Introduction: Mary Magdalene was one of the women who followed Jesus during His earthly ministry. Jesus had cast seven demons out of her at an earlier time (Luke 7-8:2) so no doubt she would be grateful for that miracle. She was there when the Lord’s body was laid in the tomb (Mark 15:40-47) and was one of the group of women who came back to the tomb on Resurrection Day (the last chapter of Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention her).
John devoted much of chapter 20 to describe Mary’s visit to the tomb on Resurrection Day. She left wherever it was where she was staying to bring spices back to the tomb (Luke 24:1) because she and the others were not expecting an empty tomb. No, they were expecting to see a body of their Lord, badly mangled by the abuse many had inflicted on Him (John 18-19, e.g.). But when she, and they, arrived, none of them saw the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ!
HE HAD RISEN!!
Sadly, they had all forgotten the Lord’s promise that He would indeed rise again. So, when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, and found it empty, it was more than she could handle. She had an undying Love for her Savior—but how could she express it?
1 She arrived at the tomb, but later departed:
Text, John 20:1-2, KJV: 1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Mary Magdalene had returned to the tomb on that Resurrection Day morning. When she arrived, one of the first things she saw was the stone “taken away” from the sepluchre or grave. This would have been startling, to say the least: according to Matthew 27, Pilate gave his approval for a guard of soldiers to be stationed near the tomb. Beyond that, there was a seal placed on the stone and the tomb. Grave-robbing, then as now, was not particularly tolerated. I heard a Bible teacher say, several years ago, that back then, if you broke the seal of a grave, you had just signed your own death warrant.
Granted, the people who wanted Jesus dead, or out of the way, knew well how Jesus had prophesied He would rise from the dead. For one thing, the seal on the grave was to keep people out, and to reduce the risk of someone stealing the body or anything else in the tomb. For another, they may have thought that sealing the tomb would keep the deceased person inside. As strange as that may sound, these leaders seemed to use any trick in the book (and some not in the book) to remove Jesus and deny any chance of anyone saying the Lord had come back to life.
Mary had no idea the Lord would come back to life, as well, and the changes since Crucifixion Day seemed to be more than she could handle or, maybe, cope with. She and Mary the mother of Joses had both “beheld” where the Lord’s body had been laid. It’s interesting that Mark used a word for “beheld” that has more intensity, for lack of a better word, than just to “look at” something. According to other Bible teachers, the Mary’s seemed to make careful mental notes as to where the tomb was located as well as perhaps other details. There had been at least two other men crucified at the same time as Jesus and something would have had to be done with those bodies, too. So the women seemed to pinpoint the exact location where the Lord’s body was placed after He died.
Faced with all of this change, and a new uncertainty of what really was going on, Mary decided to head back to Jerusalem. She and the others may have walked (trudged?) through Jerusalem on the way to Calvary, but now, Mary ran, maybe as fast as she could, finding Peter and John. Did she ever have a story to tell them!
2 She returned to the tomb and spoke with the angels
Text, John 20:11-13, KJV: 11But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
Text, John 20:3-10, KJV: 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
Verses 3-10 relate how Peter and John both ran to the tomb and what they saw. Peter had actually entered the tomb and saw the linen “napkin” which had been placed (wrapped?) around the Lord’s head. Something that many people might not notice, including me, is that there is a social or cultural significance about the napkin being wrapped up and in a place by itself (verse 7). A local community’s monthly newsletter had a feature about this verse: the writer observed that if a person had left, say, a meal or dinner, he would simply toss the napkin off to the side. But to roll it up and put it in a place by itself had a much different meaning: it meant, “I’m coming back!”
And our Lord certainly did come back, just not in the way the disciples had thought He would.
Peter and John had returned to Jerusalem (verse 10) but Mary Magdalene, for whatever reason, decided to stay at the tomb. John recorded how she first stood outside the “sepulcher”, weeping while she did this. Oddly enough, there is no mention that Peter or John did any weeping during this time. But Mary seemed to be so full of grief that the only way she could express it was through her tears.
While she was still weeping, she looked again into the sepulcher. She had already done this earlier that morning (Mark 16:5) before running to Jerusalem to inform the disciples. What, if anything, might she be expecting, when she took this second look?
Something she didn’t expect to see were two angels, dressed in white clothing, sitting at the place where the Lord’s head and feet had been placed inside the tomb. Mary must have still been crying, because they asked her, “Woman (a term of endearment or respect in those days), why are you crying (paraphrased)?”
Mary’s reply must have come from the depths of her soul. She, maybe between sobs, told them, “they took my Lord’s body away from here, and I don’t know where they took Him (paraphrased)”. Whoever she meant by “they” is not specified: she may have been speaking about the soldiers (but would they have broken the very seal they had sworn to defend?) or perhaps another group (the religious leaders, but would they have risked becoming defiled or “unclean” during Passover time?). Could she have been thinking about robbers? After all, Barabbas had been a robber and may have developed skills (!) to help make a robbery like this happen—but in light of all the precautions to keep something like this from happening, even this seems unlikely. Even so, she may have had still another person in mind.
