St. Mary Magdalene

Today's Reading: John 20:1-2, 10-18

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 5:1-6:3,10-16; Acts 18:1-11,23-28

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" (John 20:15)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen. Mary is standing next to the empty grave. She is looking for Jesus. Her heart is full of grief. She has already endured seeing His torture. She has already seen Him die on the cross. She saw the Lord placed in the tomb. On that morning, she just wanted to spend time with Jesus. She went there thinking she would spend time with a dead Jesus laying in a tomb. She went there expecting only sorrow.

When she saw that the stone covering the grave was opened and the body of Jesus was gone, she began to even grieve more. For her, it was bad enough that Jesus was dead and gone forever, but now some terrible person had come and taken His body away from its resting place. The sorrow she was expecting was now a new sorrow--a deeper sorrow. Nothing she expected was happening.

It was the