Scripture:
Reflection:
Most of Jesus’ other disciples had run away, but not Mary Magdalene. She stayed with Him throughout his torture and gruesome death. So, she knew where he was buried. And, as she cared for His needs while he was alive, she was now concerned that He had a decent burial now that He was dead.
So, when she and some other disciples found the tomb empty on Sunday morning, she was distraught. The indignity and trauma of Good Friday continued for Mary, as she feared someone had disturbed the tomb and moved the body.
In today’s Gospel reading, we find Mary weeping at the empty tomb. And then she sees Someone in the Garden near the tomb. And we hear a tender conversation. Mary tells the gardener that, if he can tell her where the body is, she will move it back to where it belongs. But it is not the gardener; it is Jesus, whom she recognizes when he says her name “Mary”. And of course she embraces Him in ecstatic relief. And He says 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.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.
Ever the disciple, Mary quickly reorients herself, and does what Jesus asks. As she grieves sharing Earthly life with Jesus as His friend and follower, she is transitioning to carrying His Spirit into the world. And she becomes the first witness to the resurrection!
In today’s first reading from Acts of the Apostles, we hear from another disciple of Jesus, Peter, who is also witnessing to the resurrection. And the people who heard him were deeply touched. Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, says the people who heard Peter were “cut to the heart.” And so, they asked Peter and the other apostles: “What are we to do, my brothers?”
In response, Peter tells them to “repent”, to turn their lives around. Peter wants them to take on the mind and the mission of Jesus, to have a spiritual conversion.
In this Easter season, “what are we to do?” How do we witness to the resurrection in our life situations? How do we, who love Jesus, live out His mission? What does that look like?
Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit. She is currently a member of the Laudato Si Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.