The post-resurrection tomb scene is an interesting one. There are the frightened guards, confused apostles, anxious women, (still) scheming elders of the religion, amused Romans... quite a sort of people in various moods and modes. Among all of these, the person of Mary Magdalene stands out for me the most. I see in her the perfect growth of a human person through the various stages of life to reach the culmination of it here at the tomb. Having blessed abundantly by Jesus, she follows him everywhere, even to Calvary and now here she stands at the tomb, still wanting to be with Jesus. All she wants is to have his body so that she can take it and perform the last rites. And when the Lord appears to her, she is thrilled. She holds on to him for she is too excited to think of anything else. Yet, at His word, she leaves. She is entrusted with a task and she is delighted to carry it out for Him.
Several times after that enactment of a Presentation Sister in Karunapuram (way back in 2002, all aglow, proclaiming, "I have seen Him!!") I tried to imagine a scene wherein someone indifferent or against this whole idea of resurrection, crossing paths with Mary Magdalene. They surely would have been made to shut up with a mere look of hers. The fact that she was a woman in a Jewish, would have not made any difference to her. For her all that mattered was that she had 'seen the Lord'. What more, she knew that He trusted her with a task. There was nothing greater than that for the her to live and die for.
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