Jn 20:1-2, 11-18
1On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”
11But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. 13And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. 17Jesus said to her, “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.’ ” 18Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.
GO TO MY BROTHERS AND TELL THEM: Mary of Magdala has been unfairly called a sinner, a prostitute. The basis is probably a note that she had been delivered by Jesus of seven demons (Mk 16:9), a reference to her grave condition, but not necessarily pointing to a promiscuous life. She is mistaken for the unnamed sinful woman who bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair in Galilee (Lk 8:37-38) and for Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anoints Jesus’ feet with costly perfumed oil (Jn 12:3).
Today’s Gospel gives us a true picture of Mary. She has seen the risen Lord, a privilege given only to a few followers of Jesus. With the vision comes the mission: she is sent to tell the disciples that he has risen. Rightly is she therefore called “the apostle to the apostles.”
The apostle Paul traces his own calling to the appearance of the risen Christ: “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Cor 9:1). With the vision comes his mission: “God… was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles” (Gal 1:15). Mary of Magdala, therefore, belongs to a rare group of men and women granted a vision of the risen Christ and commanded to announce this to others.