St Ayle in the East Neuk, Linked with Crail

Imagine you were Mary, the broken-hearted but loyal, best friend of Jesus.  You are up and out early in the morning, the sobs still in your throat, the horror of the last days still pounding in your memory.  The sadness in your body weighing you down.  But you WILL do this, no matter what.  You have all that you need for the job.  The spices are ready.  Your shawl is round you as you shiver more from shock than from cold.  And you find your night -light, just in case you need it in the dark of the tomb. 

 

Imagine Mary’s sorrow. 

 

Half running, half panting, you reach the place where the men laid Jesus just before Sabbath started.  It had been a rushed job in the end but they had made sure his body was securely laid in the grave and safe from any jokers who thought it would be funny to move it away.  Idiots!  Oh the threats that were made.  The hate that spewed out from their mouths.  And oh how good, how patient and how forgiving was Jesus.  My Lord.  The awful things he had to endure.

​

But wait.  As you reach the place among the other graves you become disorientated.  You were sure that you knew where he was.  But surely there was a great rock against the opening of the tomb.  It was just there.  Right there.  The other tombs have all been sealed, long ago.  But the huge rock has gone.  That shouldn’t have happened.  Who has been here?  Who has interfered with the burial place? 

​

Anger surges through you.  Then fear.  You draw back.  What should you do?

​

Run for help.  Get the men.  Waken the others.  Search for the body.  Find who did this.

​

Peter and another one of the gang arrived but were no comfort.  They didn’t know either and went away to get the others.  But you linger.  You lower yourself on to the ground outside the tomb and your emotions burst out and you cry and cry and cry. 

​

“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.  As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

​

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

 

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

​

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.  Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

​

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20;11-18

​