Sunday Readings: Acts 10.34, 37-43; Colossians 3.1-4; John 20.1-18
Jesus said, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Mary supposed the man to be the gardener. She replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Then Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him, “Rabbouni!” (which means in Hebrew Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and sisters and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her (John 20.9-18).
When at dawn Mary Magdalene finds Jesus’ tomb open and empty, she runs and rouses Peter and the disciple Jesus loves. All three run back to the tomb. Peter goes inside the tomb first, sees wrappings on the ground and the face cloth folded nearby but doesn’t respond. The narrator comments, “They did not understand the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” The disciple Jesus loves steps into the tomb, sees it empty, and believes.
This is where the Church ends the gospel for Easter Sunday morning—with the ideal, unquestioning response of the beloved disciple who sees and believes without encountering Jesus risen. We never hear how, when Jesus speaks her name, Mary Magdalene recognizes the gardener is Jesus risen. She hears and believes and announces to the other disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”
We never learn how Mary Magdalene weeps at the tomb, how she sees angels sitting where Jesus lay, one at the foot of the slab and one at the head. The angels mark holy space as the cherubim did atop the ark of the covenant. We never hear the angels ask, “Why do you weep?” We never learn Mary’s worry that someone has stolen Jesus’ body. We never hear Jesus himself ask, “Why do you weep? What are you looking for?”
Not only does Mary Magdalene recognize Jesus when he speaks her name, but Jesus commissions her to explain their enduring relationship, “Go to my brothers and sisters and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” We share Jesus relationship with God, God is our father and his father. We are also Jesus’ brothers and sisters and brothers and sisters to one another committed as faith-filled believers to love and forgive one another.
When has Jesus called you by name? Where has you recognized Jesus risen and present?