In the Gospel of John we are told that "Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark.." We are left to imagine what that may have been like for her. Certainly she was grieving for her Master, her Rabi, her Friend, and leaving for the tomb alone in the darkness of morning would have given her welcomed moments to weep over her inability to make sense of what she had just witnessed. How could so many have been so enlightened by Him and yet so fearful of Him? Didn't others feel the calming joy that walked with Him? Weren't their minds and thoughts brought new life with His words and explanations about God and living? Wasn't the touch of His hand on a shoulder or a cheek so light and yet so shocking? What had He done that seemed to bring only fear and anger to them? What was it He said that shook them so badly that they had to rid the world of Him? How could they, His people, not only seek His murder but before this seek His humiliation? His taunting? His torture? and then His crucifixion? Mary stops on the path, puts her ointments down on the ground, and covers her face with her hands. The waves of grief flood over her. Her body trembles with its inability to grasp all that she has seen: the screaming, the ferocious anger, the jealousy, the quick movements of soldiers following orders, the dust, the wind, the pushing, the shoving, the blood, the gasping, the crying, the stillness...it is too much. It is just too much. There is no sense to this violence. There is no sense to people treating one another this way. There is no purpose in ending life. There is nothing right about ending His.
Mary continues walking to the tomb, slower now under the weight of sadness and knowing what she will find there, what is always found there...emptiness. Her gesture of going and weeping is an age old one that gives movement and direction to one who is in the shadow of death. How scary and frightening it must have been when she finally gets to His tomb only to find the stone gone. Shocked and stunned her own anger erupts and she moves quickly inside and finds two "angels in white" sitting who question her on why she is weeping? She was weeping because Jesus was dead. Now, He is dead and His body gone. She continues to weep but Mary does not shrink in fear from talking to these two ethereal beings but instead demands to know where He is so that SHE can go and get Him. What love this woman has for Him. How her broken heart must have rallied its strength to be willing to rush off to do what she could to get Him back. She needed to get Him back so that she could have at least that much of Him to be close to.
In the Gospel we are told Christ, Himself, appears and asks her "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" Once again, she tells this man, this person she thought was a gardener, to tell her where Jesus has been taken so that she can "go and get him". Jesus then says her name, "Mary". It is in His relational address of her that she "sees" and "hears" that it is Him and spontaneously with sheer happiness she reaches out to touch Him. What joyful confusion must have been coursing through her. He was dead. She saw this with her own eyes and felt her heart break at the foot of His cross. Now, here He is in front of her speaking her name and telling her to "go and tell my brothers..." She was to announce to them that she had seen Him and He was going to the Father. Her grief dissipated at the sound of His voice and exultation began to flow through her very being. She could do nothing else but what He was calling her to do so she ran, she ran as fast as her legs would take her. Could we even imagine her lifting up the folds of her dress so that she could even run more freely, more swiftly, to do what it was He was asking of her. Out of breath and full of renewed life she runs into the room where the others sit in grief stricken silence and she, through tears of joy, tells them Her Masters words.
This story of Mary of Magdala and the tomb of Christ can give us a better understanding of violence within the world of human interaction. Life without relationship to God is life without possibilities. It is life with fear and cynicism and jealousy and addictions to power, money, and other gods. It is life that easily integrates forms of violent activity towards other human beings, creatures, or nature. Rationale is given and deeds done.
Mary, through her love and belief in Jesus, shows us that life in relationship to God is right ordered. It is earthly life that still contains suffering and grief but is open to the joy, excitement, and exultation of seeing, hearing, and responding to the voice of the risen Christ.
This morning on TV the news showed the buses of the family members of those who perished in the Alps through the violent act of a sinful pilot. I could see through the windows the grief stricken faces of the men and women who were being brought to the burial ground of their loved ones. Some held their heads in their hands as the Coach slowly moved forward to meet the others in the long line of a death march. I thought of Mary of Magdala and saw her face in the window as the bus drove by. These people are at the foot of the cross. This is their time of not making sense of this violent act that ended the lives of their loved ones so quickly. They will hear the banging and the screaming and the praying and will see the scattering of mayhem. As with Mary, they will face the challenge to "see" and "hear" the risen Christ whispering their names so that they, too, may come to feel the exultation of Easter morning.
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