Text: John 20:1-18. See also Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12.
Easter often falls at a difficult time for me; it seems consistently to come at the busiest time of the year. I haven’t had time to prepare, to ponder, to live with the rhythm of the Lenten season. Sometimes I try to cram it all into the time between Good Friday and Easter, and then I wonder why I don’t feel elated on Easter morning. Although this habit still can elicit guilt in me, I am beginning to learn that Easter is a season, not just a day. Resurrection is a process that I live into and live out of.
As I return to the stories of the women who accompanied Jesus in his final days, I wonder how much resurrection they felt on that Easter morning. They experience the joy of encountering the risen Christ, of seeing again the one who honored them, loved them, respected them, and took them seriously. But most of the disciples, according to Luke, refuse to believe their “idle tale.”
I find Mary Magdalene’s story most poignant of all. She who had known Jesus intimately, had touched him, had loved and been loved by him, now is denied his touch. I wonder if she and the other women felt guilty on that Easter morning, caught between the joy of seeing their beloved companion and the disappointment of not receiving the responses they desired.
I think they too live into the resurrection. As these women continue to live with one another, as they reconstruct their lives, as they make new homes with one another, and as they remember their travels with Jesus and plan for the journeys ahead, they learn what resurrection means. They learn that broken bodies and spirits can heal, that dry bones can dance, that the Spirit still can move. They learn that they who were intimate with Jesus-in-the-flesh now can become the birthers of Christ’s new body as they create a new community, the body of Christ in the world.
To celebrate these women, and one in particular who learned to live into the resurrection, I want to close this journey we have been making toward Easter Day by sharing a video that my husband (of exactly a year today!) and I recently released. The Hours of Mary Magdalene features images from my mixed media series of the same name, intertwined with Gary’s gorgeous “Mary Magdalena” song. The video draws on the life and legends of Mary Magdalene, who became known as the “apostle to the apostles” for her role in proclaiming the news of the resurrection. For more about the video’s backstory and sources of inspiration, visit my post “The Hours of Mary Magdalene” at The Painted Prayerbook.
(A technical note: if you click the Vimeo logo in the player embedded above, it will take you directly to a larger version of the video. We have also released the video on YouTube, where you can view it here.)
As we cross into Easter and the season to come, how will you live into the resurrection? Where has your Lenten journey led you, and what have you found—or let go of—along the way? Is there a word, a message, that Christ may be calling you to carry from the Easter garden to proclaim in the world, in the way that only you can proclaim it and live it out? What difference will your Lenten journey make as you set out into the Easter path ahead?
On this day, on the edge of this season of resurrection, I wish you joy and traveling mercies on your way. Happy Easter!
Closing blessing
Blessed are you who travel
with passion, with strength, and with hope,
for you will be filled with the God
who is coming to life in you.
Adapted from Sacred Journeys © Jan L. Richardson
Thank you for this extraordinarily beautiful reflection, Jan, and Gary’s equally lovely music. It moves me deeply each time I read and listen — touches me to my core. Thank you!
Thank you for a truly beautiful reflection of the women of Holy Week. As I said here and reflect this Easter Saturday morning, the ‘Women Shopping for Spices’ has just brought an added depth and richness in my journey to the cross this Easter. Blessings to you!