In my last reflection a couple weeks ago, a kind, longtime reader commented and said that my last three reflections had been all over the map, and that in my most recent one, perhaps all the noise and distractions played a role.
He was correct. My mind and emotions, as with many of you, has most definitely been all over the map recently, with everything going on. I have been distracted, drowned out by the noise, and that has come through in my reflections some times.
But it got me thinking.
I got to thinking about this as I read the comment and reflected on the readings for today – readings about Mary Magdalene and how she saw the empty tomb and eventually, encountered the Risen Jesus.
Imagine how her few days prior to this encounter had been, and now going to visit the tomb of Jesus only to find the stone rolled back and the tomb empty? Talk about all over the map!
She, along with the other disciples were on a roller coaster of emotions. But perhaps this affected Mary even more so as Jesus was the One who truly saved her, and turned her life around.
And so, having built a very close relationship with Jesus, and seeing Him perform all His miracles – she experienced the joy and excitement of entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and then how the people turned on Him on a dime. She felt this pain as people who welcomed Him into Jerusalem followed their own emotions – emotions influenced by others religious and political beliefs – and did not follow the Man in front of them.
The world was flipped upside down. Her world was flipped. She not only saw the community flip on Jesus, but she saw one disciple betray Jesus and another deny Him three times. And still others fled the scene. But she stayed, and she went to His tomb on that Sunday morning, her mind, her thoughts, her emotions – all over the map.
She stayed true throughout. No doubt confused and uncertain, but true and committed. Her faith in Him was everything, and it was all she knew and all she had. This echoes the sentiment of so many of us today, throughout all this turmoil.
What was she expecting when she came to the tomb that Sunday? Did she think that the tomb would be empty? Did she hope? Was she just going there to pay her respects and grieve some more? Did she forget about what He said, about how He needed to die, but would then rise from the dead? Did she remember, but just not understand?
Even then, she did not realize she was talking to Jesus until He called her by name. “Mary!”
And then she realized Who she was talking to and what has just happened.
I think we’re all in this situation right now. We’re distracted. There is all this noise. We’re grieving. We’re complaining and hurting and confused. We’re staring at this empty tomb, wondering where God is. We’re all there asking where Jesus is during this time? Many of us don’t see Him.
We are sitting there, waiting, wondering.
But He is here, in the midst. So many good things will come from this time. We may not realize them for years. But chances are, they are right in front of us as we speak. He is there, speaking to us in that stranger we don’t recognize.
Yes, we are all over the map at this time with our thoughts and our emotions. I personally have been all over the map – looking for hope, for direction, for something good to happen, and to come from all this noise.
But the thing is, I’ve been looking too close.
We have to take a step back, and look at those things in our life right now, and just pause. Pause and take things in. That’s what Mary did. Peter and John ran into the tomb, or ran to get others, but Mary stayed back and wept, looking on the empty tomb – from a different perspective.
And in that time of pause, Jesus called out to her.
He will call out to us.
