Thursday in Easter Week
O GOD, who hast knit together divers nations in the one confession of thy Name: grant that they who have been born again in the font of Baptism, may likewise be one in inward faith and holiness of conversation; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
For the Epistle - Acts 8:26-40
Gospel - John 20:11-18
We hear today the continuation of the Gospel lesson appointed for the principal Mass on Easter Day. Mary Magdalene does not know what to do; she is in the midst of the grief of the events of Good Friday, and now must deal with the fact that her Lord could not even be given a proper burial. Obviously nothing that Jesus had ever said to her or the other disciples came to mind that the body of Jesus might not be in the tomb for a much more profound reason.
Nevertheless, in the midst of her shock at finding the empty tomb, she first sees two angels sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet of where Jesus had lain. They ask her why she is weeping, and she tells them simply that she doesn’t know where her Lord’s body has been taken. She then turns back and now sees a man, who she mistakes for the gardener, and she now asks him if he knows where the body has been taken, so that she might collect it and give Jesus a proper burial. Jesus replies with only one word - Mary. I hope we don’t lose the tremendous theological point being made with that one detail.
God knows us and calls us by name. We are not merely one subject among many serving the whims of a capricious god. Rather, we serve and worship a God who knows us personally, and desires that we know him personally as well. There is an intimacy and communion and fellowship that takes place at this level. We want others to know our names, and we want to know theirs as well. There is nothing more uncomfortable than not knowing a person’s name. We keep a safe distance until there is a level of trust established. With God, that trust from his perspective is already there. He is the first to make himself known, and reaches out to Mary on personal terms. He desires that we know him with that same degree comfort.
As we know in Scripture, there are no “throw away” words or phrases. John isn’t offering us a quaint detail in letting us know that Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. He’s presenting another key theological point. Mary didn’t make a mistake at all. Jesus was in fact the gardener standing right before her eyes. No, he wasn’t the one who toiled and merely kept that particular garden, but he is the one who created the spectacular garden in Creation. Mary was now standing back in Eden. She was looking right at the Master Gardener, and more importantly, she was now looking at the Tree of Life. He tells her not to cling to him, but rather, go to his disciples and tell them what you’ve seen.
The goal of the Christian life isn’t merely to cling to the Tree of Life, but rather, to come back daily, partake of the fruit of that tree for nourishment and sustenance, and then go and share what the Gardener desires for all of his creation. She mistook him for a simple gardener, and saw the one who spoke the Garden of Eden into existence. And now he tells her to go, share that news with the world. That too is our call, and it is our vocation as fellow laborers in the Garden of the Lord.
ALMIGHTY GOD, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Χριστός ἀνέστη!
Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
Christus resurrexit!
Resurrexit vere!
Christ is Risen!
Truly, He is Risen!