Tears to Joy: Jesus made Mary the first resurrection witness
Daily Scripture
John 20:14-18
14 As soon as she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni” (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, for I haven’t yet gone up to my Father. Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene left and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord.” Then she told them what he said to her.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
We come to the glorious final point of Mary Magdalene’s story. In verse 15, Jesus called her “Woman” (not as rude then as it sounds today—he spoke to his mother that way in John 2:3-4). But after she stated her sorrowful question, it got personal. Jesus simply called her name— “Mary”—and she replied “Rabbouni” (the personal form of the more formal “Rabbi”). In that moment of connection, Mary’s sorrow turned to joy in a flash. Jesus knew her, not as a statistic, not as a woman with a troubled past, but by name. He trusted her, commissioning her as the first witness to his resurrection: “Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them.” Scholar N. T. Wright said, “If someone in the first century had wanted to invent a convincing story about people seeing Jesus, they wouldn’t have dreamed of giving the star part to a woman. Let alone Mary Magdalene.” * Jesus knew her, trusted her, empowered her. The human barriers of gender and reputation were all gone in his new creation.
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John used a symbol to point to that new creation. John “mentions that there was a garden where Jesus was crucified, and then he says ‘in the garden there was a new tomb.’ Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t tell us there was a garden where Jesus was crucified, nor where he was buried…. John’s Gospel opens with the words “In the beginning,” the same words that open the Book of Genesis. Genesis starts in a garden. John’s Gospel ends in a garden. In Genesis, God plants the garden. In John, when Mary Magdalene stands at the empty tomb and first sees the resurrected Christ, she thinks he is the gardener…. I believe John wants us to understand that Jesus came to break the curse, to destroy death, and to heal God’s garden. Paul describes Jesus as the ‘second Adam.’ Perhaps that same idea is what John has in mind here.” ** How has Jesus’ creative power brought newness and restoration in your life? How can you join in that work of restoring the world to God’s original intention?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, fill me, like Mary Magdalene and those first witnesses to the resurrection, with your light and life. Guide me to ways to share it with others. Amen.
GPS Insights
Sherry Ainsworth
Sherry Ainsworth, a member of Resurrection for 22 years, serves by volunteering to greet, serve communion and teach Confirmation class at Resurrection Downtown. She has been a grief support volunteer at Solace House for 25 years and is on the KC Hospice and Palliative Care Foundation Board. After 28 years at Lockton Companies, she enjoys traveling and has been to Israel twice.
Last week, Pastor Nick asked if we could enlist the Confirmation students to write today’s GPS Insights blog. I tried but got no response. I shared my own reflection hoping it would stir up their creative juices. Still crickets (chirp, chirp) … When I told Pastor Nick, he said, “I want to hear your reflection!” If you’d like to join him …
When Jesus spoke Mary’s name, it was evidence that he knew her. A woman who was beaten down, tormented by demons, and losing hope. She must have felt alone and afraid. She might have felt out of control, plagued by the negative things others had said about her. Or worse, plagued by the negative things she assumed others were saying about her. What did Jesus see in Mary? How did simply speaking her name shake her out of her struggle and open the door for a renewed faith?
Jesus knew her heart, her fears, and the pain she had suffered for many years. When he spoke her name, all the self-loathing thoughts and crippling demons in her head were cast out. When Jesus spoke her name, she became his beloved disciple. Sometimes we all need somebody to interrupt our cycles of self-deprivation. When someone says our name, bells and whistles go off in our brains. We light up. Whatever thoughts were swirling before have now been halted by the singular thought of being known. Hearing her name and disrupting her downward spiral, Mary was set free into an incredible ministry of faith. She witnessed people being healed, being fed, being encouraged, even raised from the dead. She participated in funding Jesus’ ministry from town to town. She was there at the crucifixion. When Jesus died, I can imagine Mary became terrorized that her demons would return. Who would protect her now? Could she survive another round of persecution by demons? How could she continue being Mary if Jesus died? She would surely back slide into depravity and self-loathing. Who would call her by her name? Who would disrupt and cast out the negative thoughts swirling in her head and heart?
Mary was the first to see Jesus at the resurrection tomb. How did Jesus get her attention? HE SPOKE HER NAME. Can you imagine the emotions that must have rushed through Mary at that moment? The honor, the humility, the reassurance that all Jesus taught her had rooted itself deep in her heart and mind. She was no longer alone or abandoned. She need not fear what lies ahead and neither do we. He knows us by name. We all are worthy to be called children of God.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, part 2. Westminster John Knox Press., 2004, p. 148. Kindle Edition.
** Hamilton, Adam, John: The Gospel of Light and Life (pp. 156-157). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.
