Encountering the Risen Christ and Sent to Announce His Rising

In today's Gospel, John 20: 11-18, Mary Magdalene is standing outside the tomb weeping.  She is looking for Jesus but does not find Him.  When she looks into the empty tomb, two angels are sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where Jesus had been put wrapped in burial cloths. The angels say to Mary: "Woman, why are you weeping?"  Mary replies:  "They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him."  She turns away from the tomb and sees a man standing behind her. She thinks that he is the gardener.  He asks her: "Woman, why are you weeping?" She says to the man:  "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him." The risen Christ says to her: "Mary"! And  immediately she recognizes the "gardener" as Jesus.   He commissions her to go announce the good news of His resurrection to the apostles and to tell them that  He is "going to  my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Mary follows Christ's instructions and tells the disciples: "I have seen the Lord."

Would you or I have gone to the tomb looking for Jesus? Or would we have remained in hiding afraid of the Jews?  Nothing stops Mary Magdalene. She is going to find the body of Jesus, her Lord, Master and intimate friend, and give him a proper burial.  She certainly is going to save him from being further disrespected by anyone!  She gets to the tomb.  It is open and empty. She panics!  Where is the body? What has happened to him? Where has he been taken?  Who took him? As she looks more closely, she sees two angels sitting where the body of Jesus had been lain. And they engage her, wanting to know why she is weeping!  Did she forget that Jesus had said that after three days He would rise again? In her anxiety, she turns away from the empty tomb and behind her is the Risen Christ, whom she does not recognize until He speaks her name. She then knows!

God knows each one of us by name, as well! God knows when we are searching for Him.  He also knows how often we do not recognize Him in our midst. It is only when we have allowed Jesus to become our best friends and He calls us by name that our eyes are opened to His Presence!  May we take time each day to deepen our relationship with the Lord. Let us also look for Christ each day in the people we encounter!