Magdalene Penitent by Jose de Ribera [Public domain]
Speak, Mary, declaring what you saw, wayfaring.
The tomb of Christ, who is living, the glory of Jesus’ resurrection;
bright angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting.
Mary went to the tomb with a heavy heart, mourning the loss of her friend and teacher. John’s account, read this Easter morning, tells of her solitary journey in the dark. She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw that the huge stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been rolled aside. Her first thought was that someone had taken the body of the Lord, and she ran for help, going straight to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved. To these dearest friends of the Lord, Mary cried out, ““They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”
The disciples go with her immediately, and enter the tomb to see the burial shroud empty; the cloth that covered the Face of the Lord neatly rolled up and set aside. None of them understand yet the full impact of what has occurred. But even so, when they saw the empty tomb, the Gospel tells us they believed. The dark night of their grief is met with the breaking dawn of hope. Their confusion will soon be overcome, as each of them encounters the Risen Lord and the truth of the Resurrection is revealed to them. What Jesus predicted has come to pass. He is Risen from the dead, and death itself has been defeated.
It is Mary’s voice that brings the news of Christ’s empty tomb to the disciples; in the next passages in John’s Gospel, Mary is the first to see the Risen Lord. She and the other women are the first to bring the Good News to the Apostles, who will go out to bring the Good News to the ends of the earth. God works through His beloved friends, entrusting them with the mission of a lifetime: to bring the Good News of His Resurrection to the whole world.
“Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.”
Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!
Amen. Alleluia!
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