An Intimate Moment with Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-18)
The glorious truth of the Resurrection was not understood immediately by even His closest followers. That's a given. It was a gradually dawning realization upon these grieving people that their Master was not dead, but alive! For Mary Magdalene it meant moving from tears to joy; for the ten disciples it meant going from fear to courage; and for Thomas it meant moving from doubt to assurance. It seems to me, with Mary, the emphasis is on love; with the ten, the emphasis is on hope; and with Thomas, the emphasis is on faith.
As I read through the Scripture and considered Mary Magdalene's experience that Lord's Day morning, I see three stages in her comprehension of the truth of the Resurrection. And you just can't get around the fact that Peter and John are part of this experience, too.
The women on the way to the tomb were concerned about how to get the stone moved, so that they might show their love for Christ in completing the burial preparations. Obviously they were unaware that an earthquake had occurred and the stone had been rolled back by an angel. It seems that Mary Magdalene went ahead of the other women and got to the tomb first. When she saw the stone rolled away, she concluded that somebody had broken into the tomb and stolen the body of her Lord. Some might criticize Mary for jumping to conclusions but really, how could she have reached any other conclusion? It was still dark, she was alone, and, like the other followers of Jesus, she did not believe that He would return from the dead.
She ran flying to give the news to Peter and John, who must have been roommates. Mary's use of the pronoun "we" is interesting, for it included the other women who at that moment were discovering that Jesus was alive! (Check out Mark 16:1-8 and Luke 24:1-8.) The women left the tomb and carried the angels' message to the other disciples.
It is significant that the first witnesses of the resurrection of Christ were believing women. Like CJ noted in the comments yesterday among the Jews in that day, the testimony of women was not held in high regard. But I love how these Christian women had a greater message than that of the Law, for they knew their Savior was alive.
To me, Mary's faith was not extinguished; it was only eclipsed. The light was still there, but it was covered. I see Peter and John were in the same spiritual condition, but soon all three of them would move out of the shadows and into the light.
So, Peter and John go flying off to the tomb, not even waiting for Mary. John got there first and he cautiously remained outside and looked in. John saw the graveclothes lying on the stone shelf without any evidence of violence or crime. But the graveclothes were empty. They lay there like an empty cocoon, still retaining the shape of Jesus' body.
Peter arrives and does just what we would expect him to do. He impulsively went into the tomb. He saw the same thing as John. Grave robbers do not carefully unwrap the corpse and then leave the clothes neatly behind. In fact, with the presence of the spices in the folds of the clothes, it would be almost impossible to unwrap a corpse without damaging the wrappings. The only way those linen clothes could be left in that condition would be if Jesus passed through them as He arose from the dead.
John then entered the tomb and looked at the evidence. "He saw, and believed."
When John wrote this account, he used three different Greek words for seeing. In verse 5, the verb simply means "to glance in, to look in." In verse 6, the word means "to look carefully, to observe." The word "saw" in verse 8 means "to perceive with intelligent comprehension." Their resurrection faith was now dawning!
What kind of faith did Peter and John have at that stage in their spiritual experience? They had faith based on evidence. They could see the graveclothes; they knew that the body of Jesus was not there. However, as good as evidence is to convince the mind, it can never change the life. Those of us who live centuries later cannot examine the evidence, for the material evidence (the tomb, the graveclothes) is no longer there for us to inspect. Be we have the record in the Word of God (John 20:9) and that record is true (19:35; 21:24). In fact, it is faith in the Word that the Lord really wanted to cultivate in His disciples (look at 2:22; 12:16; 14:26). Peter made it clear that the Word of God should be the basis for our faith, not personal experience (1 Peter 1:12-21).
Now let's move into the garden with Mary Magdalene where she lingered alone. When I think of Mary Magdalene in the garden, I recall Proverbs 8:17, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." Mary loved her Lord and came early to the garden to express that love. Peter and John had gone home by the time Mary got back to the tomb. Mary still thought Jesus was dead. This makes me think of another verse, Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
Mary was weeping. Nothing wrong with sorrow because God made us to shed tears; and weeping is good therapy for broken hearts. However, the sorrow of the Christian must be different from the hopeless sorrow of the world, because we have been born again "unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). We weep...not because our believing loved ones have gone to heaven....but because they have left us and we miss them.
