Word to the Wise
Friday, July 22, 2022 - July 22 - St. Mary Magdalene
[Cant 3:1-4b or 2 Cor 5:14-17 and John 20:1-2, 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 Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he told her. [John]
St. Mary Magdalen is a figure of special devotion to Dominicans because she is considered the first preacher of the resurrection - the Apostle to the Apostles. But like the other apostles after Jesus' resurrection, she has to make a journey of faith to accept the fact of Jesus' resurrection. The evangelist John, as in so much of his gospel, gives a dramatic account that begins with her arrival at the tomb in darkness (cf. Nicodemus in ch. 3]. Her reaction is not one of faith but fear that Jesus' body has been stolen. She runs to give this news to the apostles. [The lectionary passage excludes the experience of Peter and John before picking up with Mary's second visit to the tomb.]
There are three stages to Mary's second visit. The first stage, an encounter with angels, resumes her initial reaction that Jesus' body has been stolen. ("Woman, why are you weeping?" She is weeping in grief and not in joy.) The second stage is her mistaken encounter with Jesus in which she thinks he is the gardener! Once more she is asked why she is weeping and she repeats her lack of faith. It is only when Jesus speaks her name that she recognizes him, and then, consistent with her weeping, she tries to cling to him. She does not recognize him as risen. Jesus has to detach her and send her with the resurrection message that he is risen and will ascend to the Father.
Mary Magdalen's experience describes the experience of many disciples: incredulity, encounter, proclamation. We do not have the immediate experience she had since we are now living 2000+ years later. Most of us come from the darkness to light through baptism. Our encounter with Jesus comes through our experience of the faith as we grow up. Proclamation comes through a life of faithful living of Jesus' commands. Sometimes our proclamation must be made to those who are "official" apostles! St. Mary Magdalen and St. Thomas the Apostle are dramatic examples that challenge us to examine our own faith and relationship to Jesus - moving from physical attachment to a charismatic preacher to proclamation of him as the One whom God has sent and is risen from the dead. Is this our journey? AMEN