The first thing that captures my heart is the intensity with which Mary Magdalene seeks out Jesus. After she sees that the stone had been rolled away, scripture tells us that she went to tell the apostles (John 20), who ran to see if it was true. After they saw the empty tomb they went home, but "Mary stood weeping outside the tomb." An interesting posture, she stands... she doesn't fall on the ground, or sit on a rock... she stands, as if she is waiting to respond to something. This posture of standing could be seen as a posture of attentiveness, getting ready for some sort of action.
The second thing that happens is that she sees two angels! I don't know about you, but if I was crying and then saw two angels, I would freak out!! I don't know if I would be afraid, troubled, speechless, or in need of a pair of depends... Regardless of what my reaction might be, Mary's reaction is very different. She doesn't blink an eye at their presence! She engages them in a conversation and says, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him!" There is nothing more important to her than finding the body of her Lord! This is a passionate and determined love... a love that won't give up just because she finds herself in utter darkness... We've all felt this at some point in our lives. Our souls can experience a "darkness" which seems as if God has left us, He is no where to be found! Yet Mary Magdalene teaches us that it is precisely within those "dark moments" that we don't give up! Again, she stands! with both feet firmly planted... unshakable... refusing to move until she finds her Lord! This is where we too embody her own heart... in our "dark" moments, let us stand with our feet firmly planted in His love, seeking Him with our whole being, and not giving up until we find Him! Notice that Mary didn't run back to the men who once gave her comfort and self worth... she ran to the apostles! To the Church... and then the witness of her love called them to action! Peter and John stood up and ran to the tomb!! I love all the action that we see here... It's a reminder that there can be no sloth (or spiritual laziness) in pursuing a relationship with Jesus!! It is in her actions at this moment that we see the woman in the Song of Songs coming to life, "I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not; 'I called him, but he gave no answer. I will rise now and go about the city [Jerusalem], in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves.' I sought him, but found him not" (3:1-2). (Click on this and listen to this song by Matt Maher, "Set me as a seal on your heart").
Now for the third part... Jesus stands in front of her, yet she does not recognize Him. In the deep ache of her heart, in her darkness, and through her tear-filled eyes, she is prevented from recognizing Him. Why is this? I would say that it is because once love has been tested, purified, and strengthened one no longer sees the other person in the same light. She has passed through a darkness which she had not been through before... love was tested... and love was strengthened! Love proved itself to be stronger than death. He speaks to her, but "supposing him to be a gardener..." OK STOP!! ... Wait a minute... Jesus didn't appear all majestic and brilliant... floating on clouds with an army of angels behind him... He appears as A GARDENER!! I love it!! As the picture to the right shows... he has a shovel in his hands with a really cool hat! Why a gardener?? Well it should make us recall the beginning of creation, when God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1). This is Jesus' way of saying to us that now, through His Resurrection, there is a new creation, "a new heavens and a new earth" (Rev 12) in which "all things are made new" (1 Cor 5:17). Actually, this morning, a seminarian and I were talking over a cup of coffee about what I was going to blog about and very nonchalantly he said, "Yea... He's the Gardener of the Heart!" Its a good thing that my cup of coffee was on my desk cause I would have probable dropped it!! That was so right... to reflect on it in a spiritual way, that is exactly what He does... He takes our hearts, which are often places of experiences of hurt, pain, ache, and even death - the symbol of the empty tomb - and He comes into our "empty tombs" and begins to bring forth life where we once found only despair, pain, darkness, and even death. He walks with us in the garden of our hearts, sometimes pruning, sometimes taking weeds out, but always trying to make our garden beautiful and fruitful. Today, let our hearts cry out in unison with the bride in the Song of Songs as she says to her Bridegroom, "Blow upon my garden that its fragrance may be wafted abroad. Let my Beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruit" (4:16). And then, once we hear Him speak our name, as Mary did in that garden, may we hear His response in the Song of Song, whispering to our hearts, "I come to my garden, my sister, my bride... Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!" (5:1)Check this other song out... click below.
