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Tuesday of the Octave of Easter
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April 19, 2022“Mary!”
This one word from Jesus is, in my opinion, the central moment in one of the most powerful and beautiful passages (Jn 20:11-18) in all four gospels.
Mary goes to the tomb of Jesus and finds it empty. In her now compounded grief as she searches for the body, she does not immediately recognize the person of Jesus, whom she mistakes for a gardener. Can there be any doubt that she simply cannot see clearly through her tears?
It is in the “simple” enunciation of her name that instant recognition happens.
The very next words out of Jesus’ mouth are—
"Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”
What other than an immediate and heartfelt embrace by Mary can explain these words of Jesus? Their relationship henceforward must be different.
All four gospel accounts of the Risen Jesus make clear that Mary is the first witness to and proclaimer of the Resurrection. Not Peter. Not the Beloved Disciple. Mary.
(In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Jesus appears first of all to His Mother)
There is evidence that for the first several centuries after the Resurrection
Mary of Magdala was accorded a great deal of prominence and esteem in the Church. I leave it to the professional theologians to develop the implications of all of these facts today.
More to the point of this reflection, what has long struck me is that Jesus’ appearance to Mary (as well as to the disciples en route to Emaus) comes in the the simple, the familiar, and the unexpected.
There must have been something very unique and personal in the way Jesus habitually pronounced Mary’s name whenever He would address her by name. (As must have been the case regarding the manner in which He broke bread with them during the countless meals that He shared with His disciples) No celestial choirs of angels with trumpets blaring the announcement of the Resurrection. No blinding apparitions of heavenly persons.
Simple. Familiar. Unexpected.
Could it be that Jesus’ modus operandi has not changed over the centuries? Does He call us too by name and we’re not listening?
Does He cross our paths also in the simple, the familiar, and especially the unexpected?
Shouldn’t we be expecting this behavior from Him?!
