“Why are you weeping?” ~ reflex on Jn 21:1-2,11-18

Mary Magdalene’s love for the Lord is so deep that she follows him everywhere, even to the Cross and the tomb. After the burial, on the day after the Sabbath, while the apostles are grieving and hiding for fear of being arrested next, Mary is heading out to the tomb before dawn. What did she hope to find there? Jesus was dead, anointed and wrapped in a shroud and buried, and the tomb had been closed and sealed.

Whatever she is hoping to find, she is surprised to find something else entirely. The stone is unsealed and rolled away. The body of the one she loves is not there! She runs to tell Peter and John and then returns to the tomb to weep outside, wondering and waiting. For what? Perhaps to confirm what she has already confirmed, she looks again into the tomb and is surprised anew. There are two angels sitting there where the Body had been, and they ask, “Why are you weeping?” Mary states simply that “they” have taken the body, and she does not know where they have taken it.

She turns around and is surprised again, seeing someone else in the garden. She thinks it is a gardener, and he asks the same question as the angels: “Why are you weeping?” No doubt hoping he may have some information about what happened, she asks him to tell her where he is.

Then Mary is surprised AGAIN, when she hears her name spoken, and she recognizes that this “gardener” is actually the Lord! How could she have failed to recognize the One she loves?! Because she is looking for a dead body; she could not yet know that Jesus is risen, alive, glorified! And when she does recognize him, she wants him to remain right there with her, so that her heart can be satisfied.

But Jesus tells her she must not hold on to him, because he must first ascend to the Father. He has more work to do (over the next 40 days) in order for his Kingdom to be well-established in this world so that the work of salvation can continue. He must first give his apostles authority and firmly establish the Church to conserve and hand on the Gospel and the Sacraments. He must then return to the Father so that they can send the Holy Spirit to safeguard and enliven the Church until the end of time, to transform the whole world.

What about us? What are we looking for when we seek Jesus? When we are looking in the wrong place, expecting the wrong thing, even demanding that He respond in a certain way, we (like Mary) may find ourselves distraught and weeping. But when we are able to be open to His presence in whatever way HE wills to reveal Himself, our seeking will always be rewarded, because we will receive Him as He is and receive what He is giving us right here, right now.