Mary and the Empty Tomb

Easter Sunday was 2 days behind. So this week is called Easter Octave…

Today’s bible reading is about Jesus’ empty tomb, found by Mary Magdalene. I found something interesting in one of the passages, the one which told us that Mary, in her deep grief from the Lord’s death, came to His tomb which was already empty. Apostle John wrote: So Mary Magdalene stood by the tomb and wept. She wept, realizing that she had lost Jesus. Even it was just His lifeless body, she felt a great loss, again… Mary must have been so attached to Jesus, she didn’t want to be separated from Him, even from His corpse…

She immediately became convinced that Jesus’ body had been snatched away and hidden somewhere else. Even after the resurrected Jesus greeted her and asked her who was it that she was looking for, she was unable to recognize Him due to her emotional condition. She kept repeating her conviction that the Lord’s body had been taken away and now she was left clueless about its whereabouts.  

At that point, Jesus who understood Mary’s heart finally decided to open her eyes by calling her, by her name. 

Maybe... a few years before that day in front of the empty tomb, Jesus had reached out to Mary one day. The lost Mary. The doomed Mary, ready to be another soul dragged to hell by the enemies. But Jesus, the good shepherd had descended from Heaven looking for His lost lambs, and He recognize one when He encountered one… He then called her Mary of Magdala. He had called her by her name and claimed her as His, leaving the enemy with a bitter defeat right in the face.

“Mary,” called Jesus. And Mary was taken to that exact moment of her salvation. So it went, she became one of the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection from death.

It’s funny how we are so much like Mary Magdalene. So busy with our own turmoil. We say we believe in Christ, in His great love and salvation. But our earthly body just can’t resist to react towards the earthly situations. When things go wrong (which is always and certainly), we as humans have to deal with our emotions. With our feelings. And with our thoughts. For a moment, we forget His voice. We maybe praying and calling out to Him for help. But our emotions and thoughts are like thick fog barricading us from recognizing His voice. We hold on tight to what we think is really happening, to what we think is true... Our focus is at the storm...

But the good news is: Jesus won’t just stand there and watch us being drifted away by our weaknesses.  

At the right moment, He will call us by our names like He had called Mary in front of His empty tomb… thus we will once again be His witness, spreading the word…

Have a blessed Easter Octave.

God has risen. Alleluia.