Mary Magdalene 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 went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.
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After Peter and the beloved disciple saw the empty tomb and departed, Mary of Magdala comes back, lingers for a while, desperately searching for the dead body of her beloved Rabbi. Immersed in her intense grief, she is hardly attentive to the presence of two angels, to whom she expresses the reason of her sorrow, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” Still focused on finding the dead body of Jesus, she fails to recognize him in his glorious state. Only when she hears the familiar voice calling her name does she recognize her beloved Rabbouni, like the sheep that recognizes the shepherd’s voice. She wants to hold on to Jesus as she and the other disciples would hold on to him during his public ministry. But the resurrection presents another dimension to the relationship. Jesus now ascends to the Father from whom he came, and the disciples are to go and bear witness to the world that Jesus is Messiah and Lord in virtue of his rising from the dead.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2021,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
