Saturday, March 21

Scripture: John 20:11-18
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers 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 that he had said these things to her.

MARY MAGDALENE: CALLED BY NAME
Whenever I read this account, I think of what it must have been like for Mary to see Jesus after she thought he was gone forever. She had watched her dear friend and teacher being tortured and killed. Not understanding the prophecies and even Jesus’ own words, she certainly does not expect to see him again. I imagine her despair as she weeps because she misses him and because she cannot tend to the body of her beloved friend.

When she sees Jesus standing there, I wonder if she thinks he’s the gardener because his post-resurrection body looks different from the Jesus she knew. Or is it because she doesn’t have eyes to see? Perhaps both. As in the story of the disciples walking unknowingly with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Mary interacts with Jesus as a stranger before she experiences the moment of realization that he is the risen Christ. This occurs when he calls her name, “Mary.”

As believers, we too were called by Christ to relationship with him. We can substitute our names for Mary’s and remember when Christ told us we were known and loved. The call of Mary’s master is what reveals his identity to her as friend, teacher and Lord.

Although Scripture doesn’t say specifically that she ran to him and hugged him, it’s clear from Christ’s response that she is touching him. Maybe she has thrown her arms around his feet in reverence. Maybe she has grabbed his arm to assure herself he is really there—or to restrain him from leaving again.

On the left panel of Trevor Southey’s triptych, “Jesus and Mary: The Moment After,” we see Mary in her grief: fetal, shrouded, miserable. She herself looks like a corpse. So are we before Christ calls us: dead in sin, despairing, in shadow. The middle panel depicts Christ looking toward Mary, his pierced hands, feet and side offered for viewing. Resurrected, he shows the wounds by which he has done his saving work of love for Mary and for all of us. She returns Christ’s gaze on the right panel, his radiated glory illuminating her garment. Between them, a white rose symbolizing immortality contrasts with a red rose of mortality, indicating that Christ has conquered death.

Encountering Christ requires something of us. We read in the passage that Mary obediently goes to tell the disciples what Christ said. Obediently, we too proclaim, “I have seen the Lord.”

PRAYER
Almighty God, thank you for calling us by name; Thank you that we are known and loved by you; Give us grace to live worthy of that calling and to proclaim your glory in all we say and do; through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Michele Hughes, Executive Assistant to the President