Breaking the Word

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And 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." 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 20,11-18)

Mary of Magdala was looking for the body of Jesus. That is why she went to the tomb. The body was not there, in stead there were two angels. This was not sufficient for her to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. To the angels also she complained saying they had taken the Lord. Thirdly when she saw Jesus standing there she thought he was the gardener, and again, the complain was that the Lord had been taken away.

This story clearly depicts the mentality of the disciples after the death of Jesus. Even though Jesus had spoken about his resurrection, still his disciples believed in the earthly Jesus. They accepted his death and they wanted to hold on to the dead (body of) Jesus. They wanted to see his body in the tomb and they wanted to anoint his dead body etc. Or they believed in some other type of resurrection.

So, what they experienced was totally out of the ordinary. They never expected that the risen Jesus would behave as they experienced. Expectation was different from experience. The experience of the risen Jesus was exactly like the Jesus while he was alive before death. (He called her by her name and he had human form = gardener). But he was different. She did not recognize him immediately.

The experience of the risen Lord took her by surprise. But when she realized that it was the Lord then her proclamation was all the more, louder. Experience speaks louder than expectation.

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. They assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.' And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy (him) and keep you out of trouble." The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present (day). (Mt 28:8-15)

There are two stories of the guards. The first story is the real story which they went and told the officials. Because the gospel says that they told all that had happened. All that had happened were: the stone was rolled; the tomb was empty; the disciples had come; and they had witnessed the empty tomb. Probably this is what the guards would have told the chief priests. 

A large sum of money changed the story. Now the story is that the disciples came (which is true) and the body is no more in the tomb (which is also true). These two facts are interwoven with the thread of stealing and the story is complete. Money always changes stories.

But the story cannot go on like that for ever. The immediate question is: where did they re-bury the dead body? Since the Jews (and the disciples were jews) believed in the resurrection on the last day; they had to bury it somewhere (even in a secret place) till the last day for the resurrection. If they had done it then they would have gone to the tomb in secret to venerate or to pray. They did not seem to have done anything about it. Rather, they preached the resurrection because the body was not there. The disciples’ belief in the resurrection comes from the empty tomb and the vision of the risen Lord.