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| JESUS TELLING MARY, "TOUCH ME NOT!" Image from hprweb.com |
"I have seen the Lord," Mary said,
and then reported what He had told her.
The two [2] important words that we will discuss today are seeing and telling. Seeing refers to visual perception while telling refers to announcing or proclaiming.
Mary sees the risen Christ but she thought it was the gardener. Only when Jesus calls her by name did she realize that she was talking to the Lord already. Though she already saw Him, she did not recognize Him at once. Perhaps because she was crying and tears hampered her to see clearly.
Jesus sends Mary to the Apostles to tell them about His rising from the dead and His ascension to heaven. In Mark's account, he tells us that they did not believe her and even when two disciples who returned from their visit to Emmaus also told them about His appearance to them, they still did not believe and Mark writes that the Lord reproached them for such unbelief [see Mark 16 for the entire episode]. Again, it was probably because they were also still finding it so hard to accept what had happened to Him.
Fact is, we do fail to see clearly when we have tears in our eyes. Sorrow causes us to cry, crying produces tears, tears hamper a clear vision. Not only Mary, but all of the disciples felt so sad because of the Master's death that they did not believe even if some people have already told them that He is risen!
We too find it so hard to leave behind experiences that caused us sorrow and pain. Many times we bury ourselves in useless anxiety due to various problems and challenges that we fail to see that we are already being led to despair. Like the disciples, we fail to see the truth of the resurrection because we have been so engrossed with the events of the holy week!
It's already Easter! The Lord is already risen! The Lord who said we shouldn't worry [see Matthew 6: 25-34].
We must not let sadness blur our eyes so that we may see clearly the risen Lord and not mistake Him for a gardener. We must not let sorrow engulf our hearts so that when someone tells us about the Lord we shall not remain in our unbelief. As we stated in an earlier sharing, quoting St Augustine of Hippo as echoed by Blessed Pope John Paul II, we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song! So we must, as the Apostle Paul admonishes us, always rejoice in the Lord [see Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; also Psalm 33:1; Habakkuk 3:18].
Through this we shall see clearly the Lord and by seeing clearly, tell or proclaim joyfully His message. And what is the message that He wants us to know? It is the message which fulfills what He told His Apostles during the Last Supper, His going ahead to the Father's house to prepare a place for each of us [see John 14: 1-2], and it is
Mary sees the risen Christ but she thought it was the gardener. Only when Jesus calls her by name did she realize that she was talking to the Lord already. Though she already saw Him, she did not recognize Him at once. Perhaps because she was crying and tears hampered her to see clearly.
Jesus sends Mary to the Apostles to tell them about His rising from the dead and His ascension to heaven. In Mark's account, he tells us that they did not believe her and even when two disciples who returned from their visit to Emmaus also told them about His appearance to them, they still did not believe and Mark writes that the Lord reproached them for such unbelief [see Mark 16 for the entire episode]. Again, it was probably because they were also still finding it so hard to accept what had happened to Him.
Fact is, we do fail to see clearly when we have tears in our eyes. Sorrow causes us to cry, crying produces tears, tears hamper a clear vision. Not only Mary, but all of the disciples felt so sad because of the Master's death that they did not believe even if some people have already told them that He is risen!
We too find it so hard to leave behind experiences that caused us sorrow and pain. Many times we bury ourselves in useless anxiety due to various problems and challenges that we fail to see that we are already being led to despair. Like the disciples, we fail to see the truth of the resurrection because we have been so engrossed with the events of the holy week!
It's already Easter! The Lord is already risen! The Lord who said we shouldn't worry [see Matthew 6: 25-34].
We must not let sadness blur our eyes so that we may see clearly the risen Lord and not mistake Him for a gardener. We must not let sorrow engulf our hearts so that when someone tells us about the Lord we shall not remain in our unbelief. As we stated in an earlier sharing, quoting St Augustine of Hippo as echoed by Blessed Pope John Paul II, we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song! So we must, as the Apostle Paul admonishes us, always rejoice in the Lord [see Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; also Psalm 33:1; Habakkuk 3:18].
Through this we shall see clearly the Lord and by seeing clearly, tell or proclaim joyfully His message. And what is the message that He wants us to know? It is the message which fulfills what He told His Apostles during the Last Supper, His going ahead to the Father's house to prepare a place for each of us [see John 14: 1-2], and it is
"I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God!"
- John 20:17
A fruitful Easter to us all!
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