The Sabbath was about to begin. John's gospel reported that several women and
the disciple “whom he loved” had been standing near the cross when Jesus
died. The women included his mother and
Mary Magdalene. But they had no time to
care for his body properly. Joseph of Arimethea took possession of Jesus' body
placed a mixture of myrrh and aloes brought by Nicodemus with the body and
wrapped it in linen. Then they placed Jesus in the tomb and closed it with a
stone. Done. And then the sun set.
What a sad time this Sabbath was! Mary Magdalene probably felt numb and perhaps
disoriented. Her dear friend and teacher
was gone. She had been unable to say a
proper good-bye to him. She wanted to go
and be near where he had been entombed, so “while it was still dark” she went
to visit Jesus' grave.
If she had slept at all, she would have woken with only one
thought: “Jesus—I don't want believe what I saw with my own eyes—his execution
that humiliated him and broke his body.”
She cared little about what hour it was.
The dark morning outside reflected her grief, her spiritual
disorientation, and her emptiness inside.
Was there a time you felt as Mary Magdalene must have felt
that Sabbath day? Most of us have. And maybe in our grief we decided there was
one thing we must do to pull ourselves together—if only for a moment. The absence of one we love when death
separates us causes such grief and pain we feel out of control. To try deal with the void caused by Jesus'
absence, Mary decided to visit his grave.
What she encountered in the dark further disoriented her and
caused her more anguish. The stone
closing Jesus' tomb was no longer in place.
John doesn't report that she entered the tomb then. But she appeared to
think that someone had stolen Jesus' body, for she runs to Simon Peter and the
beloved disciple to let them know what's wrong.
Ignoring Mary, these two disciples race to the tomb—they may
have even been competing to see who can get there first. Finding the linen wrappings, but no body,
they provide the first credible evidence.
Why credible? Because they were
two male witnesses needed for legally acceptable testimony of what they had
seen—and what they had not seen. The
linen wrappings were there, but Jesus was not.
The reaction of the Beloved Disciple—who may have written this
gospel—was to “believe,” but apparently not to completely understand what “resurrection”
truly meant. In any event, they left
Mary weeping and went home. To me their
actions are inexplicable. Weren't they
concerned about Mary? Apparently
not. Weren't they curious about what
happened to Jesus? Maybe they figured
they work on that tomorrow.
But Mary could not pull herself away from that tomb and the
surrounding garden. She didn't understand
either, but she kept trying to discover what had happened to Jesus. Clearly her relationship with Jesus had a
different character than that of the disciples who had left the scene. She needed to deal with his no longer being
with her and his tomb being empty. Her
grief at his absence could not be consoled.
She saw angelic messengers inside the tomb, something the
other two had not seen. Was her
spiritual awareness heightened by the angels?
Not enough to recognize the risen Christ by sight. Perhaps his resurrected appearance was too
changed—or perhaps her grief still disoriented her. Whatever the case, she persisted in asking
where Jesus' body might be. And then
Christ spoke her name! Her grief
evaporated, and she knew for certain who was standing next to her.
The risen Christ wanted her to do more than express her love
for him. He sent her out to spread the
good news to his “brothers”—those who had gone home—that their teacher, their
Lord was alive again. She knew, because
she had recognized his calling her name.
Mary Magdalene's example of discipleship should inspire us
this Easter morning, no matter whether we are women or men. She actively sought to deal in a positive way
with her grief and pain. She persisted
in seeking what she felt was important for her spiritual healing. She responded to her risen Lord when he spoke
her name. She did exactly what Christ
asked her to do, becoming an apostle to the “brother” apostles.
None of what she did is easy. And for us, it may be even less clear when
Christ is calling our name and what Christ may be asking us to do. But on this Easter Day we have in Mary
Magdalene an exemplar of responding to a loving God with all of our being and
never giving up on that love. Should we
start there? I think we should.
If we respond to God's love and never give up on God's love,
I believe we will be guided to a new lives lived in the light of the
resurrection, lives in which our relationship with the risen Christ serves as
our strength for the journey that lies ahead.
And on that journey we can become our true God-inspired selves and, in
the end, receive God's gift of eternal life.
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