My Grandmom Rayer used to make a macaroni salad for every BBQ we had as a family. When she passed away, my mom was trying to mimic the salad, and I said, “It doesn’t have green olives in it.” My mom surprised said something like That’s right. She did put green olives in it. Internally, I was thinking, how could you forget the olives? It was the ingredient that set the salad apart. Everything else was the same as any other macaroni salad—mayo, onions, celery, celery seed, vinegar. The only reason I liked my grandmom’s macaroni salad was because of the green olives.
My husband was introduced to the magical recipe after we were married, but he hates olives. He insisted I try making it without the olives, and when I did, he hated it (which I knew he would-ha!). He can now be heard proclaiming that the olives are a necessary ingredient even though he eats around them. The flavor they bring are important to the other ingredients around it.
Today on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, I am thinking about what an unexpected ingredient she was at the Resurrection. The first to see Jesus. The apostle to the apostles. What is it about her that Jesus chose her to be the first to appear to in the Gospels?
Maybe it was her humility. Maybe it was her deep love to Jesus. Maybe He knew she would be further transformed by His coming to her first. Maybe He is teaching us how He desires to use redeemed sinners. Maybe He is teaching us that those in deep grief need to experience Him first before they can let go of their grief. Maybe He is teaching us that the apostles are not the only ones with a role in His resurrection. Maybe He is teaching us that He chooses women for unique, unrepeatable roles in this world. Maybe He is teaching us that Church leaders need women or any of us telling them how we witness Jesus in the world. Maybe that witness reminds them to run to Jesus looking for Him in unexpected ways.
I also thought about that word “Woman” he uses when he addresses St. Mary Magdalene in John’s Gospel. The same He uses for Mary, His mother, at His first miracle and when He gives her to us as a mother from the cross. “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” John 20:15 NAB
The address of “woman” does not have the name effect on Mary Magdalene that it had on His mother. The Blessed Mother knows Jesus’ heart and why He calls her that, but not Mary Magdalene. Jesus must say her name, “Mary!” and then she sees Him. Maybe this is a lesson in being tied to things of this world, who we are by standards of this world, but when Jesus calls us by name, we are called to a new world view. We are called to see Jesus and tell others about Him.
There is so much we can learn from this unexpected ingredient and the flavor it can bring to our own prayer life and faith journey. I know everyone is not a fan of green olives, but I think it’s a safe bet to say we can all be grateful for the unexpected ingredient of St. Mary Magdalene that Jesus artfully places in the story of His Resurrection. She can teach us a lot about how we can let go of things of this world–our sin, our suffering, our poor self image, our desire for control–because Jesus calls us by name. Through Him, we are redeemed. In Him, we belong. With Him, we need nothing else for we live in infinite love.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 NAB
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