No matter what was said about her in a later age (and the church in its own way shared in casting her in negative light) all four Gospels in the New Testament give Mary Magdalene a central place as a witness to or the Witness to the Resurrection of Jesus and as some would call her Apostle to the Apostles. She is no bit player in the unfolding story of Jesus. She is center stage. According to the first three or synoptic gospels it was the faithful women including Mary Magdalene who witnessed the crucifixion and the burial of Jesus (as depicted in our Stations of the Cross). They were not like their male colleagues some of whom betrayed and denied Jesus and most fled for their lives. No the women stayed and observed in all their confusion and grief. They were there for Jesus. And following his burial they were determined to do what they could to honor his body and to continue to mourn appropriately at his burial place.

And in all the gospels Mary Magdalene is there with the women at each stage of their sad journey through the suffering, death and burial of Jesus. John's gospel which we have just heard is alone in mentioning only Mary Magdalene visiting the tomb on Easter morning. Mary came to the tomb very early to mourn for Jesus the one who had turned her life around; who had given her new hope and purpose. Mary Magdalene is traditionally associated with the woman from whom seven demons had been cast out. She was a woman with a past. Most of us if we are honest have a bit of a past. I wish we would be less surprised to discover that most public figures have something of a past. But whatever Mary's was she had found in Jesus a way of moving beyond that past, beyond all that type cast her and limited her in her relationships and potential. She had found in Jesus that she also was a “beloved disciple” as our Holy Week preacher has so powerfully reminded us. She like us loved the Jesus as her Lord and Savior and knew that she was loved for whom she was. So she came with a heavy heart to Jesus' tomb. The full reality of grief was just breaking upon her. She was desperate to do something; to somehow prove that it was not true; that it was all a bad dream that would go away. So she hastened to the tomb early in the morning. Mary Magdalene's grief is a grief many of us know or have known too well. And what did she find? The tomb interfered with and the body of her beloved Lord gone. The stone closing the tomb rolled away. And horror of horrors no body. She ran to that leader of the apostolic band, Peter and “the other disciple, the “one whom Jesus loved”, saying “they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him”. That statement is made three times in the gospel; once to Peter and the other disciple; once to the two angels in the tomb; and once to the person she supposed to be the gardener.

“They have taken away the Lord”. Funny how it is always “they”. I had a favorite old aunt who always blaming “them” for the weather or the economy or when public transport let her down. I would ask “but who are they, Aunty?”. We love to attribute blame to these anonymous conspiritors in life. We like to place blame somewhere. Well the men do their thing. They simply confirm the facts. John's gospel makes much of their “seeing” and what they saw: precise details proving that the tomb was empty. We are told that Peter “saw” these evidences and that the “other disciple” “saw and believed”. “Believed what?” we may well ask. Not that Jesus had risen because the gospel says clearly “for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead”. Perhaps he simply believed Mary Magdalene's reportage having seen for himself. There is an interesting parallel here with Thomas in the next chapter.

Mary Magdalene is left alone at the tomb with her grief. Her friends were not much comfort to her. It is then that she takes a second look in the tomb to see if her eyes have seen correctly only this time to be confronted with an angelic presence. Challenged with the reason for her weeping Mary Magdalene repeats her statement, “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.” It is only then that she turns around and encounters the risen Lord whom she supposes to be the gardener. Not such a stupid assumption since John mentions several times in the text that the tomb where Jesus was buried was in a garden. As a keen gardener I love these references with all their allusions to the Garden of Eden, to Paradise Garden, with Jesus appropriately as the gardener, the New Adam, delving in Paradise! But apart from that grief can be such an all-consuming affair. At first it seems no one else can possibly understand the greatness of my grief. Mary was so caught up with her own grieving that her vision was clouded either literally with tears or just that she was so self-focused she could not take any other reality in.

But Mary Magdalene's encounter with Jesus tells us so much about resurrection. It takes us beyond the scientific proof, beyond the empty tomb and any mechanics of resurrection, what happened and how, to the deeper meaning of the event. Here face to face with the risen Lord whom she fails to recognize out comes the same question. “Sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.” Jesus says one word, “Mary”. And in using her name the veil is whipped away as it were and Mary “sees”. There is nothing quite like our own name from the lips of a loved one. That is why our names are so important. That is why in welcoming and hospitality either as individuals or as a Christian community learning names is fundamental. Yes it is hard work and takes practice; but it makes such a difference. “Mary”. In that moment Mary Magdalene knew that the Jesus she had known and loved and followed was present to her. At this point Christian art shows Mary reaching out to grasp hold of Jesus. “Noli me tangere” says Jesus. Don't touch me! Or as our text says “do not hold on to me.” Mary's instinct was to grasp on to the one she loved and not let go. But the whole point of the incident shows us that the relationship will change as a result of resurrection. Or to put it another way the resurrection presents a new reality. Jesus' words indicate that his journey from the grave is continuing. “Because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary is invited with us to enter into this new reality, into the new dynamic relationship which will lead to the Ascension and to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost which climaxes the Resurrection process. That is why we keep these Great Fifty Days of Easter with the Easter candle burning at every service to remind us of this new reality, of the ongoing Resurrection process.

So Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, set forth on her journey to share the good news of what she had seen and heard. Mary Magdalene begins the great Mission of the Church to share God's Love with the whole creation. It is this mission which has brought us here today and it is this mission in which we all share through our baptism.

Mary Magdalene is both first Witness and Apostle and models for us the way of faith, what it is to journey with Jesus, the Risen Lord. Alleluia Christ is Risen.  Amen

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