When Mary looked into the sepulcher, she saw two men in white. Their position at either end of the shelf where the body had been lying makes me think of the cherubim on the mercy seat (Ex. 25:17-19). It is as though God is saying, "There is now a new mercy seat! My Son has paid the price for sin, and the way is open into the presence of God!" Mary apparently wasn't disturbed at seeing these men, and there is no evidence that she knew they were angels. The brief conversation neither dried her tears nor quieted her mind. She was determined to find the body of Jesus.
Do you wonder about that meeting? Why did Mary turn back and not continue her conversation with the two strangers? Did she hear a sound behind her? Or did the angels stand and recognize the presence of their Lord? Purely speculation on my part. She was certain that the Lord's body was not in the tomb, so why linger there any longer?
Why did she not recognize the One for whom she was so earnestly searching? Jesus may have deliberately concealed Himself from her, as He would later do when He walked with the Emmaus disciples. It was still early and perhaps dark in that part of the garden. Her eyes were probably blinded by her tears as well.
Jesus asked her the same question that that angels had asked, "Why are you weeping?" How tragic that she was weeping when she could have been praising, had she only realized that her Lord was alive! It is encouraging to me to know that Jesus knows all about our sorrows. The Savior knew that Mary's heart was broken and that her mind was confused. He didn't rebuke her; but tenderly, He revealed Himself to her.
All He had to do was to speak her name, and she immediately recognized Him. His sheep hear [recognize] His voice and He calls them by name (John 10:3).
Mary not only spoke to Him, but she grasped His feet and held on to Him. This was a natural gesture, in my mind. Now that she had found Him she didn't want to lose Him. Jesus permitted the other women to hold His feet (Matt. 28:9), and He did not forbid them. Hmmm. Why did He say to Mary, "Do not cling to Me"? Maybe one reason was that she would see Him again because He had not yet ascended to the Father. Mary had no need to panic; this was not her last and final meeting with the Lord.
Maybe a second reason is that she had a job to do....to go tell His brethren that He was alive and would ascend to the Father. It's not like He was to ascend that very day and somehow fulfill the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. I mean, He had no blood to present; He had presented that on the Cross when He was made sin for us. In His resurrection glory, Jesus was "flesh and bones," not "flesh and blood." The Resurrection itself was proof that the work of redemption had been completed ("raised because of our justification" -- Rom. 4:24-24). What more could He do?
I find it so very interesting that our Lord never used the phrases "our Father" or "our God." His relationship to the Father was different from that of the disciples, and He was careful to make that distinction. We say "our Father" and "our God" because all believers belong to the same family and have an equal standing before God. He reminded Mary and the other believers that God was their Father and that He would with the Father in heaven after His ascension. In His Upper Room message, you might remember He had taught them that He would return to the Father so that the Spirit might come to them.
Although it was the same Jesus, only in a glorified body, it was not quite the same relationship and I think that is important. We must be careful not to relate to Christ "after the flesh" (1Cor. 5:16), by that I mean, relate to Him as though He were still in His state of humiliation. He is today the exalted Son of God in glory, and we must honor Him as such. Sometimes there can be an almost "juvenile" familiarity that some people display in public when they testify, pray, or sing which reveals that they have little understanding of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5:16. When John was with Jesus at the table, he leaned against His bosom; but when John saw Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, he fell at His feet as if dead! (Rev. 1:17)
It would have been selfish and disobedient for Mary to have clung to Jesus and kept Him for herself. She arose and went to where the disciples were gathered and gave them the good news. Mark reports that these believers were mourning and weeping---and they would not believe her! (Mark 16:9-11) Unbelief has a terribly deadening effect on a person. No wonder God warns us against "an evil heart of unbelief" (Heb. 3:12).
Mary not only shared the fact of His resurrection and that she had seen Him personally, but she also reported the words that He had spoken to her. Again, I see the importance of the Word of God. Mary could not transfer her experience over to them, but she could share the Word; and it is the Word that generates faith (Romans 10:17). The living Christ shared His living Word (1 Peter 1:23-25).
It is good to have faith that is based on solid evidence, but the evidence should lead us to the Word, and the Word should lead us to the Savior. It is one thing to accept a doctrine and defend it; it is something else to have a personal relationship to the living Lord. Peter and John believed that Jesus was alive, but it was not until that evening that they met the risen Christ in person along with the other disciples. (Jesus appeared to Peter sometime during the afternoon, 1 Cor. 15:5; Luke 24:34.) Evidence that doesn't lead to experience is nothing but dead dogma. The key is faith in the Word of God.
