Her Face
April 19, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
There are some pretty funny things in Scripture. I think we often read the Word of God with nowhere near enough of a sense of humor. God is all-powerful, omnipotent, and omniscient. But He also is funny.
The humor starts early, in Chapter 2 of Genesis. There, God tells Adam it’s not good for him to be alone. And so God brings the man … animals! Can you imagine God pointing out Adam’s loneliness and bringing him a hippo? “Like this one?” “Eh, sure yeah, but, really?” Then comes a giraffe, a grizzly bear, and a lion, but these don’t cut it either. Not even man’s best friend, the German Shepherd, does the trick. Only after this does God fashion woman from Adam’s side and he finally cries out, “This one! Yes! At last! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh!”
In the New Testament this playfulness of God shows up, too. For me, this happens most especially in the encounter between Jesus and Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday morning.
We know the story. Maybe too much. Yet, every time I pray with Scripture God reveals new things to me. So, let’s linger with it for a moment. Mary has already told Peter and John that the tomb is empty, and they’ve already come and gone. She stays. Looking into the tomb, she sees two angels there. A short verbal exchange transpires and she proceeds to walk out of the tomb. Then:
“Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned…(Jn 20:14-16).
Now, there’s way too much to pray with here, but let me offer a few things that particularly struck me again this Easter. Imagine you’re Jesus. It’s Easter. Easter! Hell has been liberated. Death has been defeated — just not yet destroyed. You’re about to show yourself to the very first person (although I personally believe Jesus first appeared to His Mother, even though it’s not recorded in Scripture). How would you do that? I’ve always likened this scene to coming home after having hit the Powerball for $2 billion dollars and plotting how you’re going to tell your wife. Would you just come out and say that? I wouldn’t. I would slowly get there, little by little turning up the drama somehow, maybe making up some story about how I just don’t see things working out financially, maybe even saying I lost my job. But then, I’d pull out the winning ticket from my pocket and hold it up. “WE WON TWO BILLION DOLLARS!!!!”
Jesus isn’t about to let Mary know she won the lottery. He’s about to tell her He’s ALIVE, Death has been defeated, Sin has been atoned for, the devil has lost, and her friend is the unrivaled Lord of heaven and earth to whom all authority belongs! So, I read this as Jesus being playful with His friend. I imagine Him thinking to Himself, “I can’t wait to see her face…” So, he begins with, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
But note something in the Gospel. Mary has already seen Jesus before He asks that question. Having mistaken Him for the gardener (which, of course, He is, since He is the New Adam going about the work of recreating this world which He loves), she turns her back on Him. You can almost see her looking at Him, not recognizing Him, and turning her back on Him as she answers. The point, which I never paid any attention to until a few years ago, is that her back is turned to Jesus when He speaks her name.
And here’s why I’m sharing this.
I find it a great Easter meditation to ask the Holy Spirit, who was there that day and who lives in us, to take us to that encounter. To help us by way of our imagination to see and to hear this. Especially to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to see Mary Magdalene’s face when she hears Jesus call her by name and realizes the unimaginable…IT’S. HIM. JESUS. HE’S. ALIVE. NOTHING. WILL. EVER. BE. THE. SAME. AGAIN. NOTHING!
What do you imagine her face looked like? Can’t you see her jolt, then almost freeze, and suddenly burst into an emotion that, quite honestly, we simply can’t fathom? I see a smile the likes of which I’ve never seen. Shrieks of laughter the likes of which I’ve never heard.
As we continue to rejoice in these Easter days, even though we may in fact be crying, in a storm, or going through whatever challenges life throws at us, let’s ask Mary Magdalene to pray for us, that we might know ever more fully what she knows: Jesus is Risen! Risen Indeed! And nothing is the same anymore.