When Suspicion Gives Way to Faith
A Reflection for Easter 2024
Brent Smith, Director of Adult Faith Formation & Evangelization
In the Gospel passages for the vigil held Holy Saturday and for Easter morning, Mary Magdalene is celebrated as among the first to arrive at the tomb. The evangelist Mark records her in the company of another Mary and Salome, while the evangelist John records her visiting the tomb alone. According to the culture of the time, however, a woman avoided traveling by herself. The presence of a white robed figure, likely an angel, appearing in one reading yet not the other also complicates the picture. In our reverence for the Sacred Scripture, the ideal way of understanding this seeming disagreement is to view any discrepancies as a matter of emphasis.
As the first to complete a Gospel account of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, Mark places great significance upon the purpose (spices brought to anoint the corpse), the time of day (very early when the sun had risen), and the proclamation (of Jesus raised to new life) given by a divine messenger. John, though, is the last to compose a Gospel account. Instead of sharing the revelation of Christ’s resurrection, Mary Magdalene presumes robbers have emptied the tomb. Likely to respect the authority of Peter and John – who are reasonably expected to see the phenomenon of the Resurrection with their own eyes – Mary simply alerts them to the terrible change of circumstances. As written in the older Gospel, “He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6).
Although the temptation to hold suspicion for the Gospels may resonate in a person’s life – especially the Resurrection accounts – let us remember the Gospels are meant for comparative reading for a more complete picture. Furthermore, our own lives have the potential to resonate with the extraordinary and ultimately mysterious redemption found in relationship with Jesus Christ. Our common faith as a Catholic Christian people is rooted in the Bible and extends into the institution of the Church and out into the world of our daily lives.
Let us take St. Paul’s words as our own, “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God [the Father]” (Romans 6:8-9).
I will not die; instead, I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done… This is the day of the Lord’s victory; let us be happy, let us celebrate! (Ps.118:17; 24; Today’s English Version)
Painting by William-Adolphe Bougereau, “The Holy Women at the Tomb" (1890, France)