John 20:1-16 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
Mary Magdalene was among the first to discover the empty tomb. The death of Jesus had meant something awful for everyone who had followed Him, but it was especially troubling to her. Jesus had delivered her from 7 demons (Luke 8:2). She had gone from demoniac to disciple in one incredible miracle. It wasn’t until she met Jesus that she could think clearly. It wasn’t until she encountered Jesus’ power that she could have peace. It wasn’t until she experienced Jesus’ authority at work on her physical body, her mind, and her spirit that she was no longer a slave to the devil. She was free to love and serve the Lord, and that is what she had done. She had traveled in the company of the disciples, being just as devoted as the 12 men whose names we often remember when we think of the disciples. She had helped fund Jesus’ mission. She knew He was the Messiah, the One with power and authority, the One to follow because she knew what He had done for her.
But she watched Him die. She stood there at the cross. She knew what she had seen. Jesus was gone. What would that mean for her? Would the demons that possessed her and tormented her and stolen her life, would they return? Would she be forced to live as a prisoner again? If Jesus was dead, was His power gone forever? Was she vulnerable to attacks from the powers of darkness?
John tells the story a little differently than the other Gospel writers. He lets us see Mary wrestle with and process the whole thing. He shows us the raw, human emotion she felt and worked through. He allows us to see her doubt and her distress.
John doesn’t say she went in to investigate. He doesn’t say she even looked inside. It says she just saw the stone had been removed. She just observed from the outside and never got closer to learn the truth, and she went running to tell two of the disciples that some people had stolen Jesus’ body. Why do you think she didn’t take a minute to peek inside? Why jump to the conclusion that the grave had been robbed instead of the reality which was that the grave had been conquered?
The way John tells the story, she must have gone back to the tomb with Peter and John, and she watched THEM go in, but again she didn’t go in. She had already committed to a belief that Jesus’ body had been stolen. In verse 8, John saw and believed. John knew that the grave hadn’t been robbed. John knew that Jesus had robbed the grave!
The two male disciples left, but Mary, verse 11, tells us, stood outside crying. She still hadn’t gone in. She hadn’t even been swayed by John’s belief. While she was still crying, she then looked inside. When she did, there were two angels in the tomb. Mary seemed un-phased by the presence of the angels. You would think she would have had a reaction to them sitting inside of the tomb, but she just conversed with them as if they were any other ordinary person. They asked her, “Why are you crying?” She proceeded to tell the angels that the crypt had been robbed-that Jesus’ body had been stolen. To Mary Magdalene, death meant death, and because of that, she couldn’t conceive of any other explanation other than a robbery.
She turned around and there was Jesus, only she didn’t recognize Him. Maybe it was still kind of dark and she didn’t get a good look at Him at first? Maybe her tears had caused her vision to be blurry. We know emotion can cloud our ability to see and understand what is really going on. Maybe her fear and grief had so overwhelmed her that she couldn’t see Jesus even when He was standing RIGHT in front of her. Jesus also asked her why she was crying. It was tragic that she was weeping during the most exciting and dramatic moment in all of history! She could have been rejoicing! She could have been singing and dancing and running and shouting and celebrating! She could have been “high-fiving” angels and Jesus, Himself. How sad. How unnecessary.
She began to tell Jesus that someone had stolen His body. I honestly don’t know how He kept a straight face. Wouldn’t that have been hilarious? It wasn’t until Jesus spoke her name, “Mary,” that she snapped out of the realm of death and grave robbery and into the reality of eternal life with Jesus. What will it take for some people to snap out of the realm of death and come alive into the reality of eternal life with Jesus? Just as He was standing in front of Mary that day, He is present with us, calling us to attention, inviting us to see Him!
There is a nuance in this account I had never seen before. I don’t want you to miss it. Look at verse 16 again: Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
Mary had to turn toward Jesus after He called her name. You know what that tells me? She had turned away from Him. If you have to turn toward Someone, it is because you weren’t facing them, right? Mary was about to leave His presence without discovering who He really was! Oh, friends, how many of us get so close to Him, how many of us get face to face with Jesus only to turn away, to walk away, to leave with our fears and anxieties and burdens still weighing us down? How can Jesus dry our tears when we walk away from Him? She almost missed the Resurrection. How tragic would it have been? To be in the presence of the Risen Lord and to miss the miracle of the Resurrection?
When Jesus spoke Mary’s name, she knew that she no longer had to fear any demon. Whatever had come after her before she met Jesus could no longer overtake her because the power of Jesus can never die. If Mary hadn’t embraced the Resurrected Jesus she would have still lived in fear. She would have still allowed death to have the final word instead of Jesus. That is NO WAY to live.
Don’t stand on the outside looking in!
Don’t weep when you can rejoice!
Don’t turn away from the One who can make all things new!
Don’t live in the realm of spiritual death. Let the blood of Jesus cover you!
Don’t live in the realm of death and defeat. Follow the Resurrected King and live as a conqueror!
Give up death and walk in the power of the Resurrection!
