An Easter Reminder: You are Not Too Ordinary for Jesus

Do you want to know what one of Satan’s greatest works of deception is among Jesus followers?

Convincing us we’re simply too ordinary. Too ordinary for God to use us in mighty ways. Too ordinary to have that faith conversation with a stranger. Too ordinary to make a difference right where we are.

And maybe the greatest lie of all: too ordinary for Jesus to care deeply about each moment of our lives.

Why does Satan use this deception? Because when we believe we’re too ordinary, then we stop obeying Jesus when He calls, and we stop pursuing Him with all our hearts. Satan knows he cannot snatch us out of the Father’s hands. And so he does all he can to make us as ineffective as possible.

He does all he can to cloud our sight from truly seeing Jesus.

But all we need do to combat this deception is open our Bible to John 20 and see why none of us are too ordinary for Jesus.

An Easter Reminder of Why You are Not Too Ordinary

Mary Magdalene was one such Jesus follower who most likely faced attack after attack from Satan. A woman, a previous host to demons, an (most likely) unmarried. She had every reason to believe herself too ordinary for Jesus to truly care about.

We can easily combat that with, “But Jesus saved her from her demons! Surely that is proof enough!” But aren’t all of us who confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord saved by this very Jesus?

Yes, but Satan is powerful, and he can easily convince us of this ordinary. As we look to Mary’s story, though, we see how the truth of Scripture frees us from this grip of deceit.

Allow these examples God provides for us to sink in deeply and remind you how Jesus does not consider you too ordinary for His kingdom work and for loving you beyond what you can imagine.

When You Seek God, You Find Him

The God of the universe could hide Himself if He wanted to. How often do we think about the promise in Scripture that when we seek Him, we find Him? Here in John 20, we see a more tangible example of that.

Mary, overcome with sorrow to the point of wailing at the tomb, discovered Jesus’ body missing. As each Gospel records different moments of this first Easter morning, it’s a bit tricky to know if Mary had in fact heard the good news yet. In the midst of her grief, she either did not believe or did not understand the message, had she heard it.

Either way, her first thought was, I must go find Him. Let’s set aside the physical comedy of this thought and focus on her passion. This was a woman who would risk everything to find Jesus. This was a Jesus follower who would stop at nothing to seek her Lord.

And, despite the fact that Mary was an ordinary woman, Jesus allowed her to find Him. Jesus gave Mary probably the greatest gift of all — she was the first set of human eyes to view the risen Son of God!

There are a few different theological reasons we can point to for this gift given to Mary specifically, but maybe we can allow this to also serve as a reminder that if Jesus thought us too ordinary, too blah, too boring, too inexperienced, He wouldn’t shower us with His love by allowing us to catch glimpses of Him.

If He didn’t think Mary too ordinary, He doesn’t think you too ordinary, either.

He Calls You by Name

Perhaps one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible (most definitely this author’s bias, though!) is John 20:16. Jesus did not allow Mary’s blindness to continue for long. How did He call her out of this blindness? 

He called her by name.

Friend, do you believe Jesus not only knows your name, but He speaks it to get your attention? Picture this moment with Jesus right now. You, in a moment of complete vulnerability, look to Jesus with your most desperate cry, wanting to find Him. And He looks right at you and speaks your name.

Do we understand the significance of this tender moment? Mary recognized Jesus’ voice. She knew the voice of her Shepherd and responded to Him in the most positive of ways.

Jesus doesn’t just know your name. He speaks your name, calling out to you, wanting you to recognize His voice and, in our limited way right now, see His face. 

You, as one of His sheep, truly can recognize His voice and follow Him. You can run to His arms and fall in His embrace.

If Jesus thought you too ordinary, would He call you by name?

He Includes You in His Family

More than either of those wonderful examples above lies one more reason we can know we are not too ordinary for Jesus: Because of His death and resurrection, we are now a part of His family.

Jesus told Mary to go to “my brothers” and tell them “I am returning to my Father and our Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). Before this, Jesus had called His disciples “friends” for the first time. Now, He called them His brothers. And He pointed out His Father was also their Father.

You are a part of this family, too. Jesus took the penalty of your sin through the cross, rose again to conquer death and now sits at the right hand of God, advocating for you every single day.

If Jesus did not love you beyond a mere ordinary, run-of-the-mill creation of His, surely He would not have desired to accomplish this feat for you. Surely He would not clothe you in His righteousness. Surely He would not allow you to spend all eternity with Him.

You, dear friend, are a child of God. You are not too ordinary.

One More Reason You are Not Too Ordinary

If those three reasons weren’t enough to sway you, take a look at nearly every ordinary person in Scripture who obeyed God, even Mary. There are very few people who saw the fruits of their obedience. 

Mary excitedly proclaimed the risen Lord only for the disciples to not believe her.

Noah did not see a single person outside his family enter the ark.

Moses never entered the Promised Land.

Daniel was laughed at for proclaiming God’s truth.

Amos was exiled from the northern kingdom.

These are just a few examples of men and women who obeyed God yet didn’t find some grand, worldly success for their obedience. 

Not every act of obedience sways a crowd of people to glorify God. Not every act of obedience changes history.

But rest assured that every act of obedience glorifies God and pleases Him. And He entrusts you with different moments when you can obey Him, no matter how small those moments feel.

Mary probably thought her task of telling the disciples of Jesus was, while incredibly exciting, nothing more than sharing an amazing truth. Yet it is marked down as an act of obedience for us all to read about and marvel at each time our eyes take in the words.

No matter what God asks of you, know glorifying Him is enough. And we’re never too ordinary to glorify our God.

If you are wanting to learn more about Mary’s story and how it points to Jesus calling you by name, check out my Bible study, “He Calls Us by Name.” Learn more here!