Seven Sundays To Easter: Mary Magdalene’s Undying Love For A Risen Savior Series

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.