I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!

April 26, 2011

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

by Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

John 20: 11 - 18
11	But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb;
12	and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13	They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
14	Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15	Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" 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."
16	Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher).
17	Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
18	Mary Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED TUESDAY TO ALL!!!

GRIEVING over the dead is a very human experience of sorrow for the loss of a loved one. I just came back from the province attending to the burial of my younger brother. I did not shed much tears that would fell down my check from my eyes than I shed tears of sorrow in my heart by recollecting happy memories I had with my brother. Grieving over the dead was very real to me during the Holy Week as my brother was buried on Holy Wednesday.

In the Gospel today, Mary Magdalene was weeping as she grieved with utmost sorrow for the loss of her beloved Master and Teacher. She was visiting the Lord in his tomb. She cannot yet grapple with the sorrow and pain of being PHYSICALLY SEPARATED with the Lord. Being in the tomb would provide her a proximate feeling of being near with the Lord. However, she discovered something that would intensify her separation from the Lord. She was weeping outside the TOMB because she was not only missing the presence of the Lord ALIVE, but also concerned that she would also lose the remains of the BODY of the Lord. She thought that the body of the Lord was stolen. I can just surmise why Mary was so attached and devoted to the Lord by the account, according to Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9, that it was her that Jesus cleansed from "seven demons." Whatever such cleansing would mean, may it be forgiveness from sins or physical healing, what Jesus had done to her made her become committed to follow Jesus closely even up to the cross. This is so because Jesus made her experienced the blessing of liberation, the grace of salvation.

This scenario challenges us to examine how much we are longing and committed to be near and close to Jesus. Do we have this sincere desire of Mary Magdalene to be close with Jesus in everything that we do? Do we feel true sorrow and pain when we feel that we are going away from him? Do we truly treasure Jesus’ presence in our lives that we are in deep distress when we find ourselves far from his presence? If we have not yet experienced the liberating presence of Jesus, it would be so hard for us to seek and treasure Jesus’ presence in our lives. Mary Magdalene is the leader of the women who were there at the foot of the cross of Jesus while the male disciples were in hiding. Mary witnessed personally the suffering and death of the Lord. And now she had the privilege to be first to see the Risen Lord. Mary Magdalene knew Jesus PERSONALLY! Do we know Jesus personally? Have we MEET Jesus in our lives?

If we have not known Jesus PERSONALLY and have not MEET him in our lives, then it would be hard for us to accomplish the most basic MISSIONARY-CALLING of our Faith that the Lord Jesus mandated Mary Magdalene to do after seeing him. The Risen Lord Jesus told Mary, and all of us Christians, to go and PROCLAIM him that he is ALIVE, that he has risen from the dead! In turn Mary Magdalene declared, “I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!” This simple exclamation is the GIST of our CHRISTIAN FAITH. To be a Christian is to claim that one had seen the Lord!