A Lesson from Mary Magdalene’s Thirst for Jesus

The Roman Catholic Church honors the life of St. Mary Magdalene on July 22. Though she has been an object of various controversies, being falsely assumed to be a “prostitute” and to have “married to” Jesus, St. Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ disciples, who faithfully followed him all the way to the foot of his Cross and to his tomb, from Galilee (i.e. Luke 8:1-2; John 19:25; 20:1-2, 11-18). Based on the scripture-based fact on her, we find her an object of our admiration and inspiration.

My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

This responsorial Psalm refrain from Psalm 63:2 reflects how Mary Magdalene was to Jesus, as reflected in the First Reading (Song of Songs 3:1-4b) and in her behaviors early in the resurrection morning, as described in the Gospel Reading (John 20:1-2, 11-18).

Mary Magdalene was really thirsty for Jesus, her Lord. That is why she rose and went to the tomb where the corpse of Jesus had been buried since the day of his death (John 20:1). The death and burial of Jesus (John 19:25-42) did not diminish her desire to see him – her thirst for him. However, it could have costed her life to seek Jesus in his tomb because it would be regarded as being his disciples. Perhaps, for their fear of being arrested for their association with him, the male disciples did not even dare to go to Jesus’ tomb. But Mary Magdalene was not afraid. Her soul’s thirst for him made her fearless. Though his corpse was nicely treated with 100 pounds of the mixture ointment of myrrh and aloe at the time of the burial (John 19:38-42), Mary might have wanted to anoint him herself (i.e. Mark 16:1).

Unbeknownst to her, however, Jesus had already risen from the dead, by the time Mary Magdalene arrived at his tomb. The corpse of Jesus was not there, obviously. So she found the tomb empty.  She assumed that the corpse of Jesus was taken away from the tomb during the sabbath, and she rushed and reported so to Peter and John (John 20:2). In response, these they went to the tomb and saw the empty tomb by themselves, so they went home (John 20:3-10).

It was not just Peter and John to have gone to the tomb of Jesus, upon hearing Mary Magdalene’s report about the empty tomb. She also went back to the tomb.

Though Peter and John left the empty tomb, not only she remained there but she herself entered the empty tomb this time, weeping (John 20:11). In the tomb, she saw two angels in white, and they asked her why she was weeping (John 20:12-13a). And she answered, because Jesus’ body was taken away and she did not know where he was laid (John 20:13b).

Then she turned around and saw risen Jesus, though she did not recognize him yet (John 20:14). So Jesus said to her:

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? (John 20:15a).

Thinking that this man who asked her why she was weeping and who she was looking for was a gardener, she said to him:

Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him (John 20:15b).

Then, risen Jesus called her by her name, “Mary!” and she finally recognize the man, whom she had thought as a gardener was really Jesus, whom her soul has been thirsting (John 20:16). At this joyful moment, Jesus commissioned to be an evangelizer with this command:

Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, “I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17).

So she went away from the empty tomb and announced to other disciples, “I have seen the Lord” and told them of the imminency of risen Jesus’ ascension to the Father in heaven, as commanded by him (John 20:18).

What can we learn from this Gospel narrative of Mary Magdalene?

Her soul’s thirst for Jesus was not quenched even when she saw him until she recognized him as Jesus. This tells us that we must have convicting faith in him to have our soul’s thirst for him to be put out. Then, once our soul’s thirst for him is extinguished not only by our personal encounter with him but with the conviction of faith, we no longer cling to him. This reflects what John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth define as “secure attachment” that an infant forms with his or her mother (primary caregiver) in their attachment theory. And this “secure attachment” that Mary Magdalene established with risen Jesus was fortified with what Jean Piaget describes as “object permanence”, because she no longer had to see him in her bodily eyes to know that he is with her. Remember, Jesus reminded her of the nearness of his ascension. Note that she did not protest the prospect of his ascension at all. And she did not resist when Jesus let her go with a mission to evangelize the good news of his resurrection and the imminence of his ascension.

An important lesson that we learn from Mary Magdalene and her soul’s thirst for Jesus is that we no longer live for ourselves and according to the flesh but serve as apostolic servants to convey the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us, as compelled by his love (i.e. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17, optional First Reading) which extinguishes the thirst of our soul and enables us to attain “secure attachment” with him through “object permanence”.