When I heard today's Gospel, I laughed to myself. At least I'd be a little bit right when I call the gardener Jesus. Mary Magdalene, on the other hand, was so distraught she didn't even recognize the Lord. There she was, full of tears, fuzzy brained from the emotion of it all, heart pounding away due to the anxiety of having lost the body of the Lord. She must have been this way.
After all, usually encounters with Angels are wonderful and fearful. Here, Mary just talks to them like they are just ordinary men. Then, she thinks Jesus is the gardener. This poor woman did not have even the slightest inkling that her Jesus was going to come back to life. She even talks to him with the same distress tightening her throat.
Finally, Jesus calls her by name, and she calms down. Then, Mary attempts to embrace the Lord ---- not so fast! I've always wondered, why didn't he let her touch him? I mean, the woman was obviously overjoyed and shocked, and Jesus was compassionate. He was to the end - Rabboni. Teacher.
Jesus loved Mary too much to let her cling to him again, because he knew that soon he would ascend to the Father. Jesus did not want Mary to get stuck with his humanity - his body and earthly life - but to remember and see his Divinity. Jesus was never really lost to Mary, and the next time he left physically, he wanted to be sure that Mary still clung -not just to Rabboni- but to the Lord, the Son of God.
This gives us a lot of food for thought. (I like this phrase, probably because I like food and I like thinking - both in moderation of course.) Do we see the whole Jesus? What do we cling to in this life, which may keep us from seeing the Divine? Are we so overwhelmed by our troubles, that we fail to see Christ before us? Are we so centered on our own personal desires, that we forget to share the Good News with everyone?
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