Discernment: What Mary Magdalene Teaches Us

DISCERNMENT OF JESUS’ VOICE

In today’s Gospel, John 20: 11-18, Mary Magdalene has gone to the tomb looking for Jesus.  She finds the tomb empty. Jesus’ body is gone.  Overcome with grief, she weeps outside of the tomb.  Two angels appear one at head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. They question Mary: Why are you weeping? She turns around and sees Jesus but thinks he’s the gardener. He also asks her why she is weeping. She says to Him: “Sir, if you have taken Jesus’ body, please show me where it is. I will take care of it.” And Jesus says: “Mary”!  When he speaks her name, she recognizes the Lord and responds in Hebrew “Rabouni,” which means “Master.”

How did Mary discern that the gardener was Jesus? How was it that she recognized the gardener’s voice as the voice of her Master?

First of all, Jesus is looking for/waiting for her. If He were not seeking, she would not find.  Second of all, Mary is engaged in the discernment process, which we might outline, in this instance, into eight significant steps:  1) She is actually looking for Jesus.  2) She  wants to find the One she has lost, even if all she finds is his dead body.   3) She wants to serve Him, give Him something, namely, in this case, a proper burial, one that shows the deceased the respect that is deserved.  4) She allows no one to distract her, neither the angels nor the gardener.  5) She is focused.  6) She knows for whom/what she is looking. 7) She does not give up until she finds the One for whom she is thirsting, hungering, longing, desiring! 8) She personally encounters the Risen Lord—this personal relationship with the Lord long preceded this finding of Him in the  emptiness of her life at that point in time.

What about you and me? Are we actually looking? Do we really want to find Him? Are we willing to be of service, to give of ourselves no matter what the cost (Mary Magdalene could have been arrested, put to death as Jesus was)? Do we shut out distractions and stay focused? Do we know for what/whom we are looking? Do we persevere in looking? Have we developed a personal relationship with the Lord in the first place?

DISCERNMENT

DYING TO SELF TO LIVE FOR GOD

INTERESTED IN HEARING GOD’S VOICE

SEARCHING FOR THE WILL OF GOD AND LETTING GO OF ONE’S OWN WILL

CANDID ADMISSION THAT MY WILL IS LIKELY TO BE A STUMBLING BLOCK  TO FINDING GOD’S WILL

EVER AND EVER MORE OPEN TO THE SPIRIT’S LEAD

RECEPTIVE TO THE SPIRIT CALLING THE SHOTS

NEVER BEING SO BUSY AS NOT TO TAKE TIME TO PRAY

MINDFUL THAT GOD IS A GRACIOUS GOD, WANTING ONLY THE BEST FOR US

EVEN WHEN “THAT BEST” SEEMS TO FALL SHORT, HUMANLY SPEAKING

NOBLY GIVING ONE’S ALL TO THE LORD

TAKING AN EVER AND EVER DEEPER LOOK INTO MY SOUL

Discernment of God's Will

Discernment:  Discernment involves knowing when we are in sync or out of sync  with God’s will.   In  Ezra 6: 7-8, 12, 14-20, we read about how the Jews, having returned to Jerusalem following their exile in Babylon, rebuilt the Temple at God’s command and through the cooperation of the pagan king Cyrus and Darius, the encouragement of the prophets and financial help of the Persian empire.   All worked together to bring about the will of God for the good of the Chosen People, the People of God.  The Jews needed to recognize that God used even their pagan neighbors and those who imposed exile upon them , those whom they perceived as their enemies, to communicate His will and bring about His plans for their salvation.   In our day, we, too, need to be open to everyone and everything as an instrument in God’s hand to reveal what He is asking of us. This was drove home to me this morning. Five minutes into my hour of prayer, the fire alarm blared through the building. All were escorted to one “safe” place.  Ten minutes later, thinking all was clear, I returned to chapel, only to be called back to the “safe” place for another 30 minutes.  My hour of prayer was, to say the least, disrupted and basically close to its conclusion. I am boiling inside when, all of a sudden, the Lord says to me in the quiet of my heart:  “My will for you this morning is to be respectful of procedures put in place to keep the residents of this facility safe and to let go of idolatrizing your scheduled routine.” 

Be attentive today to how God communicates His will to you, through whom and through what circumstances of your life.  We may be clinging to our will and not seeking God’s will.  A clue might be how strongly you react to something or someone. Behind that reaction, if you probe deeply enough, you might find that which you, too, need to let go of in submission to God’s holy will!