In his account of the resurrection, St John records that Mary Magdalene, after peering into
the tomb and conversing with two angels (20.11ff) 'turned' and saw Jesus,
although she did not recognise him. A few verses on, after talking with him,
John says she again ‘turned’ and said: “Rabbouni”.
This
double turn is interesting - surely she didn't need to turn again as she is
already facing him? Or does John want to underline the movement required to
recognise who she was speaking with? This failure at first to see the risen
Christ occurs at other times in the resurrection stories and emphasises that we
need to really look in order to properly 'see' Jesus. A cursory glance will not
reveal who he is - this 'seeing' need to penetrate the heart.
One
of the motifs in this gospel is the need to ‘see’ who Jesus is – see beneath
the outer appearance into the heart. This seems similar to the concept of
‘metanoia’, that turning which is needed to enable the heart to respond to the
call of Jesus. How can we help people 'see' Jesus?
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