And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She was weeping because she loved Jesus so much, and had placed so much hope in him. He had restored her, and for a time it seemed he would restore the world as well. Could she have merely imagined that Jesus was all that he seemed to be? In a way, it seemed that she must have. But still, she couldn't leave the tomb, refused to abandon the body, and therefore give up on the connection she had to Jesus. As a woman in a garden, she wept like Eve for all that might have been but now seemed lost. But then she encountered the gardener. How fitting a misapprehension this was, since she turned to see the new Adam who was in fact in the process of planting the seed of a new Eden. But, although she was looking at all the signs of a new reality breaking forth, she still naturally interpreted them according to the old paradigm of fallen world. Although she had a real and profound love for Jesus it was nevertheless still a love that clung to the way that things which had been, which was not immediately open to be led into a new future of hope. Her love averted the potential disaster of full blown despair, even when all hope seemed lost. It was not enough on its own. But it was enough in the light of the one who loved her even more than she loved him, who knew her even better than she knew herself. It was this feeling of transcendence that she experienced when Jesus called her name.
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
She was beginning to experience the promise of Jesus, that she would see him again, and that her sorrow would turn to joy. But even on recognizing him, she still needed to realize that his resurrection implied that she must now relate to him in a new way. He was still Teacher. But the Teacher was now risen and glorified. He could, yes, still be touched, as she and others demonstrated. But in order to reign over his Church, send his Spirit, and guide the work of evangelizing the world, he could no longer be held to one specific place alone. He was preparing her for his ascension in which he would still be present, even more present in fact, but in a different way than before. The contact of touch would indeed still be possible, but only through faith, since by faith we may touch the risen Lord in the Eucharist. But even there we do not cling. We do not try to arrest a moment in time that is meant to be a transition. We do not build tents on the mountain but allow the transformation to surge forward, changing us and our world in turn.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.
Like Mary we too are meant to encounter the risen Lord and become witnesses to his resurrection. We too are meant to spread the news that it is now possible for everyone to become sons and daughters of the Father through faith and baptism, in which we are united to Jesus, and are thereby adopted into the divine life of the Trinity. When we really encounter him and allow him to unleash his Spirit in our lives we gain the motivation and confidence of Peter on the day of Pentecost:
Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.
Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows
No comments:
Post a Comment