1. Try to describe, in your own words, the emotional and psychological experience of Mary Magdalene before and as she encountered the “missing body” of Jesus on that first Easter morning. What were her hopes, and how had they been disappointed? What were her desires that Sunday?
2. Why do you think it was Jesus’ saying her name that made such a difference in Mary Magdalene’s experience? Why did this action awaken her consciousness to a new reality that was literally staring her in the face?
3. Some people say that Easter is a “spiritual” festival that celebrates possibility and springtime and hope, and sometimes people don’t speak much at all about the physicality of the resurrection of Jesus. What is lost in our understanding and experience of Easter if Jesus has not been raised and glorified in the same body in which he died?
4. Over and over in our Lenten studies of Jesus with his disciples in the Upper Room, we’ve heard Jesus talk about the fact that he is “going away,” and returning to his Father. It might seem odd for us to hear the resurrected Jesus tell Mary Magdalene not to “hold on to him” since he’s going to his Father. But why is this good news instead of bad news for Mary, and for us? Why is it good news for the entire creation that Jesus goes to his Father?
5. Are you the kind of person who tends to doubt the resurrection of Jesus? Or are you the kind of person who has no problem believing in the resurrection of Jesus, but simply has difficulty applying that reality to your everyday experience? Discuss your doubts and/or your struggles to live in light of Jesus’ resurrection. What do you think it would require for your belief and/or your experience to change, so that you lived like you knew this good news was true?
6. What is God saying to you? What are you going to do about it? Who is going to help you?