Hearing Him speak our name

Today’s gospel (John 20:1-2, 11-18) marks the feast of St Mary Magdalene and comes to us right out of the heart of the Easter liturgy.  Mary is perplexed by the events of Easter morning, sees angels in the tomb, and speaks to Jesus without even realising who He is. Finally, she takes off to see His disciples, becoming – as the preface of today’s Mass explains – one whose apostolic duty was honoured by the apostles. Her name will ever be associated with penitence and personal devotion to Christ; according to St Luke she stood among the holy women before the cross, with the Mother and the Beloved Disciple. 

The Mary in this scene of today’s gospel is more like Martha (Luke 10:38-42) who works herself into a domestic frenzy while her sister (another Mary) sits at the feet of Jesus, choosing ‘the better part’. She has come in the early morning to the tomb while it was still dark; she has already run back once to the disciples to seek their help; next she weeps in the garden before going again to the tomb where she sees the angels. She does not even recognise Jesus when she sees Him, no more than the disciples on the road to Emmaus. It is a common theme in the post-resurrection scenes of the gospel.

And yet, is there something - some obstacle – she has placed in His way by being in such a frenzy? None of her searching produces any results. Her first trip to the tomb is a failure; her second trip brings little help from the disciples; her third trip at least leads her to a vision of angels, but not to Jesus.

If Martha’s error was to be mindful of the many things, whereas only one thing was necessary, Mary’s error seems to be something similar. Yet, she is on a journey and passes through her own stages of grief: bewilderment at the empty tomb; a desperate search for help; a collapse into grief again; bargaining with Someone she thinks is the gardener. She thought she knew how to cope with the loss of her beloved Master but she powerless to do so... Only when Jesus speaks her name do the scales fall from her eyes. 

And thus it must always be. What must we do to hear the Lord speak our name? It might be easier to say what we should not do: we should not imitate Mary in the garden, except in her final action which is to obey her Risen Lord and go to preach good news of His return.

Unlike Mary, we must not fall into instant judgements about supposed calamities and disasters; we must not lose ourselves in grief – did she wonder in these moments if all this anguish was punishment for her own sins? And perhaps above all, we must not bargain: ‘all I ask, Lord’, ‘if you can only, Lord’, 'but tell me this, Lord', and ‘just grant me this, Lord’. All these things - the humanly necessary ones - will be added unto us when we seek the kingdom of God as He has invited us to do - the one thing truly necessary.

Lord, speak our names to us, for without your voice we are as lost as Mary.