Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
RECOGNIZING THE RISEN LORD
Introduction
It is not always easy to recognize the risen Lord. This was the experience of Mary Magdalene. We too, are asked, “Whom are you seeking?” Are we really seeking the Lord Jesus? Do we recognize him not only in our prayers and during the reception of the Holy Eucharist, but also when he walks by our side in our sufferings and in our joys, in the people around us, and in the ordinary events and circumstances of life? Jesus is indeed our Lord and Messiah. Mary Magdalene recognized him when she heard his voice. Are we really in love with him and attuned to his Good News that we can say when hearing him: “It is you, Lord, speaking to me.”
Reading 1: Acts 2:36-41
God said to my Master, “Sit at my right hand
Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet.”
“All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”
37 Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”
38-39 Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”
41-42 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
Gospel: Jn 20:11-18
13-14 “They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
15 Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”
16 Jesus said, “Mary.”
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”
17 Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.
Prayer
Our God of life,
we profess our faith in Jesus
and recognize him as our Lord and Savior.
Make us listen to him,
when he speaks his Good News to us,
for it is a message of life.
May we also hear his voice,
when he cries out to us in people in need
or simply when he speaks to us
through the people who express to us
their joys and hopes, their love and their faith.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Reflection:
Octave of Easter, Tuesday
11 April 2023
John 20:11-18
Turning one’s back on world views
We reflect on Mary Magdalene’s resurrection experience yet again. John narrates that she saw two angels at the place where Jesus’ body was placed. Although his body is absent, John says one of the angels was facing the head, and the other faced the feet of Jesus. Try to recall the image of the two angels guarding the “mercy seat” of the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The “mercy seat” represents God’s invisible presence in the Temple and God’s presence in the world. With the stone rolled back, the Holy of Holies is empty. God, in Jesus, had exited the tomb to be available to the whole world.
This image of the empty tomb as an emptied Holy of Holies is similar to the image of the tearing of the Temple veil recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Mary turned away from the tomb and saw Jesus outside, in the garden, but mistook him to be the gardener. We are in the new garden of Eden. This garden is where new life is born. Mary’s turning around, and what she was about to see would turn upside-down everything the world had known so far. The movement to the Easter faith requires turning one’s back on all the previous assumptions and world views. As in the first garden, where there was a prohibition – “do not eat,” here in the new garden, there is an additional prohibition too – “Do not touch me…!” A Claretian Missionary, Fr. Paulson Velianoor, in his reflections on the passage, wrote: the new prohibition “corrects the temptation to grab divinity by force instead of receiving it in gratitude.”
Jesus sent Mary as the first apostle to the disciples to tell them about his ascent to the Father. His disciples deserted him at his passion, but now he calls them brothers. Despite them deserting him, he had not deserted them. During the Last Supper, Jesus said to his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants … I call you friends.” But now, he says: “I no longer call you friends … I call you brothers”. If Eve, the first parent, brought the disastrous news to Adam, Mary now brings the good news of redemption to the disciples.
Do we recognise our brother Jesus not only in our prayers and in the reception of the Holy Eucharist but also when he walks by our side in the lives of our brothers and sisters around us and in the ordinary events and circumstances of life?