Reflection on John 20:1-2, 11-18

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

On the Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene 

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene. From various accounts in the gospels, we learn that she was among a group of women from Galilee who followed Jesus. From the Gospel of Luke, we learn that Jesus delivered her from seven demons, and also freed her from her past. At the cross, she stood faithfully by Jesus even when others, including Jesus’ disciples abandoned him. Although Mary was healed and delivered by Jesus, and from that moment, she persisted in her faith, one of the great gifts that Jesus gave her was hope. But when Jesus was crucified, all hope seemed lost. The seeming loss of hope took her to the grave early in the morning. She did not wait for the day to break. It is possible she did not even sleep. On coming to the tomb, the empty tomb worsened her hopelessness. In desperation, she ran to tell Peter and the other disciple about her sad finding: They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him. After Peter and John ran to the tomb to verify her claim, they returned to their home. But not Mary Magdalene. She stayed behind and wept bitterly. As she went, she bent over to look into the tomb as if to check again if it is really true that the body of her Lord is not there. Surprisingly she saw two angels who questioned her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Just as she said to Peter, she said to the angels, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” As this was going on, she noticed that someone was standing behind her. She turned around and saw a man who looked like a gardener. But the gardener is Jesus. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought the man speaking to her was a gardener, she pleaded, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” The Gardener then called her by name, “Mary!” And she recognized that the man talking to her is Jesus. 

In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “My sheep will hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.” Mary hears Jesus call her name, and immediately recognized him. Then she attempted to hold onto Jesus, but Jesus has an urgent mission for her, “…go to my brothers and tell them, I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” With her hope restored and full of joy, Mary Magdalene went to the disciples and announced, “I have seen the Lord.”

What should we learn from Mary Magdalene? The first is persistence. From the moment she was exorcized by Jesus of seven demons, she never looked back. She followed Jesus and followed him till the very end. The second is courage and bravery. Courage is the ability to taken on difficult task despite the fear, and bravery is the ability to confront danger. Mary Magdalene was brave to stand at the foot of the cross with other women knowing the dangers involved in doing so. She was courageous to visit the tomb of Jesus before sunset all alone. The fourth virtue to learn from her is sacrificial love. She truly loved Jesus and was willing to sacrifice everything including her very life. Her love for Jesus was not private or secret. It was not mild or lukewarm. Her love of him was her passion. As such she was rewarded for being the first person to see and encounter the risen and triumphant Warrior himself. Fifth, she is a model of discipleship. Those of us who have encountered Jesus must be willing to tell others our experience of him just as Mary Magdalene did after encountering the Risen Lord.