Holding on
- Gary Fritsch
- Jul 22
- 3 min read
In today's Gospel, Mary Magdelene gets to represent us, all of us, and if we understand her encounter with Jesus, she gets to also teach all of us.
First the representing. It is completely natural and normal for us, when someone we love is ill, particularly if they are close to dying, for us to cling to them. Not so much in the physical sense, although that could be part of it as well, but in the sense of the relationship. When confronted with a 'tomorrow' that doesn't have them in it, when dealing with a future for them that we cannot see with our physical eyes, our gut reaction is this: HOLD ON!
Mary, being a fully qualified human being, does the same. Her heart has already experienced the loss of this man, who changed her life, SAVED her life, and as she has come to believe - given her an entirely NEW LIFE. Now she realized that He is with her again, and so she does what we would all do - she holds on. Now we don't get a description that tells us whether she was embracing Jesus or not, but regardless, Jesus words to her (and to us) are more than a mere physical instruction.
Jesus is telling her much more. He is telling her to stop holding on to this 'human person walking the earth with me' Jesus and prepare to embrace the 'human-divine savior walking the earth WITHIN ME' Jesus. You see, Jesus' instruction is not permanent, it is qualified by the phrase 'for I have not yet returned to The Father'. Once He does that, she can hold on for dear life - and she will indeed, and it starts almost immediately.
Following Jesus' instruction, she runs off to tell the Apostles. What she tells them is this: 'I have seen the Lord' and indeed she has. Not just on that day either. She has come to know who He truly is, and His instruction to her shakes her out of her grief and she now embraces her role as Apostle to the Apostles. (apostle means 'sent one'). Her message now and for the rest of her life will be that she has seen the Lord and she knows exactly where He is, now and forever. This is the part where she teaches us a lesson.
If we too, embrace Jesus now, as He has divinely determined to be with us until the end of the age - in Word, Sacrament and Community, then we will also look at death differently among believers. We don't have to cling so hard to the physical presence of a loved one (although we will want to), but we will know where they are going and can proclaim to others 'I have seen them' and I know where they are. You can recount, as all of the Apostles did for Jesus, all of the ways in which they were present here, and how their words and actions expressed their love, gave us joy, or hope.
Start looking at others in this way. See every way that they are reflecting God's love to you and to others. Call it out, thank them, affirm them - it will make them desire to do more of it. When we do this for one another, we help each other grow in holiness and goodness and love, and on the day when we say goodbye to a loved one, there will still be sadness - we are, after all, fully qualified humans - but we will be able to say with joy in our hearts - we have SEEN THEM. We have seen them at their very best, and because of this, because of the belief that we share, we will also know that they are still with us.
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