stone blocking the tomb had been moved away. She ran to Peter, and the other
disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out
of the tomb and we don’t know where they have laid him.” Mary stood weeping
outside the tomb; and as she wept, she bent down to look inside. She saw two
angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and
the other at the feet. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She answered,
“Because they have taken my Lord and I don’t know where they have put him.”
As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did
not recognize him. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are
you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and answered him, “Sir, if
you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and take
him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned, and said to him, “Rabboni!”
—which means Master. Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not
yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending
to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.” So Mary of Magdala
went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said
to me.”

Reflect

“I have seen the Lord.” In today’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene bore witness to
the risen Lord. The words that she uttered, proclaiming that she had seen the Lord
mirrors her deep relationship with the Lord Jesus. We may reflect on the message
of today’s Gospel that focuses on Mary Magdalene’s proclamation with regard to
what she saw. This proclamation resulted from Mary Magdalene’s journey of faith
characterized by a movement from simple seeing to seeing with observation to
seeing with faith. In John 20:1-18, there are three different Greek verbs, “to
see,” used to describe Mary Magdalene’s journey of faith. The first is blepō, which
simply means “to see.” The second is theōreō, which means “to see with observation.”
Third is horaō, which means “to see with the eyes of faith.” We may reflect on the
point that among the all the characters in John 20:1-18 (cf. Peter and the Beloved
Disciple), it was Mary Magdalene who made a journey of faith. Like Mary Magdalene,
we are also called to take a similar journey of faith. There is a need to deepen our way
of seeing the Lord. We are called to see Jesus through the eyes of faith.

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