Reflection - Expectations

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072219.cfm
II Corinthians 5:14-17
John 20:1-2, 11-18

It’s common and it’s easy to fill in the unmentioned details of a story that we’re somewhat familiar with. Such was the case as I read this passage from John.

Now, everybody knows that Jesus rose from the dead — or at least they know that Christians claim such to be true. So, in reading this account, you’ll forgive me if I had to read it multiple times before a simple, unstated fact managed to vault across my attention barrier.

When Mary Magdalen and the other women went to the tomb that Sunday morning, they were going to anoint a body; and, upon finding an empty tomb, they concluded that Jesus’ body had been stolen. In the other three gospels they are informed by one or more angels that Jesus had risen; but not in John. So the women ran back to tell the Apostles: "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him."

Incredulous, Peter and John ran off to see for themselves. They too found an empty tomb, and John even describes details which are skipped over in the current reading. Following their inspection, Peter and John reportedly went home. But while they were at the tomb, John shares something puzzling. John had arrive first but out of respect had waited for Peter to enter the tomb first. Then he says something about himself: “Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” (John 20:8-9)

“He saw and believed!”

What was it he saw? And what did he believe? It’s a comfortable leap to assume that John is speaking of the Resurrection. Not so! For he continues with “As yet they did not know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” What John saw was an empty tomb. What John believed were the words of Mary: "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." From his perspective several decades later, John apologizes for this error with his comment that they did not know the Scripture.

According to the text, then, both Mary and the other women, now joined in their conclusion by Peter and John, believed that the corpse they were seeking had been stolen.

From our perspective today we probably conclude, and conclude quickly, that Jesus had risen. But on that Sunday morning in Jerusalem, such an idea had the vaporous stability of a desert mirage. It was difficult enough to accept that a holy man could raise another from the dead, though trustworthy witnesses may have claimed to have witnessed such a thing. But to raise oneself? Or to escape from death by the holiness of one’s being? The notion fails to rise above the level of a fantasy.

On more than one occasion after the Resurrection people who knew Jesus well did not recognize him. That was obviously the case with Mary Magdalen in the reading — she mistook Jesus for the gardener. It would be preposterous to think that Jesus was facetiously hiding his identity. Neither is it plausible to conclude that Jesus’ identity was obscured by his glorified body. What’s most likely is that Mary, those disciples on the road to Emma-us and probably others suffered from the same affliction that plagues us all: We simply do not see what we do not expect to see. The obviousness of the cross could not readily be escaped. Jesus died.

As this reflection progressed, I wondered where it was going. Only with the previous few sentences was the outcome clear: We simply do not see what we do not expect to see. So where do we expect to see the hand of God in our lives? Or, more precisely, where do we not expect to see the hand of God in our lives? The obviousness of the cross could not readily be escaped in 33 AD. Jesus died. How often do we miss the works of God because they fail to meet our limited expectations?

SUMMARY