If the only message I convey from Mary is "Christ is Alive!" then I pray that people will grasp what that means. Alive----Alive----Alive! He is as alive as you and I are right this very minute! One may know this doctrine but please, grasp the reality of it. It should overwhelm us!!! It is "the living Christ"! We need to get hold of the glorious fact that Christ is alive, and to rejoice over it. You know, Sunday is the day on which Christ left the dead!
Historical faith says, "Christ lives!"
Saving faith says, "Christ lives in me!"
My question to whomever reads this is, "Do you have saving faith?"
As I read through the Scripture and considered Mary Magdalene's experience that Lord's Day morning, I see three stages in her comprehension of the truth of the Resurrection. And you just can't get around the fact that Peter and John are part of this experience, too.
The women on the way to the tomb were concerned about how to get the stone moved, so that they might show their love for Christ in completing the burial preparations. Obviously they were unaware that an earthquake had occurred and the stone had been rolled back by an angel. It seems that Mary Magdalene went ahead of the other women and got to the tomb first. When she saw the stone rolled away, she concluded that somebody had broken into the tomb and stolen the body of her Lord. Some might criticize Mary for jumping to conclusions but really, how could she have reached any other conclusion? It was still dark, she was alone, and, like the other followers of Jesus, she did not believe that He would return from the dead.
She ran flying to give the news to Peter and John, who must have been roommates. Mary's use of the pronoun "we" is interesting, for it included the other women who at that moment were discovering that Jesus was alive! (Check out Mark 16:1-8 and Luke 24:1-8.) The women left the tomb and carried the angels' message to the other disciples.
It is significant that the first witnesses of the resurrection of Christ were believing women. Like CJ noted in the comments yesterday among the Jews in that day, the testimony of women was not held in high regard. But I love how these Christian women had a greater message than that of the Law, for they knew their Savior was alive.
To me, Mary's faith was not extinguished; it was only eclipsed. The light was still there, but it was covered. I see Peter and John were in the same spiritual condition, but soon all three of them would move out of the shadows and into the light.
So, Peter and John go flying off to the tomb, not even waiting for Mary. John got there first and he cautiously remained outside and looked in. John saw the graveclothes lying on the stone shelf without any evidence of violence or crime. But the graveclothes were empty. They lay there like an empty cocoon, still retaining the shape of Jesus' body.
Peter arrives and does just what we would expect him to do. He impulsively went into the tomb. He saw the same thing as John. Grave robbers do not carefully unwrap the corpse and then leave the clothes neatly behind. In fact, with the presence of the spices in the folds of the clothes, it would be almost impossible to unwrap a corpse without damaging the wrappings. The only way those linen clothes could be left in that condition would be if Jesus passed through them as He arose from the dead.
John then entered the tomb and looked at the evidence. "He saw, and believed."
When John wrote this account, he used three different Greek words for seeing. In verse 5, the verb simply means "to glance in, to look in." In verse 6, the word means "to look carefully, to observe." The word "saw" in verse 8 means "to perceive with intelligent comprehension." Their resurrection faith was now dawning!
What kind of faith did Peter and John have at that stage in their spiritual experience? They had faith based on evidence. They could see the graveclothes; they knew that the body of Jesus was not there. However, as good as evidence is to convince the mind, it can never change the life. Those of us who live centuries later cannot examine the evidence, for the material evidence (the tomb, the graveclothes) is no longer there for us to inspect. Be we have the record in the Word of God (John 20:9) and that record is true (19:35; 21:24). In fact, it is faith in the Word that the Lord really wanted to cultivate in His disciples (look at 2:22; 12:16; 14:26). Peter made it clear that the Word of God should be the basis for our faith, not personal experience (1 Peter 1:12-21).
Now let's move into the garden with Mary Magdalene where she lingered alone. When I think of Mary Magdalene in the garden, I recall Proverbs 8:17, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." Mary loved her Lord and came early to the garden to express that love. Peter and John had gone home by the time Mary got back to the tomb. Mary still thought Jesus was dead. This makes me think of another verse, Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
Mary was weeping. Nothing wrong with sorrow because God made us to shed tears; and weeping is good therapy for broken hearts. However, the sorrow of the Christian must be different from the hopeless sorrow of the world, because we have been born again "unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). We weep...not because our believing loved ones have gone to heaven....but because they have left us and we miss them.
