I HAVE SEEN THE LORD

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”

[John 20:18a NRSVue]

July 22 is the day that the Church commemorates Mary Magdalene.

Since I’ve more or less committed to writing a blogpost on Wednesdays, I was excited when I realized that the day coincided with this date.

Yet when I searched my blog archives, I was also surprised that I have never written a blogpost on Mary Magdalene. I have sermons galore, as well as Facebook posts, but not one blog reflection.

And today, on just about every platform imaginable, you’ll have no shortage of articles, essays, reflections, meditations, and sermons posted on Mary Magdalene. So, excuse my one additional contribution, but I can’t let the day go by without honoring this woman and her significance – the first witness to the resurrection.

I want to approach my observations through a sentence in yesterday’s Gospel reading from the daily lectionary.

The final verse in the reading, Matthew 26:56, ends with the line: Then all the disciples deserted [Jesus] and fled.

The scene takes place as Jesus is arrested in the garden of Gethsemane.

All the disciples deserted him and fled.

I can’t recall that I’ve ever noticed that sentence.

Obviously, the cowardice of the disciples at this critical moment in the life of Jesus is well-documented throughout the Gospels.

But yesterday, as I sat with that reading, the words struck me like a thunderclap.

All the disciples deserted him and fled.

The sentence stands out in sharp contrast to the women.

We don’t know why they had not been invited to the Passover meal that preceded the arrest, but that should come as no surprise in a culture that didn’t value women.

What matters is that the women were a visible presence throughout all the other crucial moments of Jesus’ passion and crucifixion, even though they were absent at the arrest.

Two Gospel readings are assigned for this day; one from Mark for the Daily Office, and the other from John for the Eucharistic celebration.

Mark describes the first Easter morning in a rather austere, matter-of-fact tone. Three grieving women arrive at the tomb to anoint the body for burial.

John’s Gospel, on the other hand, while still solemn in nature, depicts the emotional encounter at the empty tomb between the risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

She mistakes him for the gardener, until he calls her by name.

Mary Magdalene thus becomes the lone character who participates in the defining moment of the Christian faith.

She then goes to the twelve disciples and tells them what she has seen.

“I have seen the Lord,” she says.

By uttering those five words, Mary Magdalene becomes the apostle to the apostles.

I’d like to think that were I to have written that line in the original Gospel, I would have ended it with three exclamation marks.

It’s hard to imagine that Mary Magdalene wasn’t enthusiastic.

Whether or not the disciples believed her, what she set in motion is the unfolding of Christianity itself.

Next to Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene is the second most mentioned woman in the New Testament.

Many of today’s reflections will give you an abundance of information, misinformation, rumors, false details and unproven facts about her life.

While that may be of interest, and even of value, to some, let us focus not just on the person of Mary, but the story she had to tell.

Let us honor her for the model of faith that she has been for Christians down through the ages and the model of faith that she is for all of us today. 

In the commemoration of Mary, we are called, as she was, to spread the news that Jesus has been raised and continues to live.

That experience with the risen Christ told Mary that she was loved and valued as God’s child.

It is that story which tells us also that we are loved.

No matter what we do, no matter where we go, no matter how miserable our failures, we are loved and forgiven unconditionally.  

We each have a story to tell, a story of how faith has changed us; a story worth telling, a story that the world needs to hear and experience.

I have seen the Lord!!!

Let us pray:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed of all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.(Lesser Feasts and Fasts, p. 323)