The first week of Eastertide: Christians celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection. Sorrow and desolation are replaced with hope and joy. An inextinguishable light of love breaks through the darkness, reaching out to each of us personally, eternally, regardless of our history or circumstances. In this reflection we ask, what is the hope I am offered?
The passage of scripture recommended for today is from the Gospel according to John. Read the surrounding verses as well, if you have chance.
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Worn out from Friday, exhausted by Saturday, Mary Magdalene arrives with first light at the tomb where Jesus’ body has been placed. She plans to anoint him with spices, as was Jewish custom. She finds the tomb open and no sign of a body; a grave robber?
Mary remains there, weeping. When she stoops again to look inside she sees ‘two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been’.
Can we imagine this vision? How Mary felt? How might you have reacted?
The angels ask Mary why she is weeping. Her devotion to Jesus – the man who healed her from many troubles – seems to override any awe and she simply answers with the facts as she sees them:
“They have taken my Lord away”
As you read this, do you sense that something unspoken is happening in Mary? Perhaps the first trembling of hope is stirring, for as she shares her bewilderment we are told that she ‘turns around’:
“I don’t know where they have put him”
This action can be overlooked easily, yet feels important. Maybe it speaks to those of us whose lives have been turned around after an encounter with ‘unexpected angels’ – people who have taken the time to ask us why we are troubled, even though they may guess the reason. Compassion can stop us in our sorrowful tracks, cause us to lift up our heads and even dare turn around in search of hope and light.
In what way do the angels have a role in Mary Magdalene’s gradual awakening to hope? After ‘turning around’ we are told she sees a man she first perceives to be a gardener. And he repeats the angels’ question:
“Why are you weeping?”
and goes further, asking:
“Who are you looking for?”
In appearing as a gardener, is Jesus allowing for Mary’s mortal sensibilities, creating a pause to allow her temporal sorrow and bewilderment to be transformed?
He then calls her by name, opening her eyes to his resurrected presence; giving her an immediate, personal mission to witness to all she has seen and heard:
“Go and find the brothers and tell them. I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God”
How might the enlightening experience of Mary Magdalene speak to you in your particular time and place?
Maybe this challenging year has been a ‘pause in time’ which has deepened your understanding of hope and calling?
As you reflect, you might want to spend some time with this image of sunlight breaking through between the rocks at Winnats Pass in Derbyshire.