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Mary -- First at the TombMary Magdalene was no slacker. In her earliest appearances in the Bible, she identified her Lord and moved quickly to attain mastery over the limitation of physical sense and the seven devils that lay behind it. Much was quickly forgiven of her because she loved much from the beginning. From her brief meeting at Jesus' sepulcher, we can recognize the pattern that we all must follow in order to leave the wilderness of this world and enter into the spiritual apprehension of God's creation. Mary was an exemplary student, illustrating how spiritual receptivity and a resolute desire to know God speeds our progress. We all must lose trust in matter, break the seven seals that blind us to the truth, and confirm our inseparability from God.
Fueled by a divine impulsion, but still in the dark about spiritual substance, Mary was eager to love. For her, the door to Christ was open; the obstruction of Adam's race had rolled away from the place where death was about to lose its secret.
Mary first asked mortal man to explain the disappearance of Jesus' body but received no answer. Peter and John were eager to make a physical examination of the scene but were still holding firm to their convictions that matter was real and murder irreversible. They peered into the abyss and were baffled beyond belief that Jesus' corpse had been intentionally unwrapped and was missing.
Ignorant of prophecy and, therefore, blind to revelation, mortal men struggle to comfort, to console, and to excuse themselves. Since the mental home of Peter and John was still a dark empty sepulcher, they were unable to see the two angels heralding Jesus' resurrection.
But in utter humility, Mary's suffering sense bowed to the divine requirement, which made her mind more flexible to divine revelation. She saw two angel witnesses where Jesus had lain, one at the foot and one at the head, which reminds us of the two angels on the mercy seat above the ark of the covenant, where the Word is alive yet unseen.
These two angel messengers bring news of fulfillment, but Mary needed Christ to translate it for her.
As she turned away from seeming tragedy, another invitation appeared to Mary that was within reach of her comprehension. Spiritual chemicalization had met its catalyst.
Jesus was in millennial consciousness, moving rapidly beyond physical form and awaiting his ascension. Mary supposed him to be a gardener: this description is not coincidental, for they were both tilling the soil, separating tares from wheat. Although Mary was at the beginning of her harvest while Jesus was nearing the end of his, they met momentarily on the same plane.
"He spake, and it was done" (Ps 33:9). The Christ message was delivered and received in the same holy instant, and Mary's belief in death was overturned. Jesus, Mary, and God were as One!
Jesus declared, 'Do not try to touch me as if I were physical any longer. Understand that man is spiritual. I am preparing the way for this understanding. My creator is your creator, for there is one Principle and one being. Tell all who can hear it that the good news is about to arrive!' Mary beheld spiritualized man redeemed from death and from the falsehood that lay behind it. In these few passages, she illustrated the correct mental orientation required for quick translation back to Spirit. "The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love" (SH 288:3). As man ascends toward his ideal, he discovers
himself. George Denninger © |