REFLECTIONS TODAY
Noli me tangere (“Touch me not”). Jesus’ words to Mary Magdalene have become so that memorable our national hero Jose Rizal even used them as title for one of his two famous novels. In Greek, Jesus’ words are “Mē mou haptou.” Literally, the expression means, precisely, “Touch me not,” although the verb could also mean “to take hold of” or simply “to hold.” In context, this seems not so much that Mary not “touch” Jesus (as if it was immodest for Mary to do so), but rather not to take hold of him, or cling on to him as to restrain him from moving on. The reason is that Jesus has not yet ascended (anabebēka) to the Father. Thus, taking hold of Jesus (not just touching him) implies preventing Jesus from going where he should go. Do we sometimes “keep” Jesus to ourselves, instead of “sharing” him with others? Jesus wants us to share him with everyone who desires to.
GOSPEL • John 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “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.’ ” Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her.
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.