Think, think
Literally it is written, She turned back and saw [Greek: theorèo] Jesus standing there, and did not know [Greek: òida] that it was Jesus. Mary Magdalene saw Jesus standing there in front of her, glowing with light and splendor, more beautiful of the sun, she sees him but does not recognize him. How is it possible? How can you not recognize whom you have loved and still love so much, the one who changed your life forever? How is it that the eyes fail to see up to this point?
The explanation lies in the text of the Gospel and in the physiological reality of the cognitive processes of the human brain. In order to describe Mary Magdalene's intellectual and spiritual attitude, when she turns back and sees Jesus, the text uses the word theorèo, which means "I see." Etymologically it is related to the watching of the spectator, or of the observer who looks in order to comfort an opinion, to reinforce a mentality, a theory. Mary turns back to her conventions, beliefs, habits, back to the theories which feed a way of thinking with thoughts steeped in the past, in regrets, in how it should have been. Mary turns back exactly to a mental place where there is nothing else to see, discover, understand and know, if not what her mind knows and has decided to know. The gospel explains punctually and perfectly this misleading process and literally says (v. 15), Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought - believed, retained in herself the idea - it was the gardener and said. Mary Magdalene can in no way recognize Jesus, see Him just in front of her, because as long as she is looking, she is thinking, she is wondering, she is creating opinions in her mind. Our eyes cannot see what the mind does not know, does not want to see, cannot see, is not ready to see, is not used to seeing. Mary Magdalene looks up towards Jesus, sees him physically, but what she sees is new, is greater, unknown, is beyond, outside the reach of her usual perception, is not part of her notions, of her assumed mental habits, and therefore she really does not see Jesus. Mary Magdalene sees Jesus, but in her mind, that living Jesus, new, bright and radiant, that Jesus who has gone beyond death is unacceptable, is not part of her memories, he is impossible in her desires, so she does not see him, does not recognize him. This is the blind seeing of the verb theorèo. It is a kind of seeing which does not lead to knowledge, because it is the mental view darkened after the rebellion against God in the Garden of Eden, and from that moment on man can no longer see God, all of us can no longer see God. Only when Jesus called her by name, only when information coming from the sound frequency of the voice of the Master is added to the light frequency information, does Mary turn back toward herself and her mental conventions, to her dark memories and broken desires, but draws her mental and spiritual eyes away, she turns to Jesus and knows, recognizes, sees and understands.
In order to learn to see and recognize Jesus' divine, absolute, continuous novelty, we have to never think for a moment that we have understood anything, and on what we think we have understood, not theorize with our minds, not feed ourselves on mental ruminations, acquired certainties. Before Jesus any untouchable conviction, any mental crystallization shadows real knowledge, it is a dark cloud that blinds our minds and souls. We may love Jesus, worship and follow him, but we cannot lock him up in religious constitutions, in the narrow space of precepts, devotions, human habits. Jesus is always new and liberating, always.