I Have Seen the Lord
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| Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene Kneeling and Weeping, Francesco Hayez, 1827. |
The Bride says: On my bed, at night I sought him whom my heart loves–I
sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in
the streets and crossings, I will seek Him whom my heart loves. I sought him but
I did not find him. Song of Songs 3:1-2
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.’” John 20:16-17
Piety
She converts. She anoints. She listens. She follows. She weeps. She witnesses.
She announces.
Study
According to the tradition of the Western Church, Mary Magdalene, who
is mentioned in all four Gospels, is also identical with "the woman who
was a sinner" and possibly also even the sister of Lazarus.[i]
Mary is someone who relished her close moments with Christ.[ii] Does it surprise anyone that she is the first
“seeker” on Easter Sunday? She woke up early
and got to the tomb at dawn’s first light to find the stone rolled away. She did not go inside to see the empty tomb but
ran to tell Peter and John. They came,
saw the empty tomb and left.
Mary stayed behind – still seeking a close moment with Christ -- weeping
outside. Her vigil was rewarded with the first revelation of the Resurrection. Mary was the first to know that Jesus, a new
creation, rose from the dead. (“Behold,
I make all things new.” Revelation 21:5)
In fact, we might assume from the words Jesus speaks, that Mary
embraced him. Jesus has to remind her to stop holding on because she has more
important things to do.
Just as in today’s reading from the Hebrew Bible, the soul’s search for
the divine (My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God. Psalm 63) pays off.
Now we can see that the story Jesus built was a continuous expansion of
the Exodus and an entirely new story. Jesus spent three years in his ministry preaching
on the stories and laws that everyone knew.
But now, the familiar Passover Seder of Holy Thursday can be seen in a
new light. Jesus creates himself as a new person in place of the old. No longer the slaughtered lamb, Jesus is the
fulfillment of Time.
Remember not the
events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; See, I am doing
something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness
I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. Isaiah 43:18-19
God’s new act of delivering Israel from the Babylonian captivity and
now delivering everyone from the exile of sin is so great a marvel as to
eclipse even the memory of the exodus from Egypt. So whoever is in Christ is
a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Action
Jesus rewarded the perseverance of Mary’s search with the encounter,
with the new creation. For this devotion, the Lord gifts to her a new mission. Mary
Magdalene announced to the Easter message. "I have seen the Lord." (20:18)
What News does Mary Magdalene announce to you?
[ii]
Although doubted by most modern biblical “scholars” and somewhat obscured by
the Novus Ordo Liturgy, there is no reason to doubt that St. Mary Magdalene is
St. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Sts. Martha and Lazarus. Furthermore, she is
the penitent woman described in Luke 7 who wept at the Lord’s feet and drying
then with her hair anointed them with the rich perfume.
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