Mary Magdalene was one of the few who had the courage to stay with Jesus until the time of His death on the cross. She goes back to the tomb to be where she had been with the Beloved for the last time. She looks for Jesus with whom she had lived for the last three years.
The disciples from Emmaus will see Jesus, but will not recognize him (Lk 24:15-16). The same thing happens to Mary Magdalene. She sees Jesus, but does not recognize Him.
She thinks He is the gardener. But she is looking for the Jesus of the past, the same as He was three days previously. The image of Jesus as He was stops her from recognizing the living Jesus, present before her.
Jesus pronounces the name "Mary!" This was the signal for her to recognize Him: the same voice, the same manner of saying the name.
She replies, "Master!" Jesus has come back, and it was the same Jesus who had died on the cross.
Her first impression is that death was just a painful incident along the way, and that now all was back as it was before. Mary embraces Jesus strongly. It was the same Jesus she knew.
In fact, it is the same Jesus, but the manner of being with her is not the same. Jesus says to her, "Do not cling to Me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father!" He will go to the Father.
Mary Magdalene must leave Jesus and take on her mission: to announce to the brothers that Jesus has ascended to the Father. Jesus opened the way for us and brought God close to us again.
The way the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene is described makes us realize the stages of the journey she has to go through, from the painful search to the new encounter of Easter.
These too are the stages we all have to go through in our lives, the search for God by living the Gospel, especially in the most difficult situation of our life.
Happy Easter 2020, the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene is the same as the His appearance to us.