Holy Week Portraits: Mary Magdalene (part 1)

Mary Magdalene stared down the dark road that headed away from Bethany toward Jerusalem. It was a two mile walk to the tomb where Jesus had been laid to rest three days before. There were seven of them in total—Mary the mother of James and Joseph, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary and Martha (the sisters of Lazarus), Salome, Joanna, and herself.

The men had wrapped Jesus’ body with spices when they had buried him, but it had been close to the Sabbath, and they hadn’t done a sufficient job, in the women’s opinion. Nothing but full perfection of tradition for their Lord.

Mary glanced behind her. The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky. Sunrise would come by the time they arrived.

The walk was a quiet one. No one wanted to speak about the events of the past several days. No one wanted to discuss what they were about to do, either. It was all too much. They had possessed such hope only four days before. Now there was only sorrow and despair.

As they neared the tomb, someone asked an important question, “Who will roll away the stone?”

Mary and the others stopped cold. Who would do it? They were not strong enough, that was sure. Why hadn’t they thought of this before?

“Maybe we can convince the guards,” suggested Lazarus’ sister Mary. They had heard the Romans had posted men to deter anyone stealing the body. As if any of them would do such a thing. It was disgusting to imagine.

Salome scoffed. “Convince Roman soldiers who are afraid of us stealing his body to help us move the stone that would otherwise prevent such a thing?”

“We are only women,” Martha pointed out. “They have to know we can’t overpower them.”

“It’s worth trying,” Mary Magdalene said. “It’s too late to turn back now, anyway. Let’s just keep going and see what happens.”

Mary couldn’t help but walk a little faster after this. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t as though she was excited to see Jesus’ body. Still, her feet moved quickly, and she left the others behind several paces as she hurried to see what awaited them.

The sight that greeted her was astounding. The guards were lying flat on the ground, but it wasn’t as though they were sleeping. It was as if they had been struck and fallen where they had stood guard.

But more important than the fallen guards was the stone the women had been so concerned about. It had been rolled away already. Someone had, indeed, taken their Lord.

Mary turned and ran for Jerusalem, heedless of anything or anyone. She had to find John and Peter. They would know what happened or what to do. John had left after sunset the night before to find Peter in the city. They would be together by now, she was sure.