3 She spoke with the Lord Himself!
Text, John 20:14-17, KJV: 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Mary had been looking into the tomb, weeping, and finished a brief conversation with two angels. She may not have known who these angels were (they were not identified by name) or even if they were angels. The grief she was feeling was so strong that she, interestingly, was not afraid of these angels—notice they didn’t say “Fear not” or anything like that. Nor did they demand worship, sacrifice, or any other thing. They were there to minister, and they did so.
Mary now “turned herself back”, most likely meaning she was facing another direction besides the entrance to the tomb. Now she was about to speak with another Person, Someone Who had apparently just returned to the tomb’s location.
But she had no idea just Who this Person was. Not yet.
The Person (as yet unknown to Mary Magdalene) asked Mary a simple, caring question: “Woman (again, a term of respect such as “Miss” or “Ma’am” in those days) why weepest thou Whom sleekest thou?” Why are you crying? And who are you searching for (the idea being she wouldn’t have come back to the tomb unless she was looking for someone’s body)?
Just how long Mary had been back at the tomb is unknown but she absolutely was grief stricken. She and others had come to anoint the body of Jesus for a proper burial (that’s what she and the others had been thinking) but the stone was gone and the body was gone. She had no idea what to do next.
Then an idea or suggestion came to her. Mary thought the Person was a gardener or caretaker of a garden according to multiple commentaries. The exact function of a gardener, such as what he would actually do, near a tomb is uncertain. At any rate, Mary was still weeping (how long had she been doing this?) and replied, “Sir, if you took the body of Jesus away from here, please let me know, and I’ll take Him away.” I have to confess that this seemed precious yet puzzling, in that she was indeed concerned for the Lord’s body, but where was she intending to take it? If she did find the Lord’s body, what was she going to do? Was she intending to take the body back to this tomb? And further, how was she going to transport the body—did she plan on carrying it by herself from wherever to wherever?
Did she really think it through? Admittedly, grief can and sometimes does cloud good judgment but the sincere desire of Mary Magdalene to show such respect to the Lord’s body speaks well for her. Nobody else seemed to show that much care, did they?
But all of that disappeared in just one moment, with just one word. The Lord said, simply, “Mary”. No other message, no condemnation, no reproof, nothing except one word.
For Mary, that one word was enough.
She said, “Rabboni!” the Aramaic word for “My Teacher” or “rabbi”. Certainly, Mary and the other followers had heard any number of the Lord’s lessons, sermons, and so forth as He and they had journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem. But she had seen Him die and no doubt all of her hopes had died with Him. She and others had even brought spices to anoint His body before, as she believed, the body was given a proper burial.
Now all of that was gone, and everything had changed.
BECAUSE JESUS WAS ALIVE!!!
Mary must have fallen down at the Lord’s feet, apparently clutching them with all of her strength! Jesus took notice of this and said, “Stop clinging to Me” or, perhaps more colloquially, “Let go of Me, Mary!” He went on to say that He had not yet ascended or gone back to the Father—which He did, once and for all, 40 days later (see Acts 1)—and that she was to go back to Jerusalem, then tell His “brethren” that He would “ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”
Thus we have the first conversation between the Risen Lord and one of His followers, a woman whom Jesus had delivered from demon possession. Jesus did not make a public appearance (“Look, people, you killed Me but I am alive!”) or cause the heavenly host to announce His resurrection such as they did when He was born (Luke 2:13-14). In this case, He gave this privilege to a solitary follower of His—and she did exactly what He asked her to do
Conclusion: She returned to Jerusalem and told the disciples what she had seen
Text, John 20:18, KJV Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Mary Magdalene and the other women mentioned in Luke 24 had gone to the tomb early in the morning, still dark when they left but the sun had apparently risen by the time they got there. Mary had informed the disciples of what the women had seen, and then Peter and John ran to the tomb in order to see for themselves what had happened. They returned, Mary stayed, and after speaking with two angels, spoke with the Risen Lord Himself. The Lord gave her one instruction, namely, to report back to the disciples that He was alive.
And she did it!
You and I have some of the greatest news in all of the world, that there is a Risen Savior, Christ the Lord, Who gave Himself for our sins and provides salvation as a gift (Romans 6:23 and many other Scriptures). We have the chance to share this Great News with many people. During this Easter season, may we too share and experience some of the undying love Mary Magdalene had for the Savior and Lord Whom she loved.
As the old hymn says, “Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me!”
Happy Easter, everybody!
Scripture quotations were taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
