Sitting with the Sacred

Today, the Gospel reading is John 20:11-18. I’ve written here before that John 20:11-18 tells my favorite of all the Easter stories. The story of what happened when Mary of Magdala wept outside the tomb is my favorite not just among the Easter stories but in all of the Bible for several reasons:

It’s a story readers and listeners can see, hear, and feel with the eyes of their and hearts. It’s a story readers and listeners can see, hear, and feel with the eyes of their and hearts. Not all Bible stories provide such concrete sensory details, so this one that does has a special place in the storyteller’s heart that is mine.

It’s a story that paints a picture of profound love and loss, of grief and reunion. It’s emotionally intimate, from Mary’s weeping to her relatable experience of recognition when Jesus calls her by her first name (John 20:11:16 and 17). I like to imagine he’d addressed her in that same gentle yet that somehow still attention-grabbing way many times before. This time, when he calls her, she clings to him, and he has to tell her to let go (John 20:18). To me, it’s no wonder she responds this way. He healed of a lot of suffering. (See Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9 for more about this.) And then she was among the women who offered him what care they could while he was being tortured and later, after his death, when he could no longer comfort them in return.

Now, I think if I lost someone after going through with him what Mary had with Jesus, and then I got that person back, I don’t think I’d want to let go either. I think someone would have to pry my arms away from him.

But Jesus doesn’t want Mary to live in the past, and he knows neither of them can stay in the present–not while they are both on this earth, where a new present constantly replaces old ones–so he gives her a mission that will carry her and the rest of the family he has gathered around himself into the future, and indeed, into eternity:

Go and announce that I’m “going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). Another part of her message will be “‘I have seen the Lord'” (20:18).

Sharing my personal encounters with the sacred is one of the missions of this blog. That’s why Mary of Magdala is a fitting patron saint for this endeavor. That’s also why I’m linking here today to a Scripture Story I wrote inspired by John 20:11-18.

By the way, I decided the other patron saints of this blog are Mary the Mother of God (Jesus), and Mary and Martha of Bethany, the sisters of Lazarus. It’s the mission of this blog to be open to the will of God, to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him, and to serve others. I plan to show love to the other models for this blog when they are mentioned in the readings for the day.

Lord, help me be like these women. Help me help them in their ministries to You and to Your beloved ones – everyone. Amen.

The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm

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