By Beverly Conover
Our passage this morning is from John 20:1-18.
John 20:1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance
20:2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
Let's pause briefly here for an historical side note about grave robbing during those times. It was very common and became such a problem that it became a crime with severe consequences, even sometimes death. No wonder Mary was distraught!
Let's read on:
20:3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb.
20:4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
20:5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn't go in.
20:6-7 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.
20:8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed--
20:9 for until then they still hadn't understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.
20:10 Then they went home
John 20:11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.
20:12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus had been lying.
20:13 "Dear woman, why are you crying?" the angels asked her.
"Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, “and I don't know where they have put him."
20:14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him.
20:15 "Dear woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. Who are you looking for?" She thought he was the gardener. "Sir, she
said, "if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him."
20:16 "Mary!" Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, "Rabboni!" (which is Hebrew for "Teacher").
20:17 "Don't cling to me," Jesus said, "for I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
20:18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord!" Then she gave them his message.
Wow! What a beautiful, true glimpse of our risen Lord and his interaction with Mary Magdalene. Let's take a look at what the Bible tells us about her.
- In Luke 8:1-3 we find her among those Jesus took with him as he was preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. Verse 2 says "... Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven demons."
- In Matthew 27:55-56 she is watching his crucifixion "from a distance"
- In John 19:25-27 she is standing near the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus and His mother's sister. She witnesses his tender care for his widowed mother, in the midst of his agony, passing responsibility for her care to his disciple John.
- Mark 15:47 says she "saw where Jesus' body was laid".
- In Mark 16:1 after the end of the Sabbath at sundown, she and two other women "went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus' body".
- So, we come to our passage in John 20. In verses 1-3 she sees Jesus empty tomb and runs, distraught, to tell Peter and John.
- She stands outside the tomb weeping, so deep in her grief that her conversation with two angels doesn't impact her (verses 11-13).
- In verse 14 she turns to leave, still grieving, still weeping and sees Jesus, whom she mistakes for the gardener, who may have moved her beloved Lord's body.
- Jesus tenderly calls her name "Mary!"and she is undone.
She cries out, "Rabboni!", falls down and holds on to his feet.
Rabboni means: My beloved Master, My Teacher, My Lord, one with divine authority, my highly esteemed spiritual leader.
In the culture of that time, grasping someone's feet conveyed profound respect and humility, could be a plea for mercy or an acknowledgment of authority.
Jesus tells her: "Don't cling to me, for I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
As one commentator put it, "the attitude that Jesus is encouraging in his disciples, including the women, is not one of passive amazement, but of active mission."
So, Mary obeys her beloved Lord, and goes immediately, without argument, to tell the disciples, "I have seen the Lord!"
What an astounding message Jesus sends her with to his "brothers"! (Matthew 12:49-50 comes to mind: "Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."). He calls his Father, their Father, and his God, their God. All because of his finished work on the cross!!
How like our amazing Jesus to choose a woman as his first witness in a culture that did not give credibility to women as witnesses.
How like him to choose a woman with a "past", from whom he had cast out seven demons, a woman who knew she had been forgiven much, so she loved much (see Luke 7:47).
May we become more and more aware of how much we have been forgiven every day and may our love for our Savior grow and deepen.
Bibliography
Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Carol Stream, Illinois
Copyright 2015
Moody, Josh: John 13-21 For You: Revealing the way of true glory (God's Word for You)
The Good Book Company 2017
Armand, Mary Rooney The Story of Mary Magdalene-Four Lessons; butterfly living.org