22/04/2025
The story in John’s Gospel of Mary Magdalene at Jesus’ tomb is a poignant metaphor of the spiritual journey.
The story begins in the dark “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.” Mary witnessed the death of her teacher/close companion and now is literally and figuratively in the dark - a state of grief, sadness, despair we all live through at times.
Mary finds the tomb empty, alerts two disciples and then stays as the men look inside the tomb and leave. The theme of the first 10 verses is “Where is the Lord?” which highlights the significance of this chapter as a spiritual quest.
Now we get into the heart of the story with Mary weeping outside the tomb. Theologian Schneiders divides this section into Mary’s three key actions - weeping, turning and announcing -
First, Mary is weeping and the depth of her grief is suggested in the repetition of “weeping” four times. She is blind with sadness, seemingly unaware that first angels and then Jesus himself is speaking to her – even as she turns to him looking for his dead body. How many times has our grief or dark feelings blinded us from the angels and graces right in front of us?
Mary has to let go of her focus on the material body of Jesus. Her grief blocks her openness to Gods voice and ability to see the signs right in front of her.
Then, Jesus calls Mary’s name, she turns (again) and realizes who he is. Two things significant here – First, he called her name. Spirit is always calling us, but there’s an inner stillness needed to recognize this voice – and Second: this turning is an internal movement - she had already physically turned to face Jesus in the verse before but didn’t recognize him until the “turning” within when he called her name.
So – we’re in the dark (grief, despair) and keep turning to the dead past (old habits, old ways of seeing things) so stay stuck in that darkness until we notice the voice calling us into a new way of seeing – an inner transformation.
Next Jesus tells her, “Do not hold on to me” or “Do not cling to me.” This verse translated into Latin became “don’t touch me” (Latin is a much less nuanced language than the original Greek) The Church then used this to stress Mary’s unworthiness as a woman compared to the worthiness of Thomas who is later called to touch Jesus.
It seems more likely that Jesus is plainly telling Mary that she is ready to move on to the next level of faith. It’s time for Mary to move her attention away from the material person of Jesus and onto his presence alive in the community of his followers, for the verse ends with Jesus directing her to tell his ‘siblings’ about his ascension to God.
Spiritual growth often happens in periods of darkness and sorrow. We may be in a place of just going through the motions of our lives and experiencing an emptiness (like Mary at the empty tomb.) Like Mary we may long for something tangible to ease the pain - (familiar habits, practices, beliefs) but they leave us feeling cold like Mary looking for a dead body.
Then we may experience a call, a moment of grace – a fleeting moment of inspiration or connection. Recognize it, be aware, and don’t go backwards - do not cling - but instead open into our intention, intentional practices, stillness, aligning ourselves with our true essence. Then, shine our true essence into the world by the way we live our lives.
Happy Easter, Friends!
Love,
Your friendly neighborhood theologian 😉
