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Other
Lives
Mary,
the Mother of God
Joseph,
husband of Mary
Peter,
fisherman and foundation
John,
the disciple
whom Jesus loved
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Text by Victor
Hoagland, C.P.
Heartbreak and Mission
 On Easter
Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary came back to the tomb.
The Passover had not been a day of joy for her. She was still in the
depths of sorrow. As she approached the tomb in the dim light, she was
startled to see the stone rolled away from the entrance. Thinking that
Jesus' body had been stolen, she ran back to tell Peter and John, "They
have taken the Lord from the tomb!".
Peter and
John both ran to the garden with Mary following them. They went into
the tomb and found only the burial cloths. The two disciples then wandered
back home wondering what had happened.
But Mary stayed
outside the tomb weeping. Through her tears, she bent down to look inside
and saw two angels in white sitting there. "Woman, why are you
weeping?" they asked her.
"They
have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they laid him,"
she replied. Then, turning around she saw Jesus, though she didn't recognize
him.
"Woman,
why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" he said to her.
Assuming him
to be the caretaker, Mary pleaded: "Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him, and I will take him."
Jesus said
to her, "Mary!"
In a gasp
of recognition Mary cried in Hebrew "Rabbouni!" ("Teacher!").
Jesus spoke again. "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended
to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them 'I am going to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene
rushed off to the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord,"
and delivered the message she had been given.
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detail
from
Schongauer's etching of
Mary Magdalene meeting
the risen Christ
see
full picture
(164K)
detail
from Holbein's painting of the same scene
see full picture
(215K)
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