Mary Magdalene (a different homily)

Disappointment and confusion- who has not experienced at least once in life? Looking at our life stories, can we deny their existence? Being uprooted from a place and a culture where you grew up, then being placed in a totally new place and new culture you had never known of before, disappointment and confusion are the daily reality.[1] But when one sees hundreds of these people gather faithfully every week to worship God, he must wonder what it is that these disappointed and confused people experience in their worshiping that keeps them coming back. Have you ever asked yourselves such question? To be honest, some may come to Church every week because they want to be connected to their community and their culture in this foreign land. There is nothing wrong about that. But there has to be something more in this faithful community. There has to be Someone who holds everyone together despite all the disappointments and confusions they may experience. Maybe the story of Mary Magdalene encountering the risen Christ in the Gospel[2] can help us reflect on our own faith.

The Mary Magdalene in the Gospel today has always been believed to be the same woman who weeps and uses her hair to wipe her tears that fall on Jesus’ feet. Even though there is no text in the Bible to prove such, it has always been the belief from the early Christian Church[3], as well as in the more contemporary Bible commentaries[4]. Another significant tradition in the Catholic Church is that she is given the title “Apostle of the Apostles,” because of her story in this Gospel passage[5]. The other Gospel reports that as soon as she could after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, together with some other women, visited the tomb. Though John’s version of the story does not indicate whether there were other women with her or not, but one thing we can conclude: she saw the empty tomb, went away to tell Peter and John about it, they came and saw what she told them then left, but she came back and remained at the empty tomb[6]. She stayed behind and wept. Here we see the image of a Mary Magdalene who loves Jesus so much and so personally. Furthermore, John tells us that she wants to touch Jesus after recognizing Him. These details are what make many Scripture scholars in the Catholic tradition believe that this Mary is the same Mary that weeps and wipes Jesus’ feet before he was crucified, and the same who remains at the cross when everyone else has left Jesus[7]. It is the personal and powerful love for Jesus that makes her come back the second time, and remain at the tomb[8].

John writes that Mary “bent over to look into the tomb.” John wants to build the expecting mood in the readers – expecting for the resurrection of Jesus, just like the expectation of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus[9]. John clearly knows how to help readers relate their life stories with the stories and the messages He wants to convey in His Gospel[10]. The death of Jesus causes her disappointment; the empty tomb causes her confusion; but her reaction is to keep coming back and remain at the empty tomb. Her reaction is to keep looking and hoping, though she does so while weeping. Isn’t it the story of our lives, the lives of those who may experience disappointments and confusions, yet keep feeling the urge to reach out, expecting to encounter some great news? Mary Magdalene’s love-filled reaction reflects the wonderful nature of human beings that we all share. Deep in our being, there is a tendency that keeps us searching and reaching out to touch our Origin, our Creator, the true goodness and true fulfillment. It is so deep yet so powerful that we keep doing that despite the confusions and disappointments in life. Many theologians believe that we are created from the goodness of God, and the yearning to be united with God is the nature of our being[11].

