The Appearance to Mary of Magdala

Today's Reflections

 

                               

 

     

The Appearance to Mary of Magdala 

http://graceandspace.org

Jn 20:1-2, 11-18

¹On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”

11But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. ¹³And 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.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus 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.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. ¹⁷Jesus 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.’ ” ¹⁸Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.

Reflection:

Mary stayed outside the womb weeping. “Pagmamahal hanggang libing” (literally, love unto the grave) fittingly describes the love of Mary Magdalene for Jesus. Even when Jesus has been buried, Mary still goes to him with aromatic spices to anoint his body. She loves Jesus passionately, as can be seen from her weeping when she cannot find his body, and from her spontaneous reaction to hold on to him when she recognizes him.

Why such passionate love for Jesus? Because Jesus drove from her seven demons (cf Mk 16:9; Lk 8:2). Whatever “seven demons” might mean exactly (very crazy, very sinful, or literally seven devils), to have seven demons was a very bad thing. Mary Magdalene was very grateful to Jesus for ridding her of this great evil.

How about us—are we grateful for having often been delivered by Jesus from sin, temptations, and dangers? Do we love him passionately in gratitude?

Is our love for Jesus hanggang libing?