As we journey with Christ, we walk with him in new life and purpose. We see this in the story of Mary Magdalene, the first person to meet the risen Christ at the tomb. Jesus had cast seven demons out of Mary, and had given her new life (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). In 591, Pope Gregory I conflated Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39) and the unnamed “sinful woman” who anointed Jesus’s feet (Luke 7:36–50). In 1969, Pope Paul VI disentangled the identification of Mary Magdalene with a “sinful woman,” however, it has persisted in popular culture.
Tenacious Love
Very early on Easter morning, while it was still dark, Mary brought spices with the other women to anoint Jesus’s body (Luke 24:1). Their spices were fragrant signs of love. Even in her grief and disappointment, her confusion and despair, Mary was tenacious in her love. Jesus came to Mary and asked her why she was weeping. Jesus saw her tears. Jesus was there with Mary, in the darkness of her life, as he was there in the darkness before the world was created (John 20:1-18; Genesis 1:1-5; John 1:1-5).
Jesus the Gardener
Mary mistook Christ for the gardener, until he called her name. Lancelot Andrewes points out that mistaking Jesus for the gardener, was a good mistake for Mary to make. Christ is the Great Gardener who made the world grow at Creation. Jesus is the Gentle Gardener, who re-creates the world and each person who receives his love. At the sound of her name, Mary turned to Jesus. As if awakened from sleep, Mary recognized Jesus. “My dear Rabbi!” she cried out, using the term she had used for Jesus before his death. But Jesus was transformed, as was his relationship with Mary. Jesus was glorified with the glory he had before time began.
When Mary saw the Risen Christ, she was changed. Christ gave new purpose to Mary’s life, by commissioning her to tell the others what she had seen. Poet Malcolm Guite says: “Jesus is the gardener of Mary [Magdalene]’s heart—her heart is all rent and brown and wintery, and with one word, he makes all green again.”1
Christ meets us as he met Mary Magdalene on that first resurrection day. Like Mary, Christ renews our hearts, so that we recover who we were designed to be. New things grow in and through us. Our lives unfold and blossom, like flowers in the sunshine. We know that Christ’s love for us remains through life and death, and that our love for him is not wasted (Romans 8:38, 39). Our love for Christ lingers throughout time, like Mary’s tenacious love, and the fragrant spices she brought on that first Easter morning. Christ gives us new life, and new purpose in sharing his love.
1 Malcom Guite, on his poem “Easter Dawn,” as he paraphrased an Easter sermon by the seventeenth-century Anglican bishop Lancelot Andrewes. As quoted by Victoria Emily Jones at: https://artandtheology.org/2023/03/31/roundup-historiated-crosses-crucifixion-ballad-more/ from podcast found at https://www.nomadpodcast.co.uk/malcolm-guite-poems-on-the-passion/ (last accessed April 14, 2023).
This is beautiful, Barb! Thank you for sharing.