"Journeying with Jesus:
A Lenten Retreat"
prepared by Women at the Well Ministry,
St. Paul, Minnesota,
Eleanor Lincoln, CSJ, and Catherine Litecky, CSJ
© copyright 2010
Sunday Readings for the 3rd Sunday of Lent
Exodus 3: 1-8, 13-15
1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12
Luke 13: 1-9
Week 3. Discipleship (continued)
"Reconcile us to you, O God, that we put on the holiness of Christ and give you glory. Help us to live the season as true disciples on our way to transformation and fullness of life. Grant this as we journey to you with Jesus, our brother. Amen."
This prayer can provide a focus for your Lenten journey with Jesus.
Picture yourself on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Feel the breeze on your face and smell the fish. Admice this lily of fields. As you continue to travel on your Lenten journey with Jesus, recommit yourself.
How are others helping you on this journey?
Last week you reflected on what it means to be a disciple and how you are responding to your call to discipleship. Our focus this week is on two of Jesus' special disciples, the one who is called "the beloved disciple" and Mary of Magdala.
These disciples show us that true discipleship includes
hearing the word of God;
believing in Jesus as son of God;
LOVING Jesus and all other people;
acting on or living out this LOVE.
Both "the beloved disciple" and Mary of Magdala portrayed in the gospel of John can represent for us the fullness of discipleship. Jesus loved them, both of whom came to believe in him and love him more fully because of their experience with him.
The Beloved Disciple appears only in the fourth gospel, commonly called the "Gospel of John." Completely faithful during the crucial events of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection, he is never identified by name but only by the beautiful title, "the disciple whom Jesus loved."
Many Scripture scholars have puzzled over his identity for years. We can be quite sure he is not John the Apostle because John is too clearly identified in the other disciple stories. We know that the Beloved Disciple was very young and probably lived longer than the other disciples. Scripture scholars think that the Beloved Disciple was the witness who shared his experience with the writer of the fourth gospel, called the gospel of John.
This faithful and beloved disciple teaches us that the Christian's greatest role is to be a beloved disciple of Jesus. We see him at all the key moments of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection.
You may want to read these passages where the Beloved Disciple is present with Jesus:
* at the last supper (13:23-26, 15:27);
* outside the high priest's palace after Jesus' arrest (18:15-16);
* at the foot of the cross with Mary, Jesus' mother (19:26-27, 35);
* at the empty tomb (20:2-10);
* on the shore after the resurrection (21:7);
* at the end of the gospel regarding his future (21:20-24)
In the Last Supper passage we read, "Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to his Father" After the washing of the disciples' feet in which Jesus shows humility and love, he announces that someone will betray him. The "disciple whom Jesus loved" is reclining closest to Jesus at the table so Peter gets him to ask, "Who is it?" Note this contrasting tableau near Jesus: the disciple whom Jesus loves, Peter who will deny him, and Judas who will betray him.
In the poignant passage at the foot of the cross we read, "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, standing near, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home."
His mother is in company with other faithful women disciples, including Mary of Magdala. But the Beloved Disciple is the only male disciple here; the others have run off. We are told that both the mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple are "standing near." This refers to their physical location, of course, but it also means that they are "standing" as witnesses. They "stand up" for Jesus.
Jesus addresses his mother with great respect as "woman". The title "woman" universalizes her and shows her dignity. He calls attention to her and puts her into intimate relation with the Beloved Disciple. Neither person is named but is described by a title ("mother" and "disciple whom he loved"). They are identified by their mission in order to universalize their witness and their love.
Three days after Jesus' burial, Mary Magdala goes to the tomb very early in the morning to anoint his body. Seeing that the stone has been removed, she runs to Peter and "the other disciple whom Jesus loved" to tell them that the body has been taken away. So Peter and the Beloved Disciple go to the tomb. They both run, but the other disciple runs faster than Peter and arrives at the tomb first.
