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Gospel: John 20: 1-2, 11-18
On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her,
“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going 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 then reported what he told her.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I admire Mary Magdalene so much in this Gospel passage. She represents a soul entirely possessed with love for God.
When she reaches the empty tomb, she’s overwhelmed with anxiety: “They have taken away my Lord!” she says.
“Where did they lay him? Where could he be? Give him to me!” she says frantically.
She tells everyone she sees that Jesus is gone. She tells Peter and John; she tells the angels in the tomb; she even tells Jesus himself, whom she mistakes for a gardener.
“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”
Mary is so preoccupied with finding Jesus that she doesn’t even mention his name. She presumes that everyone is in the same state of mind that she is; that everyone is looking for “him”; that everyone cares about “him” as much as she does.
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Mary shows us that, when love of God takes possession of a soul, there is no longer room in it for contrary loves or desires. Everything becomes directed towards God and his glory.
Nothing else – and no one else – is enough.
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Like Mary Magdalene, is our soul consumed entirely with love for God? Or are there competing desires lingering in our heart?
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May Mary Magdalene, the first person to see the Risen Lord, intercede on our behalf, that one day the whole world will be consumed with love for Christ.
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Image credits: (1) Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena (2) JW.org (3) Christ Risen from the Tomb, Borgogne
