Breaking the Word

 …When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus 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."  Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," which means Teacher. Jesus 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.'"  Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and what he told her. (Jn 20:1-2,11-18)

Mary was in search of Jesus. (In fact the dead body of Jesus.) As a follower of Jesus she wanted to be with her teacher. She was part of the “search religion”. But the biblical God is the God of revelation. He always revealed himself to the people. Search is not meet by the object that is sought after. Revelation burst out on its own.

In the book of Exodus, God revealed himself to Moses. He revealed himself in his name. Name carries the character of the person. Name becomes the link between a person and the God who reveals himself. Name has such a power.

In this passage Jesus calls her by her name. As soon as Jesus called her by name ‘Mary’ she understood the revelation and accepted the revelation. She replied by saying Rabbuni. She accepted him as Teacher and accepted the revelation of God. Name reveals. Not only God’s name (YAHWEH) reveals also calling of the name of the individual reveals. 

 On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,  and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.  Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear." (Mt 13:1-9)

What Jesus was saying was not very obvious. He was talking about a farmer who was wasting. So much of seed was wasted on the rocks and in between paths and thorny bushes. Why did the farmer do so? Or why did Jesus say a story of this type? Jesus wanted the listeners to think. Jesus wanted them to struggle with what he was saying.

 Jesus was talking about the story of Israel. God sent kings, priests, prophets and none of them really succeeded. Now God was sending his own son like a seed in the field. Some are going to be wasted, but some will bear fruit. That is the good news that Jesus was bringing.

 It is a lesson for the disciples and even for the listeners. The listeners will have to think it through. Whatever be the failure in the ministry, opposition, wastage etc, the establishing of the kingdom will succeed. It will have its hundredfold success. The disciples should never be discouraged looking at the disappointments and failures. They should be hopeful like the farmer who is well aware of the wastage yet he continues to believe that there will be a harvest which would be hundredfold.