When Mary looked into the sepulcher, she saw two men in white. Their position at either end of the shelf where the body had been lying makes me think of the cherubim on the mercy seat (Ex. 25:17-19). It is as though God is saying, "There is now a new mercy seat! My Son has paid the price for sin, and the way is open into the presence of God!" Mary apparently wasn't disturbed at seeing these men, and there is no evidence that she knew they were angels. The brief conversation neither dried her tears nor quieted her mind. She was determined to find the body of Jesus.
Do you wonder about that meeting? Why did Mary turn back and not continue her conversation with the two strangers? Did she hear a sound behind her? Or did the angels stand and recognize the presence of their Lord? Purely speculation on my part. She was certain that the Lord's body was not in the tomb, so why linger there any longer?
Why did she not recognize the One for whom she was so earnestly searching? Jesus may have deliberately concealed Himself from her, as He would later do when He walked with the Emmaus disciples. It was still early and perhaps dark in that part of the garden. Her eyes were probably blinded by her tears as well.
Jesus asked her the same question that that angels had asked, "Why are you weeping?" How tragic that she was weeping when she could have been praising, had she only realized that her Lord was alive! It is encouraging to me to know that Jesus knows all about our sorrows. The Savior knew that Mary's heart was broken and that her mind was confused. He didn't rebuke her; but tenderly, He revealed Himself to her.
All He had to do was to speak her name, and she immediately recognized Him. His sheep hear [recognize] His voice and He calls them by name (John 10:3).
Mary not only spoke to Him, but she grasped His feet and held on to Him. This was a natural gesture, in my mind. Now that she had found Him she didn't want to lose Him. Jesus permitted the other women to hold His feet (Matt. 28:9), and He did not forbid them. Hmmm. Why did He say to Mary, "Do not cling to Me"? Maybe one reason was that she would see Him again because He had not yet ascended to the Father. Mary had no need to panic; this was not her last and final meeting with the Lord.
Maybe a second reason is that she had a job to do....to go tell His brethren that He was alive and would ascend to the Father. It's not like He was to ascend that very day and somehow fulfill the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. I mean, He had no blood to present; He had presented that on the Cross when He was made sin for us. In His resurrection glory, Jesus was "flesh and bones," not "flesh and blood." The Resurrection itself was proof that the work of redemption had been completed ("raised because of our justification" -- Rom. 4:24-24). What more could He do?
I find it so very interesting that our Lord never used the phrases "our Father" or "our God." His relationship to the Father was different from that of the disciples, and He was careful to make that distinction. We say "our Father" and "our God" because all believers belong to the same family and have an equal standing before God. He reminded Mary and the other believers that God was their Father and that He would with the Father in heaven after His ascension. In His Upper Room message, you might remember He had taught them that He would return to the Father so that the Spirit might come to them.
Although it was the same Jesus, only in a glorified body, it was not quite the same relationship and I think that is important. We must be careful not to relate to Christ "after the flesh" (1Cor. 5:16), by that I mean, relate to Him as though He were still in His state of humiliation. He is today the exalted Son of God in glory, and we must honor Him as such. Sometimes there can be an almost "juvenile" familiarity that some people display in public when they testify, pray, or sing which reveals that they have little understanding of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5:16. When John was with Jesus at the table, he leaned against His bosom; but when John saw Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, he fell at His feet as if dead! (Rev. 1:17)
It would have been selfish and disobedient for Mary to have clung to Jesus and kept Him for herself. She arose and went to where the disciples were gathered and gave them the good news. Mark reports that these believers were mourning and weeping---and they would not believe her! (Mark 16:9-11) Unbelief has a terribly deadening effect on a person. No wonder God warns us against "an evil heart of unbelief" (Heb. 3:12).
Mary not only shared the fact of His resurrection and that she had seen Him personally, but she also reported the words that He had spoken to her. Again, I see the importance of the Word of God. Mary could not transfer her experience over to them, but she could share the Word; and it is the Word that generates faith (Romans 10:17). The living Christ shared His living Word (1 Peter 1:23-25).