The good news is that it is not only we who are searching and reaching out. The Gospel passage continues: Jesus appears to Mary but she does not recognize Him at first; but after Jesus calls her, “Mary,” she recognizes him. When Mary is unable to recognize God, God finds a way for her to recognize Him. So we see that God is also reaching out to us. “Why are you weeping?” and “What are you seeking?” These are the questions asked by a loving shepherd who knows His sheep and know how to reach out to His sheep. This is the wonderful love story between God and men. The passage says that Jesus calls her by name, “Mary.” It confirms that Jesus is the good shepherd who calls his sheep by name. Then Mary responds: “Rabboni!” She recognizes Jesus as the teacher, just as a sheep recognize her shepherd[12]. After recognizes Jesus, Mary wants to hold on to Him, but Jesus does not let her, because He has not “ascended to the Father.” John wrote His Gospel after a long life reflecting on the deep mystery of Jesus’ life. In this passage, He wants to present the theology of a Christ who is from God, and after His rising from the dead, is re-united in full glory with God[13]. So the ascension is used to describe as the coming back into this union, rather than the linear development of the story: dying, rising, then coming back to the Father, etc. Jesus knows Mary is clinging on a Jesus who just rose from death, the same Jesus that she experienced before (thus she wants to touch him as she did when weeping and wiping His feet). But this risen Christ is no longer the one before the resurrection. He wants to invite her to know another Christ who is in His true glory in the union with the Father. When reading this, we can’t help but remember the promise Jesus makes before the final sacrifice. He says that He has to come back to His Father so that the Holy Spirit will be sent to those He loves, and when the Holy Spirit comes they will remember everything Jesus taught and will be strengthened to do what Jesus asked them to do[14]. Jesus wants to invite Mary to enter into the most perfect relationship of the Trinity. Men were actually first created from this relationship, but, because of the fall of Adam, have lost it. Now that relationship is restored by the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The greatest news for human beings is that Jesus’ Father is also our Father: “I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.[15]” This is the theology of resurrection and of Jesus’ good news that John wants to communicate to us[16].

Jesus then commissions Mary to go back and tell others of this great news. Mary has been the person who carries the news about Jesus. She is the one who earlier told the apostles of the empty tomb; she is now the one who will tell them the risen Christ with His true identity in the glory of Father. That is why Mary Magdalene is called by the early Fathers “Apostle of the Apostles.” We have seen the faith journey of Mary and her encounter with the risen Christ, and hopefully we can relate them to our own. Her story gives witness to a loving God who does not stop reaching out to us as we are reaching out to seek for Him. What we are incapable of doing – reaching the true God – Jesus has done for us through His Paschal Mystery: suffering, dying, rising and ascending to the Father. What was true for Mary Magdalene two thousand years ago is also true for us today. When we bring our life stories to God, full of disappointments and confusions may they be, Jesus that we are seeking will reach out for us, and through His Paschal Mystery at each Eucharistic celebration will invite us again and again to enter into the perfect relationship of the Holy Trinity, the one that we were once created[17].


Notes:

[1] This homily targets parishioners who are first-generation immigrants in the US, age range 30 – 70.
[2] Gospel reading on the Feast of Mary Magdalene, July 22, 2008: John 20:1-2, 11-18.
[3] Ronald Brwoning, Who’s Who in the New Testament, p 299. Also International Bible Commentary: A Catholic and Ecumenical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 1498.
[4] The International Bible Commentary: A Catholic and Ecumenical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 1498.
[5] The International Bible Commentary …, 1498; also Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament, 122.
[6] The International Bible Commentary …, p 1498.
[7] Ronald Brwoning, Who’s Who in the New Testament, 301.
[8] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: John II – XXI, 343.
[9] The New Interpreter’s Bible: General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for each Book of the Bible, 842.
[10] This is my reflection based on the literary criticism of John’s writing style. I found that this literary criticism, which is a part of the historical critical method in interpreting the Bible, is important in understanding the Scriptures. See The Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church: Address of His Holiness John Paul II and Document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission (Boston: Pauline Books & Media: 1993), 35-40.
[11] One of the themes from the Fundamental Theology as I have garthered.
[12] The New Interpreter’s Bible: General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for each Book of the Bible, 842. Also The International Bible Commentary …, 1499.
[13] The New Interpreter’s Bible: General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for each Book of the Bible, 843.
[14] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: John II-XXI, 347.
[15] John 20: 17b.
[16] The New Interpreter’s Bible: General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for each Book of the Bible, 843.
[17] I choose to begin the homily by bringing up a relevant reality in the parish (immigration history) as a problem and tight that into the Good News and of the Eucharistic Liturgy at the conclusion. This is a deliberate approach to giving homilies suggested in: Bishops’ Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry, Fulfilling In Your Hearing: the Homily in the Sunday Assembly (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2005) 23-28.