Early on the first day of the week, when it was still dark, Mary of Magdala came to Jesus’ tomb. She saw that the stone in the doorway had been removed. She stooped to look inside and had an exchange with the two angels at either end of the slab where she’d seen Jesus lain. Later she will mistake Jesus for the cemetery lawn man, that is, until Jesus says her name. With deep emotion, she blurts out: “Rabboni – my teacher!” In her exuberance, she wants to squeeze Jesus, make sure He is real, not a ghost. Can’t you see Jesus – gently prying her arms off, holding her as he says softly: “Whoa, Mary, that’s enough! Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.” Jesus is not being standoffish – or – heaven forbid – resisting because Mary is a woman. Mary, and we, are being asked to allow Jesus to complete his work – complete it in each and all of us.
We all know that Easter is the feast of Baptism, the initiation into the mysteries of Christ’s death and resurrection. But long before Christ and Christianity, peoples had special initiation rites into the mysteries of death and life, returning to and coming forth from the womb again. A Celtic pre-Christian ritual involved giving one end of a white cord or rope to those being initiated. The initiates were then lowered beneath the earth’s surface into labyrinth caves which were called “purgatories.” As they were left in the dark caves, they were told, “Follow the cord, and you will find your way out of this dark underground.” The cord they followed was a symbolic umbilical cord, a reminder of the cord that connected us to our mothers in the womb.
As you leave the chapel today you are invited to take a piece of cord. Put it where you will be reminded of your baptismal commitment and your connection to this community. It is a symbol of the faith that unites us to one another and reminds us of Jesus’ Easter promise to lead us out of the cave of this life into a life of everlasting glory.
When, a few days from now, we wish one another “Happy Easter”, it is not just for a day or for even the 50 days of Easter. It is a wish for deep joy that firmly believes we already hold within us the seeds of resurrection. This body may grow old, and someday it will die, but that is not the end! Jesus lives that I may live!
~by Sister Roberta Bailey
