Rev. Richard Smith
Eastertide: Celebrating The Impact Of The Resurrection
| John 20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance… 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.’ 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘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 toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means “Teacher”). |
It’s quite interesting that the one character who is prominent in every Gospel account – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – is Mary Magdalene.
What is important to understand is that Mary was a person of lowly status. First, she was a woman in a Jewish culture where women were second-class citizens at best. Secondly, she was a sick woman; and to be sick in that day and time meant you must be a great sinner; the greater the illness the greater the presumed sin. Thus, again, Mary clearly had no status and felt no self-worth.
But then along came Jesus. Not only did Jesus heal her but he gave her a sense of worth. He helped her realize that in God’s eyes she had value. For the first time in her life she felt she had some worth; Jesus helped her feel good about herself.
Then it happened – Jesus is crucified. Jesus is dead. The one who had given her a sense of well-being, a sense of self-esteem, a belief that she mattered was now gone!! Mary’s world and her self-esteem came crumbling down!
Ah, but the story is not over for Mary. According to John’s version of the resurrection, Jesus appears to Mary and speaks to her, “Mary!” He’s alive! He comes to her once again and speaks words of affirmation that she is still special to him and that accordingly she is a person of worth.
Jesus’ affirmation of Mary reveals to us that we all matter to God. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we are, we matter to God. It’s not how the world sees but how God sees us which matters. In the resurrection account of Jesus with Mary Magdalene, each of us can know that we are a person of worth; we matter to God; we are all children of God.
Thanks be to God for this resounding reassurance!!
