Friday, July 22, 2016

John 20: 1-2, 11-18

On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.
Jesus said 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 Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he told her.

“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”

Before Jesus’ ascension to the Father he could only be on one place at one time. He was in his glorified, yet, earth bound body. After his ascension he could be among us anywhere and everywhere. He gave his priests the words of consecration. Jesus now dwells among his people in every tabernacle in the world all at once and everywhere.

This part of scripture gives reason to believe that the resurrection is true. In Jesus’ day women could not testify in court. Their testimony to any event was not considered worthy to anyone. Yet, the scriptures tell us that Jesus appeared to a woman first. It was Mary who brought the news to the Twelve. If the scriptures were written to justify a false, made up religion of the Twelve they would have surly written that Jesus appeared directly to them first. But they wrote that he appeared to a woman as the men hid in fear.

This is the first of several stories of the resurrected Lord appearing to his followers. When he appears to them his identity is always veiled. He comes in secret and listens to the person or people he is with tell what has occurred. He gives them a chance to evangelize before he makes himself known to them.

Jesus comes to them in secret. How often has Jesus come to us with his identity veiled looking to see how we respond to him? Have you ever been approached by a stranger in need or one who was offering consolation out of the blue?

October 25, 2014 I went in for an angiogram expecting to find one blockage that could be fixed. What we found instead was that my heart was 90-95% blocked and that I was in great need for open heart bypass. The doctor told my wife the news as I was in recovery. The news hit her pretty hard and she was visibly shaken. From out of nowhere a disheveled looking man appeared at her side. He had a Bible in his hand. He told her not to worry, that I would be fine. Then he asked if he could pray with her. After the prayer the man was gone and she never saw him again.

Jesus comes to us with his identity veiled. He appears as another person, a gardener, a travel companion, a disheveled man in a hospital waiting room. How do you choose to respond to these people?