Thought for the Day-Seeing Salvation

Earthrise by William Anders, Apollo 8, NASA, 1968

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 7th April 2026 based on John 20.11–18

The Artemis II mission has filled our screens and newspapers over the weekend with some amazing images of both the earth and the moon. 

Comparisons have been made with the Apollo Missions - particularly Apollo 8 in 1968, one image from which - later named “Earthrise” - had a profound effect on the way we see the world. 

The photograph shows the earth rising above the moon, surrounded by the vastness of space. 

At that time - also one of widespread global unrest - there was a sense that what astronaut William Anders saw from the window of the space capsule and captured on camera, began to help to change the way we see the world. The image offered an answer to what many were looking for. An understanding that the earth is not an asset divided by geopolitical territories but a beautiful - and fragile - ecosystem. Humanity’s shared home.

The events described in today’s gospel reading - what one woman saw in a garden in Jerusalem - has had an even greater transformative effect on humankind. 

After witnessing the horror of the crucifixion then finding the tomb of Jesus open, Mary Magdalene runs to tell Peter and John.

They come, they see the empty tomb, the folded grave clothes—and then: they go home.

But Mary stays.

She stands outside the tomb weeping. And as she looks in, through eyes blinded by tears and the light of the rising sun, she sees a figure who asks her:

“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”

She thinks he is the gardener and asks if he knows where the body of Jesus has been laid.

Jesus says, ‘Mary.’

And hearing her name, she turns—and recognises him. 

Because she has been recognised first.

Mary Magdalene becomes the first witness to the resurrection—the first to see the risen Lord.

Honoured in the early Church as the Apostle to the Apostles, she goes to tell the others: “I have seen the Lord.”

After the intensity and drama of the past few days—of Holy Week, of the cross, of the empty tomb—and in the midst of busy lives and crowded thoughts—the gospel this lunchtime invites us to remain.

To stand still, with Mary, in the garden—and to look again.

To see the world anew because of what she saw. To see the salvation of the Lord for ourselves.

What might that look like through our eyes?

Is our salvation freedom from the darkness and confusion that can so easily overwhelm us?

Is it release from those patterns of behaviour we fall back into—again and again—that hold us back from the life we were created to live?

Or perhaps it is the willingness to let go—to relinquish control—and to trust that we are being led into something new.

It can be hard to see our salvation when the things that bind us feel so familiar, so close at hand.

We may find ourselves standing among them —yet sensing, however faintly, that another way is possible.

Today, Mary Magdalene shows us the way to that possibility - that new perspective. 

A different way of seeing. 

A different way of living.

What the first Christians called “The Way.”

May we too remain faithful even when life seems to be most dark and bleak.

To stand still long enough to hear Jesus calling. To hear our name spoken.

 

And hearing it, to turn—like Mary— responding to the grace of God’s call - to see the world anew. To see the reality of our salvation. The freedom that we have received through the death and resurrection of his Son. 

 

And have the courage to embrace it. Casting off what binds us.

 

To see what - whom - we are all looking for - is standing in our midst, calling our name.

 

The Lord is Here.

He is risen indeed. 

Alleluia. 

Image: Earthrise by Bill Anders, NASA