We publish a Parish Magazine 4 times a year and in each Magazine there is a letter from Jonathan Smith, the Vicar at St John's. Here is the Easter 2006 one:
One of the great mediums of communication is art. A picture may convey the depth and power of a subject which a thousand words cannot. One of my favourite paintings of all time, certainly in my top three, is Titian's Noli me Tangere.
The translation is usually given as "Touch me Not" but a better sense is evidenced by the translation "Do not cling to me". The subjects are Jesus Christ risen from the dead very early in the morning of the first Easter Day and Mary Magdalene, one of his close friends whom he healed and restored from madness. Christ is still wearing the grave clothes, which are flapping about him, and somewhat incongruously he is carrying a hoe, thus to echo Mary's first thought on seeing him "supposing him to be the gardener". Mary Magdalene, dressed in a scarlet robe, thus hinting at a previously sinful life, is reaching out to Jesus in that precise moment when she perceives that her Lord is come back to life. He, in an aspect of almost unbearable pity, arches away from her and thus her outstretched right hand cannot quite reach him.
I once went to a lecture about this painting, a fascinating exercise in itself, and learned so much about its symbolism, particularly in the background. For instance, the tree and bush behind the two characters exactly mirror their posture and attitude. Mary is desperate to hold on to her Lord and Jesus will not allow it. It has been suggested that Jesus' words are a reproach to Mary but even a cursory look at his face can see that he is not angry or cross but full of love and gentleness.
Why? Why was Mary not allowed to touch? At a purely human level it seems unfair and unfeeling. What, though, must be remembered is that in his resurrection Christ is portraying his Divine nature. The days of the wandering Rabbi, teaching, preaching and healing by his physical presence are over. What Jesus is showing Mary is that true to his promise, he will not leave her or any of his followers, indeed his presence with them abides for all time. However, this is not to be a physical presence apprehended by the physical senses, rather it is to be a spiritual presence discerned and known in the human soul. The love Mary has for Christ, which had transformed her earthly life, must now itself be transformed. "Do not cling to me" prepares Mary for the Ascension, when Christ returns to the glory of heaven from whence he has come. He returns so that he may prepare a place there for all who love and follow him. "Do not let your hearts be troubled believe in God and believe also in me; in my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (John's Gospel Chapter 14 Verses 1 & 2)
Eastertide comes at the beginning of Spring. All around us there is new life; the buds bursting into life have, for centuries, been to Christians a metaphor for the heavenly life which awaits the end of our earthly course. May you have that assurance which transcends the realm of the physical and is known in the deep places of the soul.
Happy Easter
