Jn. 20: 1-9
‘I have seen the Lord.’ Disciples is the one who is commissioned to be with the Master and to send out. Even at the coast of one’s own life, a disciples is called to be faithful to the Master. Past few days we have been reflecting the passion and death of our Lord. In these crucial moments of his life, those who are supposed to be with him abandoned him except John, Mary Magdalene and few other women disciples. It is insightful to think that why did Jesus appear to Mary first?
The first day of the week when she went to anoint the body of Jesus, his body was not found there, when she informed Peter and John they came there and convinced of the fact and both of them went back to their houses but Mary stood outside the empty tomb weeping. But she was hopeful. Johnnie gospel clearly expressed the depth of her love for the master. Though everything seemed to be vague and hopeless, in the heart of heart, hoping against all hope, she believed that he can’t be confined to the empty tomb. When Jesus appears, she thinks that it is a gardener and pleaded him that if he had taken away his body, let her know the place that she could give him a decent burrial. At that moment Jesus calls her Mary and she recognized her beloved Master – ‘Rabbonni’ and Jesus commissions her as the first evangelizer of the Good News, who remained faithful to him even when her hope was surrounded by the shades of despair and meaninglessness..
Mary can be considered as a paragon of Christian discipleship. She remained faithful to the Master in all the seasons. She accompanied him in his way of the cross. Even in front of the empty tomb, she remained where as well the others went back because for them it was the dead end of Jesus story but she was not ready to give up her faith becomes alive in the resurrected Christ. Easter is the symbol of Christian life, even when we encounter empty tombs, like Mary we should have the faith to remain outside with hope. The words of St. John Paul II invites us to live in this hope. He says: “Do not abandon yourself to despair. We are the Easter people and halleluiah is our song.” Wishing you all hope filled life…Happy Easter….