Easter Tuesday

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.

In the beginning, God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.  But, as you know, the first couple foolishly refused obedience to God and then, to make matters worse, turned against one another. Instead of taking full responsibility for what he had done, Adam blamed both his wife and his God: “The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.” Today’s story from the Gospel of Saint John describes the reconciliation of man and woman, the healing of relationships between men and women.

For too long the war of the sexes has raged. People sometimes joke about it but it may well be the longest running and worse of all wars. Its front is in every house in every neighborhood in every city, town and farm on the face of the earth. In many places the space between men and women is friendly and reassuring. But in too many places it is a no man’s land of treachery, deceit, violence and occasional murder. Only God knows the full extent of the casualties.

John has already described the “hour” of reconciliation:

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

No one supposes that the Virgin and the Disciple were married but we do see the birth/baptism of the Church at the moment of Jesus’ death. “When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.”

As John tells the story, Jesus "handed over the spirit" to the  Virgin and the Disciple whom Jesus loved. They are born from the side of Jesus as Eve was taken from Adam's side. Washed in the blood and baptized in the water that flowed from his body, we find a man and woman bound together in obedience to his dying words. 

Their relationship is a model of peace, safety and harmony for the entire world. Even their virginity reminds us that marriage requires the virtue of chastity; that is, a holy apatheia before the mystery of sexuality.

Today’s gospel described the ecstatic joy of Mary of Magdala as the Lord reveals himself to her. Her desolation and despair disappear in a moment of sublime relief. In his one word address to her we hear the tender sympathy of a man who cares deeply for this woman.

The healed relationship of man and woman echoes the promise we have heard so often among the Hebrew prophets from Hosea, Isaiah and Ezekiel to Jesus, Saint Paul and John of Patmos (The Book of Revelation). God loves his people as a husband loves his wife; a married couple should love one another as God loves his people. 

This is not simply the church’s teaching; this is a divine revelation about the true nature of sexual relations. It was shown to us in that long awaited "hour" when Jesus died. Marriage is not a war zone but a paradise of safety, assurance, healing, reconciliation and empowerment. Two by two the Church sends men and women into the world to announce the right order of life.

This is why the Church reacts so strongly against every attack on marriage, be it divorce, adultery, serial polygamy, or “gay marriage.”  While some people think these arrangements might be good enough for the broken situations in which we live, they do not reflect the self-sacrificing union of Jesus and his Church; they cannot be called marriage. We cannot accept any institution that would compromise or relativize this teaching. There is no relationship that equals the sublime promise and beauty of marriage. Even the esteemed consecration of monks, nuns, friars and sisters has never been elevated to a sacrament. 

Easter celebrates the renewed potential for holiness among men and women. This is not simply a promise made to individuals. It is a promise realized and fulfilled in the consecration of husbands and wives to their sacrament.