Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Simon Boiser SVD – Berlin, Germany
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalen – July 22
Since Dan Brown’s bestseller, the “Da Vinci Code,” Mary Magdalene has been tainted with pseudo-historical conspiracy theories, which a sensation-loving public loves to indulge in. In spite of this, Mary Magdalene, often labelled as a prostitute continues to be a venerated as a saint not only by the Catholic Church but also the Orthodox, anglican and Lutheran churches.
In John’s Gospel, her encounter with Jesus at the tomb reveals a spiritual journey of rediscovery. Mary did not recognize Jesus immediately but thru a process. There are different images of Jesus in the story: first as a dead body, then as a living stranger (gardener) and rabouni (teacher) and finally as the risen Lord.
This course of perceptual change corresponds to our personal experience of Christ. Our faith in him does not remain static throughout our whole Christian life. It matures and passes through different stages of knowing him more intimately. In the Jewish mindset, repentance means turning away and turning towards. Mary turned away from the tomb and turned towards Jesus.
“Noli me Tangere,” the famous novel of a Filipino hero, José Rizal, is the latin version of the words spoken by the resurrected Jesus to Mary Magdalene. Biblical scholars have problems about its accurate interpretation (“do not hold me,” “do not approach me,” “stop clinging to me”).
But the biblical scene of this encounter remains one of the most favorite themes of Christian art from late antiquity to the present. One of the reasons for its popularity is the depiction of gradual intimacy in being a disciple of Christ. The meeting of Mary and the risen Christ is a metaphor of spiritual conversion: the movement from death to life and from sorrow to joy.
Our faith is likewise an experience of being lost, meeting, recognition, disappearance and mission.
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