Daily Gospel Reflection for April 11, 2023: Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: John 20:11-18

The disciples “see and believe” and return home. Mary Magdalene, who had woken early and came to the tomb first, seems overcome with emotion, probably exhaustion, and doesn’t seem to have seen and believed as readily as the disciples. Experts have speculated about what present or absent in the tomb caused the disciples to see and believe without yet understanding the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead (John 20:9). Why did Mary Magdalene stay back and weep while they felt seemingly relieved enough to return home?

I’ve experienced great grief in my life and I can imagine the kind of tears Mary Magdalene wept. I’m guessing it was ugly. And if it’s true that the disciples believed without seeing first, just through sight of the empty tomb (God bless them!), isn’t it remarkable that Mary Magdalene is the first person that Scripture records Jesus appearing to? In her great distress, anxiety over where Jesus may have been taken, ugly crying and all.

Jesus is recorded as first appearing to a woman, one who had a history of great sin, and from the forgiveness of that history of sin had great love for Jesus. Yet even in her great love, perhaps Mary Magdalene still struggled with trust and powerlessness. In such a powerless, vulnerable moment, who would guess the incredulous reality of the Resurrection? Yet though her trust may have not been full in that moment of finding the tomb empty, Jesus honors this woman’s great love for Him—she arose early and came to the tomb first. She is devastated by seemingly losing Jesus for a second time. And in her anxiety about losing Him a third time, she holds onto Him and He calls on her to trust in Him and do His will. While she struggled with trust just prior, now she obeys and is honored with being the first to announce, “I have seen the Lord.”

Ponder:

Jesus honored Mary Magdalene in her vulnerability. How can I lean into my vulnerability instead of trying to be rid of it?

Pray:

Jesus, thank You for Your incredible love for me, even in my powerlessness and lack of trust in You. Help me to see You as You are, and not as Whom I expect You to be.

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Yet even in her great love, perhaps Mary Magdalene still struggled with trust and powerlessness. In such a powerless, vulnerable moment, who would guess the incredulous reality of the Resurrection? #DailyGospel

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