Word to the Wise
Tuesday, April 19, 2022 - Octave of Easter - Tues
[Acts 2:36-41 and John 20:11-18]"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. [John]
The accounts in the four gospels of the resurrection of the Lord vary in details, but they are unanimous in saying that the Risen Lord appeared FIRST to women, particularly Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James. In the gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalen and her female companions. Today's account comes from the Gospel According to John and only Mary Magdalen is mentioned. It is she to whom Jesus entrusts the task of telling the "brothers" the news of Jesus' resurrection. The message is not that there is an empty tomb, but that Jesus is risen and is returning to "my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." We Dominicans (the Order of Preachers - O.P.) revere Mary Magdalen as the FIRST preacher.
The scene unfolds in stages, as so many of the encounters with Jesus do in the Gospel According to John. There are messengers at the tomb who ask "Woman, why are you weeping?" Then a voice from behind says, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thinks it is the gardener and responds (indignantly?). It is only when Jesus speaks her name that she recognizes him. Jesus does not allow her personal grief and relief to dominate - she is holding on to him (and not to a ghost). She is given the charge to go and announce the good news to the "brothers." The way she does it is interesting. She first speaks to her personal experience: "I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!" and then she reports what Jesus told her to say!
This powerful scene speaks to the question of women preaching as well as the personal experience of faith in Jesus' resurrection. Both are united in the possibility, in our time, that women may be ordained to the Permanent Diaconate, which would give them official access to preaching from the pulpit! The matter is still "under study," but there is hope! All of us, by virtue of our baptism, completed in the sacraments of confirmation and eucharist, are given the same charge to announce the resurrection of the Lord: "I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!" Mary Magdalen has given us an example to follow. AMEN