Bending down, he sees the burial cloths there, but does not go in. We read: "Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed." This other disciple, the one who is called "beloved" and who is self-effacing and sensitive, "saw and believed."
When Jesus appears to the disciples after the Resurrection and prepares a breakfast picnic, the disciple "whom Jesus loved" recognizes him and says to Peter, "It is the Lord."
The Beloved Disciple is the one who recognizes Jesus and who discreetly tells Peter Jesus' identity. Only later do the other disciples understand who the resurrected Jesus is. The Beloved Disciple's love gives him his insight. What a beautiful prayer: "It is the Lord." The Beloved Disciple is so attuned to the Lord because he has never denied Jesus or run away. He lives out his love all through the Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
The message of the Beloved Disciple is one of love. You might want to use his words, "It is the Lord," as
your mantra during the rest of Lent. You might want to think of yourself as "the disciple whom Jesus loves."
The Beloved Disciple is witness to all that Jesus has stood for. The faith and love of this disciple are very
deep. Ask yourself: "How am I a witness for love?"
We might also call Mary of Magdala a disciple who loves much. She is a prominent disciple who is always listed first among the women who followed Jesus. That her name appears twelve times in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John shows her importance.
Mary of Magdala first appears in the Fourth Gospel when we see her standing with the mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross. The longest account of Mary of Magdala is found in chapter 20 of this gospel. She is shown here not only as a faithful disciple but also as the apostle to the apostles because she announces the resurrection to the others. An apostle is a follower of Jesus who gave witness to his resurrection.
"Early in the morning on the first day of the week," Mary of Magdala goes to the tomb where Jesus' body has been laid. She shows her courage and faith in going to a dark cemetery alone. She informs two of the other disciples as soon as she discovers the empty tomb. At this point she thinks "they" have taken the Lord from the tomb.
When the two disciples, Peter and the Beloved Disciple, come running to the tomb, the Beloved Disciple defers to Peter who goes in first. But it is this Beloved Disciple who sees and believes. Neither understands the scripture "that he had to rise from the dead" and so, rather anticlimactically, they "go home."
Mary remains in the garden, standing outside the tomb weeping. As she weeps, she looks into the tomb and sees two angels who say to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She says to them, "They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they laid him."
Mary stays, weeping copiously. She does not yet know that she need not weep.
Her encounter with Jesus is one of the most beautiful moments in the gospel.
Mary turns around and sees Jesus there, but does not know it is Jesus. He says, "Woman, why are you weeping? whom are you looking for?" Thinking it is the gardener, she says, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
Jesus addresses Mary as "Woman," the same term of respect he used for his mother at the foot of the cross. Jesus' use of this phrase, "Whom do you seek," echoes the calling of his first disciples at the beginning of the Fourth gospel.
When he calls her by name, "Mary," she answers "Rabboni," meaning "Teacher" in Hebrew. Her answer shows her in her role as a disciple, one who learns from her teacher.
We can hear the love in this encounter as Jesus calls her name and Mary responds. The implications for discipleship in this exchange of names is tremendous: they recognize each other by voice and name.
When Mary announces to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," she uses words similar to the Beloved Disciple's "It is the Lord." Even the Beloved Disciple, who saw the empty tomb and believed, has not yet seen the risen Jesus as Mary has.
On what occasions in your life have you been able to exclaim, "It is the Lord" or "I have seen the Lord"?
Treasure your memories of these moments of grace, and thank God for them. Hear Jesus calling you by
name, as he called Mary. How would you respond?
You may wish to conclude this session of your retreat by saying this prayer slowly and reflectively:
Loving God, you call me by name. Guide my steps as I continue to walk with Jesus on the way that leads to you. Bless all who walk with me as we try to be disciples who believe in Jesus, who love Jesus and all people, and who live in this love. I make my prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.
"Journeying with Jesus: A Lenten Retreat" will continue with Week 4: Reconciliation |
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