared to the women because he could trust they would be good stewards of the good news. Maybe he appeared to the women because he wanted to bring value and honor to the ones society devalued, oppressed and underappreciated.

Jesus always brought honor to those overlooked and brought dignity to those in despair. When society called women by their conditions, he called them by their names. When women were ostracized, Jesus brought them into his inner circle.

Jesus came to lift and to draw in his ministry, on the cross and at the tomb.

Justin Taylor gives an account of the women at the tomb in “Who Were the Women at the Empty Tomb?

Taylor reminds us Joanna was one of the women to discover the empty tomb (Luke 24:10). She had followed Jesus and provided financially for his ministry (Luke 8:3).

Jesus delivered Mary Magdalene from seven demons (Luke 8:2; Mark 16:9), and she followed him faithfully from then on (Matthew 27:57, 61; 28:1; Mark 15:40, 47; John 19:25; Mark 16:1; John 20:1).

“She was the first person to see Jesus alive (Mark 16:9) and told the other disciples (Luke 24:10; John 20:18),” Taylor wrote.

Then, there was Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the mother of James and Joseph; and Mary, “wife of Clopas,” who some believe to have been Jesus’s maternal aunt.

Taylor concludes his list with Salome, the mother of James and John.

Jesus honored his female disciples by including them in the bookends of his life—his birth, death and resurrection.

Women got the scoop

Elizabeth George celebrates these women in “The Women At Jesus’ Tomb,” referring to “their faithfulness,” “their follow-through,” “their revelation,” “their response” and “their reward.”

When the male disciples deserted Jesus, this group of women stayed with him to the end (Luke 23:54-56).

These women continued ministering to Jesus’ body, even going to the tomb before daylight (Matthew 28:1-2).

They were the first to discover Jesus was resurrected. The angel told them to go tell the other disciples, “He has risen” (Matthew 28:5-6).

Matthew’s Gospel tells us Jesus appeared to the women as they were running back to tell the male disciples of his resurrection (Matthew 28:9-10). The women “clasped his feet,” and he gave them instructions to take back to the men.

The women did as the angel said (Luke 24:5, 9), and though the men were skeptical, they went to the tomb anyway and saw the women were right. John’s Gospel tells us when everyone left, Mary Magdalene stayed behind and was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection (John 20:11-18).

Stand up

May we be encouraged by the faithful witnesses of the women at the tomb.

May we be empowered because of the victory of the cross. When Jesus got up, each of us received overcoming power—power to stand and withstand all things through him.

As an African American woman, I am encouraged by slave mothers and fathers who clung to an eschatological faith. As a modern-day racial reconciler and drum major for justice, I promote a faith that has feet. We must not be silent about liberty in Christ and our partnership in action.

As Rev. Timothy Wright sings, “Trouble don’t last always!

Stand up! Jesus is not dead. He’s risen! He’s standing in front of you, and he’s calling your name.

Cokiesha Bailey Robinson is associate dean of student diversity and inclusion at Grace College and Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind., and founder of Cross Spring Ministries. She is the daughter of Dr. E.K. Bailey, celebrated preacher and founding pastor of Concord Church in Dallas. The views expressed are those of the author.


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