HEROES
March: Mary Magdelene
Heroes...Searching the Scriptures of our Parish Theme
Read John 20:10-18
Can you recall a time when you didn’t want a hug to end?
When it was almost impossible to let go?
Me too. Like you I can also recall seeing others engage in such hugs: Mom or dad saying goodbye to a son or daughter before they head off to college out-of-state; Spouses, siblings and offspring on the tarmac or at the dock before their “soldier or sailor” deploys; Lovers at an airport prior to one of them boarding; family of a patient prior to surgery; all of the above when the ordeal ends and the parties are reunited. We know what it is to engage in a hug that we don’t want to end.
Her ordeal had been traumatic! Her Lord was betrayed and killed. His body had been buried and she was expecting to spend her final time with him, “as she and others took spices to anoint his body,” (Mark 16:1 & Luke 24:1) before the tomb was sealed for good. To their surprise, upon their arrival, the stone has already been rolled away. To their horror the body is not where it was suppose to be. To her dismay she, Mary, is left to weep outside His tomb for not only has her Lord’s life been robbed from her—now her last time with Him has been stolen as well. His body is gone.
Hugs that linger in joy and delight: when a child returns home at semester break, when “your sailor or soldier” returns home from war, when a lover makes it back from a long trip, when a loved one comes out of surgery and recovery. How much more so then when your Lord returns from the grave?
“Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried “Teacher!”
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father, Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:16,17)
“Jesus, give me a break.” “You were dead and now you’re alive.” “I thought I lost you to the grave and a second time to grave robbers.” “Of course I’m holding on to you and I’m not about to let you go.”
- Don’t you think any one of the above sentences could have been a valid response?
- Don’t you think it was quite natural for Mary Magdalene to “hold on to Jesus”?
- Is our joy in Jesus’ victory over the grave to be any less than Mary’s?
- What does it mean for you to hold on to Christ?
Read vs. 18 once again.
Mary was called to hold up Christ in the eyes of the disciples. Do you think someone can hold up Christ if they are not holding on to Christ?
PRAYER:
“Lord who has an eternal hold on my life, who has gripped me by grace, strengthen me to hold on to you in faith, to grasp the depth of your love and to hold you up to others. Amen.”