As we continue through the readings for Easter we will be given glimpses of encounters with the risen Jesus. This is good news for us, as the risen Jesus of the Gospels is the same Jesus who we have the opportunity to encounter each day in his word proclaimed, the Eucharist, and one another.
Today’s Gospel account from John picks up where Sunday’s account left off. Peter and John have come to the tomb and left. Mary did not return with them after they observed the empty tomb. Mary stayed by the side of the tomb and wept. She then peered into the tomb and witnessed two angels. As she turned back she saw who she believed to be the gardener. Why a gardener? Because the tomb was in a garden. Maybe a hint of Jesus going back to the beginning and restoring what God had planned from the beginning, before the Fall.
Mary questioned the “gardener” as to the whereabouts of Jesus. She was still holding onto the loss and grief of his death and the reason why she most likely came to the tomb in the first place which was to anoint him. To find his body now gone, just added salt to the already wide open wound. When he did not immediately answer, Mary must have turned away, because: Jesus said to her, “Mary” (Jn 20:16)!
Just as a sheep recognizes the voice of its shepherd, upon hearing her name, Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus.
Peter and John left the empty tomb. We do not know why. Maybe they wanted to share with and confirm to the other disciples that Mary was correct about the empty tomb. Mary could have gone back also, but something moved her to stay. It could have been the sorrow that brought her to tears, it could have been her dedication and faithfulness to Jesus to find him, to anoint him as she had come to do that first early Easter morning, it could have been that she did not know what to do next, or there was a sense beyond her understanding that held her in place. Shortly thereafter, Jesus came to her, she recognized him not at first, but when he called her by name. When she called him “Rabbouni”, Jesus asked her to, “Stop holding on to me”.
What was Mary holding on to? Though mistaking him for the gardener at first, she came to recognize that he had indeed come back to life. But in calling Jesus Rabbouni, teacher or master, Mary was going back to the relationship she had with him before. Jesus was transfigured, he was different than he was before. Jesus had remained fully divine when he became human, and now having taken another major step to complete his Father’s work through his death and resurrection, he assumed the perfection of his humanity. His mission would not be complete until he returned back to the Father at his Ascension.
There was not only a newness to the appearance of the resurrected Jesus, but his relationship with his followers would also be transformed. He did not return to avenge those who betrayed him. Jesus charged Mary to go to his “brothers”. He no longer called them disciples but his brothers. Once Jesus returned to the Father at his Ascension, he unleashed the power of the divine communion of the love shared between him and his Father, who is the Holy Spirit which his new brothers and sisters received at Pentecost.
We are heirs to the same promise that Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, shared with the Twelve. Jesus has become the firstborn of the new creation and through our baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we participate in his death and Resurrection as well. We too are his brothers and sisters, we too are being configured and transformed into the Body of Christ, and we too are being perfected and divinized, because Jesus shares with each of us the relationship he shares with his Father. This is why we have cause for joy and celebration this Easter Season. This is why, like Mary, we are called to, “Go and announce the Good News of the Resurrection” in our everyday lives! Alleluia!!!
Painting: Are we willing to seek Jesus with the same love as Mary did?
Spiritual Stepping Stones 