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One of the people I hope I get to meet in heaven is Mary Magdalene.
The four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John often differ in the details, but one thing they all have in common is that Mary Magdalene is the first to witness, believe, and testify about the empty tomb / the risen Jesus.
She is the first Easter Christian.
And then she disappears from the Biblical story
(There is a non-Biblical Gospel attributed to Mary - and much folklore and contemporary speculation.)
John makes no mention of Mary Magdalene until the crucifixion when she is mentioned as one of the women who witnesses Jesus being lifted up on the cross.
Verse 1. John gives no explanation of how the rather large stone that had sealed the tomb had been removed.
Verse 2. Notice that Mary makes the assumption that "they" have removed the stone and "they" have taken Jesus' body. This verse hints both at the existence outsiders who would commit the sacrilege of robbing a grave and at a human way of explaining the empty tomb.
Verses 2 to 10. John doesn't explain why Mary goes to Simon Peter and the other disciple (nor where are the other disciples). Then there are the odd but vivid details of the footrace to the tomb and of what the two disciples find and do. Note that it is the other disciple, not Peter, who believes, and yet neither of them understands the scriptures that he must be raised from the dead. Belief and understanding are a multi-step process that is not automatic. At this point in the story, Peter is an example of those who see with their eyes and yet neither believe nor understand.
The male disciples go home, but Mary remains - weeping.
Is it a cheap shot at typical masculine behaviour to say, Thank God for Mary and her presence in this story?
When Mary looks in the tomb - unlike Peter and the other disciple - she is honoured by being given a vision of angels who engage her sorrow.
Again, she is honoured that in response to her statement / question, "I do not know where they have laid (Jesus' dead body)," she is given the answer by turning around and seeing the new body of Jesus - which she does not recognize at first, assuming Jesus to be a gardener.
Again Mary states her concern about where Jesus' body has been taken.
(Malina explains that Mary's concern would be that the body be allowed the proper one year long purging / decaying / purification process so that the remaining bones can then be given a final burial in readiness to receive a new body at the time of the general resurrection. See SSC on John, page 276-277.)
The exchange of Jesus speaking her name, and Mary calling Jesus, "Great One," is an expression of and a re-establishing of the relationship between Jesus-now-resurrected and Mary.
But unlike the later appearance to Thomas next week, Jesus' resurrected body cannot be touched because it has not yet ascended.
As the Word descended from the Father and became flesh at the start of John's Gospel, Mary is experiencing the flesh becoming Word. A process that requires ascending to be completed. That is, just as once there was an embedding / joining from the spiritual realm into the earthly realm, so now there is an embedding / joining from the earthly realm into the spiritual realm.
(Click here to read my annual rant about why it is important to assert the actual reality of the resurrection.)
Jesus gives Mary a message to deliver to "my brothers" - a new status for the disciples. And again, an honour for Mary - to become an agent for Jesus-now-resurrected; to carry messages on his behalf.
Her announcement, "I have seen the Lord," inaugurates the post-resurrection era.
A happy and blessed Easter to everyone.
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca
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