Gospel – December 27, 2019 – John 20:1A, 2-8
On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
His Gospel is unlike the other three. He doesn’t begin at the stable. He begins before everything – before time. He has a woman – Mary Magdalene – who has been through quite a Journey in the eyes of the church. Her journey has been fraught with impediments much like our own lives. Yet she brings the news to Peter and and “the apostle Jesus loved best”.
What if he meant for us to think of that apostle not as himself but those he is writing to? I’m not saying that’s the case on his feast day. I’m asking “what if”? I think we are closer today to the real Mary Magdalene than when we saw her as just a prostitute. But maybe I’m wrong.
That’s why I call them reflections.
At least that’s what I heard Him say…
What I Heard Him Say 