On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.
But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”
Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?”
Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.”
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.
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Notice Christ’s tenderness as he addresses a distraught Mary. What can that teach us about how to live with others?
View this work of art, titled Mary Magdalene in the Garden with Jesus, connected to Sunday’s sermon passage.
Observe what you see in the image, from colors to composition to recognizable elements, without trying to understand what it is supposed to mean. Then read about the work, using these details to help you interpret the work of art. Ask God what he might be saying through the image and listen for his insight in your thoughts and feelings; then take a moment to respond through prayer to what God showed you in this image. How might what God is showing you connect to the concept of obedience?
Commentary:
Rowan LeCompte (1925-2014) was a prolific American stained-glass artist who is most famous for his Creation Rose window in Washington National Cathedral, where he has 40 windows and a number of mosaics. These side-panel mosaics are part of the Resurrection Chapel in the cathedral. This mosaic is the first to appear next to the altarpiece (view a full version here). LeCompte’s wife, Irene, who assisted him in work on these mosaics, was the model for Mary.
Mosaics, like many works of art, are completely different in person than they are in still photographs. Constructed from thousands of small pieces of cut glass and stone, called tesserae, they dance and sparkle with light as the viewer casts their gaze over them. In this panel, Mary has fallen to her knees and looks rapturously upon Jesus, who wears a robe of radiant white, his garment below shining like fire. A nimbus flares around his head, a symbol of Mary’s recognition of his identity.
This scene in John 20 is fittingly set in a garden, a reminder that Jesus’ resurrection reverses the curse of Genesis 3. Indeed, there are many parallels between Genesis 1–3 and the events leading up to the Resurrection in the Gospel of John. The first Adam, the original gardener, failed in his calling, but the last Adam, whom Mary mistakes for the gardener, has triumphed. He seeks out the weeping woman, asking who she is looking for, a parallel to God’s relational question, “Where are you?” from Genesis 3. It is only upon the intimate utterance of her name that Mary recognizes Jesus for who he is, and he commissions her to proclaim the gospel. The city in the bottom left of the mosaic with its barren tree is an allusion to the place where Mary will carry the good news that the curse has been reversed and a new creation has been inaugurated.
Art Source: Mary Magdalene in the Garden with Jesus (detail), Rowan and Irene LeCompte, 1972. Resurrection Chapel, Washington National Cathedral. Used by permission. View virtual tour here.
Pray for the grace to say a small, sacrificial “yes” today.
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.