"Astounding Love!"

 "Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master." (John 20:16 KJV)

  "But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you."" (Isaiah 43:1-2 NLT)

 Yes, God replaced Elijah; but then He took him up into heaven! If you are God's, you will always be His; He does not throw away those that He has chosen! I know that there will be those who might not accept that statement, because they will say that if you aren't perfecting your life, then you don't deserve to be part of God's Kingdom. Well, none of us are perfect! And, whether you can accept it or not, none of us will be perfect until we are free from this body of sin! 

 With that, I want to cast the attention to this, "Rabboni", which is the word Mary exclaimed from her heart, as she was astounded and shocked to realize that Jesus was who she was speaking to. It might not be ground-breaking, but it is important to understand that she had a heart for Jesus! This word is only really found twice, if you can say it; but technically, it is only found in this form from Mary. 

 There is another reference, shown in Mark 10:51; as the NLT has a blind man exclaiming, "My rabbi, I want to see!" Basically, this is a little higher than saying, "Lord," or "Master," because it is made into something more personal, as if we were to say, "My Lord", or "My Master". In other words, Mary is exclaiming what was deep within her heart; as if the One standing before her, owned her, created her, and will never let go of her! 

 I really don't know how else to say that, because it is a personal thing, something that is kept in our heart, regardless of the difficulty or the challenges we might face, we never forget: He died for me! Everything He went through, the beating, the humiliation, the agonizing death on the cross, it was to show me how far He would go, just to make me perfect in the eyes of the Father! 

 Yes, I might not be perfect in this world, but I am perfect in the Kingdom of God...

"[Young Woman] I am the spring crocus blooming on the Sharon Plain, the lily of the valley. [Young Man] Like a lily among thistles is my darling young woman. [Young Woman] Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit. He escorts me to the banquet hall; it's obvious how much he loves me." (SONG OF SONGS 2:1-4 NLT)