Just Go!
Mary of Magdala and the other Mary go to visit the tomb of Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t say why because the reason doesn’t matter. Are they going to anoint the body of Jesus or to complete some funeral rite? The fact that they just go is beautiful to me. Their simple act, which can be interpreted in many ways, flips the question from “Why did they go to the tomb?” to “Why shouldn’t we go there?”
Now that Jesus is dead, all other roads no longer make sense, only this one. Conventional masculine mentality asks, “What’s the use of going to the tomb?” But from the feminine perspective, love is not the fulfillment of a need; love simply is, even beyond death, even if only for a corpse, even if the act brings a person to the brink of tears. The Risen One sees things from a feminine point of view.
The Crucified One is dead but he is not here. Where is he? How beautiful is the small but revolutionary question: “Where are you today, Risen One?”
Forgive us, Lord, for all the times we have tried to bury you
in a perfect tomb to try to confine you.
Deliver us, Lord, from the folly of wanting to lock you
into our mental grids, fixations and fears.
Help us remember that you are and always will be “not here.”
Prompt us to weep at the rocks that seal our tombs.
Give us a longing for Life. Infuse us with fresh courage.
Gift us with loving eyes because only those who love are able to believe
and thus make resurrection possible.
