Turning from death to life: a biblical reflection on Mary Magdalene - John 20:1-18 - "Turn to God - Rejoice in Hope": Unfolding the Eighth Assembly Theme

Ecumenical Review, The, April, 1998 by Dorothy A. Lee

At each point, Mary moves closer and closer to what she seeks. Misunderstanding, in the end, leads her to understanding. In John's gospel mistaken turnings are part of the journey of faith -- except in those who close themselves against the revelation. In the accounts of the Samaritan woman (4:1-42), the man born blind (9:1-41) and Martha of Bethany (11:1-44), misunderstanding linked to openness of heart transforms creaturely existence; the flesh becomes the medium for divine glory. In the fourth gospel, it takes growth and maturation to make this journey; and growth signifies a dynamic process, an ability to learn from mistakes, a refusal to be paralyzed by guilt and fear. In this sense, conversion is life-long, a constant turning back and turning towards. The characters of the fourth gospel never ultimately grasp the one to whom they turn (1: 18, 6:46); yet in that turning, again and again, they enter more fully into the incarnate glory of God, they receive the commission to abide in love and to be sent out to reap the harvest (4:35-38; 20:21). From the deepest and darkest places, they bear witness to the light.

For us, too, turning towards God can mean misleading pathways and wrong turnings. Yet paradoxically the very mistakes we make can take us -- even if it seems like a tortuous and thorny path -- to where we want to go. As in Dante's Divine Comedy, there is no short-cut to the garden of bliss and love; we must take the long road that passes through hell and purgatory, through pain and misunderstanding. As the church and as individuals we walk the stony path towards God, a journey made in the company of both heaven and earth; with all creation, we are engaged in moving towards the one who is sovereign over life and death.

God's turning towards the world

Thirdly, Mary Magdalene's movement towards the one who is crucified and risen is dependent on God's prior movement towards the world (3:16). Magdalene's turning to the risen Christ -- and the church's turning to its Source -- is predicated on the prevenient grace of the one who has first turned in love towards her.(21) Although Magdalene's story has the literary characteristics of a "recognition-story" (where a disciple fails to recognize the Easter Jesus until he does or says something familiar(22)), it can also be seen as a biblical "call narrative": a story in which God takes the initiative in calling an individual to prophetic or apostolic ministry (e. g. Isaiah 6, Jeremiah 1:4-10, Mark 1:16-20, Luke 5:1-11). Whatever else we say about Mary Magdalene's search -- her initiative, determination, persistence, longing -- this story is, at a more fundamental level, about God's searching for her, God's call, God's commission to proclaim the Easter message.(23) Behind Magdalene's tearful yet joyful turning is the prior and archetypal turning of God.

In John's gospel, this divine revolution is expressed in terms of the incarnation. Though the darkness has never been overpowered -- or comprehended -- by the light (katalambanein, 1:5), God has turned towards the world in the person of Jesus in a revolutionary way.(24) God has become human, entering into the human condition, into the vivid and material life of creation: immortal turned to mortal, Creator to creation, spirit to matter, eternal to ephemeral. The divine Word is now "bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh" (Gen. 2:23). The divine glory which is both protological ("in the beginning", John 1:1) and eschatological ("at the last day", John 11:24) flames into the present moment, shimmering in the ordinariness and vulnerability of human flesh.