The Gospel of today’s liturgy, John 20: 11-18, recounts the
experience of Mary Magdalene, who after Peter and John had left the tomb,
having witnessed to the fact that the tomb was empty, stayed behind and stood
outside the tomb weeping. “Where was Jesus?” “Who had taken his body?” John, when seeing the empty tomb and the burial
cloths rolled up and neatly placed where Jesus’ body had been laid to rest, believed that Jesus has risen. His love for
His Savior had no room to doubt the resurrection of Jesus.
Mary
peers into the empty tomb, John tells us,
and sees “two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at
the feet where the Body of Jesus had been.”
They say to her: “Woman, why are you weeping?” If "an angel of the Lord" asked me that question, what would be my response? Mary says: “They have taken my Lord,
and I don’t know where they laid him.” She turns around and sees the risen Lord
but does not recognize Him until He calls her name: “Mary!” Immediately she
knows Him—“My sheep know my voice,” Jesus tells us in the Gospels. Would I, do I, recognize the voice of Jesus when He, too, calls my name or am I tuned in to too many other voices and simply do not hear Jesus at all! For whose voice am I listening, in fact?
John, peering at an empty tomb, believed out of love. He needed no proof! Mary first believed and recognized the Risen Lord when she heard His voice. Peter first believed when he saw Jesus later in the upper room, doors
locked out of fear of the authorities who had Jesus killed and could easily be looking for His followers. Thomas first believed
when he first touched the wounds in Jesus’ feet, hands, and side.
What prompts my belief or yours?
