On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
Great faith can emerge from deep darkness, provided love perseveres. Mary Magdalene had been traumatized by the death of the one whom she loved dearly because of all he meant and had done for her. To all appearances it still looked as though the plan had failed and the mission of Jesus had been irreparably thwarted by the collusion of the Roman and Jewish authorities. She had at that point no human grounds for hope. She saw signs of something unexpected but didn't simply know or guess the truth of the events that took place. The darkness in which she found herself was too deep for that. But her love was such that she couldn't simply leave things as they were. Her love for her Lord was too great to abandon the body of him to anyone who would not treasure it.
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.”
She did not yet have a resurrection faith, but she had a passion for Jesus, in spite of all of the suffering and incomprehensible circumstances, a passion to which she continued to hold. She kept holding fast to her love for Jesus in a way that prepared for he himself to reveal that he was risen.
It was from the faith of Magdalene that Peter and John's faith began to be kindled, like a candle lighting other candles during the Easter Vigil mass. Like her, they were clearly not ready to surrender their love for their master. They both ran, like her probably not even suspecting a resurrection as yet, but so moved by love for Jesus that they were drawn irresistibly drawn to investigate.
John ran faster, for he was younger, and his sense of being the beloved disciple pushed him on. His was the gaze of contemplation that would pierce hidden mysteries by leaning his head upon the shoulder of his beloved. In the absence of that beloved the same love still drove him on. But he yielded to the experience and authority of Peter. His positive self-image did not result in pride, but allowed him the grace to yield to Peter's particular role.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
The faith of all of the disciples came through this cascade of love that refused to surrender even in the face of apparent failure and hopelessness. It was the love Jesus himself had first shown them, now reciprocated in his disciples, that could simply not accept the finality of his death.
By process of elimination all of the things that didn't happen were excluded. The burial cloths were folded, which was not something grave robbers would do. What could it mean? Love would press on until it was satisfied.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
It would take the intervention of Jesus himself to bring the disciples from the openness to faith unto full faith in his resurrection. But once this was done it was clear how deep and unshakable was the faith that emerged from the darkness of the morning of the third day.
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
Or, as Peter would write, "we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (see Second Peter 1:16).
Neither Mary Magdalene, nor John, nor Peter, was so credulous as to admit a resurrection by mere wishful thinking. Yet they all loved too much to give in to despair when any evidence of hope remained. They now have the ability to speak to each of us of the one who mattered too much to each of them personally to be mere myth or fantasy, one whom they knew and even touched. This was the Jesus they knew during his ministry. He was the same Jesus they encountered risen from the dead.
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
We sometimes find ourselves in confusion and darkness. At such times we should imitate these disciples and refuse to give in to despair. We should allow the love we have already been shown to drive us to run toward hope, not knowing the answers, but knowing for sure that there are answers to be found, and that they are worth finding. It is from testing by darkness like this that our faith can grow to the same solidity we see in John the Evangelist.
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us
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