This upcoming Sunday is the Sunday of Joseph the Arimathea and the Myrrh-Bearing Woman.
Although the story of the women finding Jesus’s tomb empty is told by several of the evangelists, I want to narrow in on John’s telling of the story.
It’s only in John’s Gospel that Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener. And, it’s only in John’s Gospel that Jesus tells Mary not to “touch him” because he has not yet ascended (past tense) to his Father because he is in the process of ascending (present tense).
But, what does this mean? Why would Jesus say this?
Perhaps a clue comes from Jesus’s teaching earlier in the Gospel. And, perhaps, as we’ll soon discover, it has to do with eating his flesh (bread) and drinking his blood (wine).
The Bottom Line: It isn’t the appearance of Jesus to us that saves, but our faith in what has been written by John that saves
Today is the ninth year of my mother’s death. Yet I cling to the memories of the love and care she gave to me and so many other’s. I too cling to Jesus in my heart now that he has ascended but is still in spirit to all of us among us, above us around us within us.