Fritz Von Uhde knows it's spring — the trees have not yet filled. Mary is inconsolable. She is dressed as a poor woman of the artist's time. Jesus is poorly dressed. He has come up from behind her, touching her arm, perhaps even stopping her as she walks. He has a gardener's sunhat on his back and a walking stick. His head is tilted towards her. There is a dawn sky. It is a tender moment.
I've looked carefully at the ground by Mary's left foot. I think she's dropped the oil flask she was carrying to the tomb. The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) tell us she went there to complete the "embalming" of Jesus' body which was cut short on Friday as the Sabbath began with sundown. The Gospel of John tells it more simply:
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance." John 20:1
Then the story is interrupted and we're told that Mary ran off to tell Peter and John that the body of Jesus had been taken away. "We do not know where they have put him," she says. It's interesting because in another gospel place that's Pilate's line, that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus. Notice Mary Magdalene also says "we" do not know where they have put him. Who's we? Is it the early Christian community? Is it us? So Peter and John go to see for themselves. It takes seven verses to tell this part. The Mary story then picks up again when the disciples leave and she remains alone, beginning with verse 10.
Mary is crying and bends to take a second look into the tomb. That's when she encounters the two angels who only ask her why she's crying. They make no announcement of Jesus' rising. He will do that himself. In verse 15 Mary turns around and Jesus is standing there, but she doesn't recognize him. Jesus asks her, "Who is it you're looking for?" And isn't this interesting, do you remember in John 1:36 when Jesus asks the same question of John the Baptist's disciples who are following Jesus. Jesus turns and asks them, "What are you looking for?"
There's a new commercial on TV these days—I'm pretty sure it's for a travel company. The actor appears walking. Maybe he's walking out of the covid shutdown era and inviting people to start taking up the old life. While walking he says, "Stuff, we love stuff and there's a lot of really great stuff out there." He then walks through different sets or scenes which offer "stuff" we can buy. Finally he opens a door and walks onto a dawn beach expressing his hope that we won't ever regret the "stuff" we didn't buy. Meaning—buy the fabulous travel options he's offering.
A commercial like this really illustrates the culture we live in: To be really alive, is to go shopping. But this twice repeated Jesus question, "What/Who are you looking for?" is posed to us too, who are the disciple wanna-bees of Jesus. What am I looking for? Have I found it?
