Mary is distressed, very distressed:
Not only has she seen the most terrible death inflicted on the man of all men who did her the greatest kindness, Luke tells us she is the woman who was delivered of 7 evil spirits by Jesus,She is now distressed that even in his death, and she has seen him die, the simplest and most basic expressions of love and respect cannot be given by her to him, anointing his body with oil.
The angels ask her why she is weeping, and she says “they” have taken away my Lord and she doesn’t know where.
When you are feeling at your most powerless and forsaken it is as if you have been kicked in the teeth again.
Then the mysterious figure appears who she thinks is the gardener; in an extraordinary touch, she gently accuses him of taking the body, and pleads with him to allow her to know where, so that she can simply come to do what she can for him even in the aloneness of his death and burial.
And then the man speaks her name.
Mary
It is as if the whole gospel comes to a standstill at that moment.
Mary
A realisation of a new reality in the universe dawns on this woman from Magdala in Galilee.
Mary
By simply calling her name Jesus expresses the full meaning of his love for her, even delight in astonishing her, and he enables her to know, that all she imagines as the worst, is over.
The Resurrected Christ first appears to Mary Magdalene. She thinks He is a gardener, until He says her name, “Mary.” She then tries to hold Him, but He says, “Noli me tangere” (Do not touch me), because He has not yet ascended to the Father.
“Noli Me Tangere,” by Fra Angelico. pic.twitter.com/GkGPPbyUf2
— Christian Culture (@Christian8Pics) April 23, 2019