April 20, 2019 • Life for Leaders
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
John 20:15-16a (NRSV)
Noli Me Tangere by Lavinia Fontana (1581)
Heaven and earth’s Lord
appears as a gardener
to Mary.
“Why are you weeping?
Whom do you seek?”
Jesus asks.
The sadness of paradise lost,
of hope destroyed.
Our memories lie disordered.
We weep even as the
Great Reversal appears
incarnate before us.
Like Paul, our vision
becomes scaled
with the appearance of the Son.
For Mary, the scales
drop away with a word:
“Mary!”
The One Who Names
addresses his beloved daughter
and recognition is instant.
Arms flung around,
clinging to all
that was thought lost.
Astonished relief
at Paradise Restored
in the Presence of the Gardener.
New Creation.
Heaven on Earth.
The End is
Beginning.
“Easter Morning” from Life in the Intersection by Uli Chi, p.43. © Uli Chi, 2011
Something to Do:
In anticipation of Easter tomorrow, contemplate today’s text, poetic reflections and visual art. The artwork is entitled Noli Me Tangere (“Don’t Touch Me”) by Lavinia Fontana (1581) – see also this YouTube video on her work.
Prayer:
“Easter Dawn” by Malcolm Guite
He blesses every love that weeps and grieves
And now he blesses hers who stood and wept
And would not be consoled, or leave her love’s
Last touching place, but watched as low light crept
Up from the east. A sound behind her stirs
A scatter of bright birdsong through the air.
She turns, but cannot focus through her tears,
Or recognize the Gardener standing there.
She hardly hears his gentle question, “Why,
Why are you weeping?”, or sees the play of light
That brightens as she chokes out her reply,
‘They took my love away, my day is night.’
And then she hears her name, she hears Love say
The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day.
Amen.
“Easter Dawn” from Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year by Malcolm Guite, p.44. © Malcolm Guite 2012
Explore more at the Theology of Work Project online commentary:
My Kingdom is Not of This World (John 18:36)
During his adult life, Uli Chi has lived and worked in the intersection between business, the academy and the church. He has had the privilege of serving as past Board Chair of Regent College in Vancouver, BC, as current Vice Chair of the Board of the Max De Pree Leadership Center at Fuller Seminary, and as current Chair of the Executive Committee of the Center for Integrity in Business at Seattle Pacific University. He has also been involved in all aspects of local church leadership, including as a member of the adult ministries team’s teaching faculty at John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle.
Click here to view Uli’s profile.
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