On 22 July, we celebrate Mary Magdalene, the woman to whom Jesus entrusted the message of resurrection.
This year, I celebrated her feast day in Coventry Cathedral, where morning prayer and Eucharist are shared under the glorious light of the Baptistery window, a 26 metre high kaleidoscope of 198 pieces of brightly coloured glass. To be bathed in the early morning light that streams through the window is a delight in itself.
Image: Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
John 20:1,14-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
…She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
I wonder how long…
How long
in the dark of that early morning
did Mary hold her delicious secret
close to her heart
How long did she savour
that gargantuan news
that he whom she accompanied
in life and in death
chose her to be there for his rising
For those precious moments
in the dark of early morning
Mary alone
held the news close
before she took to her heels
to proclaim resurrection
By the words of a woman
the gospel was preached
Thus it was
Is now
And ever shall be
Amen
The Rev Liz Crumlish