It is good to have faith that is based on solid evidence, but the evidence should lead us to the Word, and the Word should lead us to the Savior. It is one thing to accept a doctrine and defend it; it is something else to have a personal relationship to the living Lord. Peter and John believed that Jesus was alive, but it was not until that evening that they met the risen Christ in person along with the other disciples. (Jesus appeared to Peter sometime during the afternoon, 1 Cor. 15:5; Luke 24:34.) Evidence that doesn't lead to experience is nothing but dead dogma. The key is faith in the Word of God.
If the only message I convey from Mary is "Christ is Alive!" then I pray that people will grasp what that means. Alive----Alive----Alive! He is as alive as you and I are right this very minute! One may know this doctrine but please, grasp the reality of it. It should overwhelm us!!! It is "the living Christ"! We need to get hold of the glorious fact that Christ is alive, and to rejoice over it. You know, Sunday is the day on which Christ left the dead!
Historical faith says, "Christ lives!"
Saving faith says, "Christ lives in me!"
My question to whomever reads this is, "Do you have saving faith?"
posted by Pilot Mom at
4:44 PM
3 Comments:
Once again, Claire, you've managed to shut me up. Every time I almost had a question...there was the answer right below it. I think out of all the chapters you've reviewed for us through this book that was one of the very, very best. I could spend my entire week just hooking all those biblical references together!
There is one thing that has always - hmmm - not really "bugged" me but kind of stuck with me I guess and that is this: Why oh Why were they all so surprised by the resurrection of their lord? Did He not raise others from the dead in their very presence? The son of the widow and Lazarus both come to mind. If they KNEW He had that kind of power why oh why did they not think He would really rise again from the dead? It just really befuddles me.
IF...IF I were one of the disciples or even one of the women who loved Him back then and He had said to me that He would rise again, I might be crying from grief but you'd better bet your bottom dollar I'd be going back every day to look...to see...to show my faith that I believed Him. I guess I just can't understand how the disciples of all people didn't feel that same way.
Anybody? Do you think God maybe shrouded their eyes and minds purposely or were they all really that unbelieving?
By
HeyJules, at 8:01 PM
Jules, I just think that they could not grasp the "whole" totality. Maybe, total supposition on my part, but maybe when they thought of the miracles it was Christ performing them on "others". Once He died on the Cross, who was there to raise Him? If they even understood an iota...maybe they thought He would've hopped down from the Cross before the soldiers removed Him. And, you have to realize...it is so easy for us to sit here and say, "If God parted the Red Sea then I for sure wouldn't have been grumbling in the desert for 40 years." Now, you and I both know it's our heart's DESIRE to trust in that manner but we do. not. do. it. You wake up wondering...some of the areas you are not trusting in you may not even be fully aware of unless God said right this minute, "Jules, I want "_____", whatever "***" is. And, you would balk. Forever? No...you would eventually confess and trust...at least I would hope so.
We have so much more to help us, like God's Word....the whole Word, than the disciples did. Yes, they walked with Him, they listened...but how many of us have learned the "lesson" the very first time God tried to teach you? If you ask most people, they didn't even trust in Christ the first time they heard the message. And, if they had...what kind of example would that have been for us? I mean, it brings me immense comfort to know that God used people who were just as awful as I am....Moses, David, Aaron, Deborah, Mary, etc. Moses had no confidence in himself...just like me. God said that was okay...He would give Moses his brother Aaron to help speak for him. If he had been perfect right away then I would have looked at him and said, "Man, what chance do I ever have?"
I don't know if this has been coherent enough for you but I hope you get my drift. You just "think" you would have been checking it all out...but, I bet you wouldn't really, in real life, back then. :)
By
Pilot Mom, at 8:34 PM
Also, I can remember thinking when I was about 20 or 21, or so, that if they just found Noah's ark...then massive amounts of people would believe. Then I was reading the rich man/Lazarus story when the poor Lazarus died and was in Abraham's bosom...the rich man was told, "Even if a man rose from the dead they would not believe." (Or something really close to that.) I stopped and I can remember the event so clearly in my mind...that brought me straight up as I realized...if a person won't believe when another person comes back to LIFE, then what chance does finding an inanimate object stand in leading people to Christ? Absolutely none.
By
Pilot Mom, at 8:39 PM
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