ABSTRACT
One of the most poignant moments in the gospel of John occurs on Easter morning when Mary Magdalen arrives at the place where Jesus had been buried and she finds the tomb empty. The angels ask why she is weeping and she answers, "because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him" (20:13). "Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus" (20:14). Only after Jesus called out her name did she recognize him and said in Hebrew "Rabbonil" (20:16). For Mary Magdalen that restoration of vision is a moment of truth and glory. Woman as witness. She receives the protophany of the risen Jesus and announces the Easter kerygma. Mary Magdalen, "the primary and foundational apostolic figure in the Iohannine community."! It is important for Christians to stay with that moment for awhile and to ask what it signifies to know Jesus, after Auschwitz. How does it manifest itself practically, politically, and spiritually to say like Mary Magdalen "I have seen the Lord"? Why has this extraordinary gift of grace been turned into an anti-Iudaic polemic? Are Christians still standing at the empty tomb not knowing?
