March 13..John 20:10-14

John 20:10-14

10.Then the disciples went back to their homes, ¹¹but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don’t know where they have put him." ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

Lectio (taking a bite): I become very focused of late on how the original writing was done: did the author (named John) do interviews? was he there watching over everybodys’ shoulders? was it automatic writing (as the spiritualists call it)?

How, in the final analysis, did Mary know she’s seen angels? and isn’t verse 14 surely one of the oddest sentences, in both content and structure? (The sentence does lend credibility to the possibility that John did interviews in building this gospel.)

Meditatio (chewing on the story): It’s fascinating that the disciples went back to their homes. Wouldn’t this place where the body is missing be the place to be? Yes, unless the disciples were still frightened- still waiting for the raid on their compound to take place- still afraid that Jesus’ fate was a preview of their own. If that is so, Mary’s continuing presence is all the more powerful. Her focus is not on her Self; it is on the Christ (although she is still looking for Jesus). She has decreased, while Christ has increased (John the Baptist’s prophetic words).

Oratio (savoring the essence): Mary really expected to see the Jesus she had known so well. She had played him over and over in her mind. Even in death, she knew what he would look like. Of course, she did not expect to see him as he had been alive, at all. So when she saw the person formerly known as Jesus, now the Christ, she didn’t recognize him. There is a theory that says we cannot perceive what we don’t have the imagination or experience to perceive; I don’t remember the name of that theory, but it seems (possibly) to apply here. It would have been, in other words, impossible for Mary to see anything but the resuscitated body of Jesus. It would have been impossible for her to see the resurrected person of Christ. (and since we’re asking hard questions here- would Jesus at this point have been naked, and- if not- whose clothes would he have been wearing? If he was wearing clothes from the lawn service company, then no wonder she didn’t recognize him!

Contemplatio (digesting the word and allowing it to nurture the body): Remember Matthew 25- “I was hungry and you fed me”? I’m wondering if Mary didn’t actually see both the gardener and and Jesus at the same time? And not as two people but as one person: the gardener blasted by the resurrected presence of the Christ. The gardener as a new creature (behold!). The gardener- the first to come near the resurrected Christ and subsequently be seen by God as God sees God’s son himself. (Which is what Paul said was happening to all these ‘new creatures’ running around!)

Bear with me here, and I know this is thinking that is about as far into left field as it can possibly be, and I don’t think I’ve ever run across this explanation before. But, here’s where sacred reading today has brought me: not into someone else’s answers, but deeper into the Mystery which is God. I’m farther down the formerly untrod portion of the path behind the Christ. Along with the gardener who is now seen as Jesus by the Father, and Mary who is now seen by the Father as Jesus. And along with you, too