“They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” -John 20:2
“They have closed the schools today, and it’s not even snowing that much!”
“They have raised the price of gas this week!”
“They are burning down churches across Canada!”
"They have treated indigenous people horribly!"
Don’t we have an interesting use of the word ‘they’. Some semi-anonymous group that seems to do things that impact our lives in some way. It seems to be an entry point to describe a depersonalized authority that has some impact on our daily lives, good or bad. However we define ‘they’ seems to depend on the point we are trying to make, maybe our political stance or assumptions. ‘They’ is depersonalized, abstract, but clearly an actor with authority. Perhaps if we put a face on ‘they’ we would be less critical, or more critical…
If ‘they’ is Dr. Robert Strang, it seems like many people will give him the benefit of the doubt, unless you are an anti-vaxxer.
If ‘they’ is Boris Johnson or Jeff Bezos it seems we are more prone to mockery.
The ‘they’ in the gospel reading today are causing Mary a high level of stress. She is simply a grieving woman and she has no idea who ‘they’ is – could it be grave robbers, the high priests, the Romans? She doesn’t know. She does know that the body of her dear friend is gone and ‘they’ did it. They - the unknown, bland, faceless people who do things behind the scenes that impact us and can afford us the opportunity to not use our own initiative.
‘They’ took his body and ‘we’ do not know where it has been placed.
‘They’ seems to be a catch-phrase for what someone else has done or needs to do.
‘They’ need to fix the church.
‘They’ need to talk to the indigenous people to fix this awful situation.
A world dominated by ‘they’ is one in which we have given our agency for action to faceless power-brokers behind the scenes and we are not in control of our destiny.
Mary sees a man, and in her grief says, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Even in her grief, she confronts the anonymity of ‘they’ and is motivated by action. Not just any action, but loving action of care. Basically, she says, “Just tell me where his body is and I will take it from there.” She just needs to know where to start.
Who is ‘they’ for us right now, in this point of history? Whether it is residential schools, federal politics, municipal politics or parish amalgamation, there is an opportunity for us to demystify the ‘they’ by taking personal action, loving action, that shows our concrete resolve for faithful, loving action in a world that needs faithful, loving action.
‘They’ did not relegate Jesus to death.
‘They’ did not prevent the resurrection.
Some things will never change, ‘so they say’ and you can never go wrong by applying a little personal, loving action. But everything did change, Jesus Christ is alive and Mary Magdalene went and proclaimed this good news.
‘They’ don’t need to proclaim the gospel. We do.
This is great, Fr. Rob. Until you pointed it out, I've never noticed the transition Mary makes -- from "they" have done something, to "I" must do something. It's a model for us, particularly because she does it under trying conditions. We need to put aside our own grief, fear, anger, etc. and take that loving action.
ReplyDeleteThank you, good professor.
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