On the morning of Jesus’ resurrection, while darkness still covers the Earth, Mary Magdalene braves the journey to Jesus’ tomb with only an oil lamp to light the way. John’s gospel depicts her going alone, fearless in her dedication to Jesus and his ministry.
It is unlikely that she is visiting the tomb three days after his burial to anoint him. This would mean rolling away the stone alone; anyway, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea have already completed the rites of anointing. Perhaps she intends to perform the traditional wailing for a deceased loved one.
Finding the tomb empty, Mary Magdalene assumes the body of Jesus has been stolen. When she approaches Jesus, mistaking him for a gardener, it’s because she intends to ask anyone, even a stranger, for information about where Jesus’ body has been taken.
But the risen Christ calls her by name, and she responds, recognizing Jesus as her beloved teacher, Rabbouni. When Jesus prevents her from holding onto him, this indicates a break from their prior relationship and the beginning of a new kind of encounter, in which she is called to lead others to the risen Christ. Mary Magdalene, after her despair at the empty tomb, and the joyful embrace of Jesus, carries the news of his resurrection to the disciples: “I have seen the Lord,” she announces. The joy of her encounter with the risen Lord is not for her alone; it must be shared with others.
“Whom are you looking for?” Jesus asks her. It’s the same question he asks the disciples of John the Baptist earlier in his ministry, and it addresses humanity’s fundamental search for the fullness of life that only Jesus gives. In asking people to name their intention, Jesus invites them to name and identify their purpose.
The first time we meet Jesus in John’s gospel, John the Baptist is standing with two of his disciples, when they see Jesus walk by. John points out, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” and the two disciples begin to follow him. When Jesus notices, he asks them: “What are you looking for?” (John 1:35–38).
The disciples of John the Baptist respond to his question with one of their own: “Where are you staying?” This reveals their deepest desire to follow Jesus and stay with him. In addressing Jesus as Rabbi, they reveal that they wish to be his students, choosing Jesus as the one who will shape their outlook on life. While John the Baptist calls Jesus the “lamb of God”—the innocent, selfless victim who will give his life for humanity on Good Friday—his followers identify him as “teacher.”
For these two disciples of John the Baptist, the encounter with Jesus is dramatic. One minute they are standing with John—then Jesus passes, and they move to follow him, in the manner of students with a teacher. This shows their willingness to imitate Jesus, to exemplify his lifestyle in their own lives. They go on to spend the rest of the day in Jesus’ company and, after departing from him, share their experience with others. Andrew finds Peter and brings him to Jesus. Philip finds Nathanael and does the same. Spending time with Jesus has satisfied their human longing for wholeness, and they invite others to experience this.
When Andrew first addresses Jesus, it is as teacher, but by the time he speaks to Peter about Jesus, his outlook has changed, and he uses the term messiah. Philip, telling Nathanael about Jesus, says, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
These words prefigure Jesus’ self-identification in the gospel of Luke after his resurrection. On the road to Emmaus, talking to the two disciples that don’t yet recognize him, Jesus’ reference to Moses and the prophets clarifies that the things that happened in Jerusalem were the fulfillment of scripture. Jesus had to suffer and die to bring freedom to humanity and renew humanity’s relationship with God. Nathanael, after encountering Jesus, calls him, “Rabbi, Son of God and King of Israel.” These titles emphasize Jesus’ messianic identity.
The season of Easter is a celebration of encounter with the risen Lord. In the gospels, those who meet Jesus are transformed. Their stories invite us to name our own experience of Jesus and to follow their example, bringing others into the transformative presence of Christ and finding the wholeness the world longs for. Our journey to the empty tomb should come from a disposition to meet the Rabbi, the Messiah, our Savior Jesus Christ—to learn from his life of self-giving service.
In braving the darkness to go to the tomb of Jesus, then returning to announce his resurrection, Mary Magdalene teaches us, as Pope Francis observes in Gaudate et Exsultate (On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World), that our “identification with Christ involves a commitment to build with him that kingdom of love, justice, and universal peace,” which his death and resurrection have inaugurated.
After her encounter with Jesus, Mary Magdalene is not silent. She speaks to others, and her voice gives hope to the disciples who were unnerved by Good Friday’s events. Likewise, John the Baptist’s disciples do not keep their encounter with Jesus to themselves but invite others to encounter Jesus.
We cannot stand around like those who have not yet encountered Christ. We are called to move forward into this world that is broken and divided and full of dehumanization, where people are displaced by violence and war, forced to live in shelters and camps; where migrants arrive at our borders seeking freedom and safety, yet live on the fringes of our community in fear of inhumane treatment and deportation; where God’s children are victims of social and economic disparities and live unhoused, in harsh weather conditions; and where millions of hardworking children of God are sliding into abject poverty because of economic hardships, lacking resources to feed, clothe, and educate their children.
As long as our communities remain broken by indignity and wounded by conflicts, as long as inhumane policies push anyone to society’s fringes, our Easter joy is incomplete.
The grace of Easter invites us to journey to meet Christ together and experience in the community the joy of the resurrection. Like Mary Magdalene, like John the Baptist’s disciples, we cannot keep the joy of the good news to ourselves; the grace of Easter is for everyone. Our relationship with Jesus is inclusive of everyone. In this collective joy at the resurrection of Christ, and humanity’s liberation, the grace of Easter reaches its highest point.
Let us lead everyone to experience the joy that Jesus brings, and live out Pope Francis’ invitation to become a synodal church in communion, mission, and participation in the world.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Boston Public Library, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
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