Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 11
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,]“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
“The Christian takes his stand at the foot of the cross and at the door of the open tomb…both are necessary to a Christian world-view. From the cross the Christian
sees the world with all its values inverted, with vice conquering virtue, with chaos winning out, so it seems…from the door of the empty tomb, all is changed. Death has been swallowed up in victory! The risen Lord reigns. So, the world-view of Christians is
neither victimized nor pessimistic nor neutral or even optimistic…it is hopeful, focused on hope because of the redemption and resurrection of Jesus Christ..” (Bruce Lockerbie)
Jesus has been killed, humiliated, scorned and cursed; he is dead, at least in her thinking, and in the eyes of any thinking man there is no reason to stand with this
Jesus anymore. But Mary doesn’t care, her faith shaken to be sure, but where else will she go…and so for Mary Jesus is still HER Lord.
One could argue that she SHOULD have known, that if only she had listened better she would have known, but the Lord does not come to her to disparage her, or to chide
her for slowness.
I am not saying that her lack of understanding is justified or that she shouldn’t have known better. But I am saying that our kind Savior comes to his own, in our
tears…in our confusion…even that confusion which results from our OWN weakness and slowness to understand…And he comes with patience and kindness to those who despite everything else simply call him.
MY LORD.
Mary, in all her weakness, knows only this, that Jesus is HER Lord. But Mary, He is dead. He failed. Your life is now turned upside down and the hope you had, cannot
still be with you, can it, Mary? Standing there…weeping…wondering, all she can say is that He was and continues to be MY Lord.
Today people use that language all the time don’t they? Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior…You need to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. What does
this mean…to so many who so cavalierly call Him, “my Lord”? When we call Jesus My Lord, do we mean what Mary meant by it?
The world and all its philosophies, the world and all its temptations and even her own slow to understand heart, cannot change the fact, that Jesus is Her Lord, and
to that, in the midst of what to her, had to have been as if the earth was being hurled into the sea, she will cling.
And so it will be for the church, for the people of God that we will not understand everything all the time, in fact there is much we will never understand. And we
will probably weep when we should not, we will be overcome by anxiety and sin, even our own sin. And in the midst of that, what is it that we will cling too…what is it that you never let go of when everything around you is shaking and falling apart and you
seem to have nothing? Everything seems to be falling apart…and yet…will you say, Jesus is My Lord, and that is enough for me?
What did he do for this dear sister in the garden, he called her by name, he called her simply, “Mary”, he called her by name, because he knew her. It is no different
for us. The resurrected Christ calls YOU by name, Jesus knows his sheep, He knows them by name.
The boundless compassion and love of Xp for his own is shown us in the text, in His love for this woman. Jesus can be touched with the feelings of your infirmities,
He knows how weak you are and how much excessive sorrow can unnerve you. Jesus passes over much darkness of understanding, much slowness of comprehension, when he sees real, genuine persevering love to Himself, that, although it may not understand everything,
knows that life is found in no other.
I admit that in our time, most people will yawn through what I am about to write…and would treat it with scorn…please don’t do that…this is so important and the modern
church is losing this.
Mary is instructed in the text not to cling to Jesus for he had not yet ascended to the Father. This has caused some great debate.
Let me just say a couple of things and then to the certain point of Christ’s words. First, there is nothing wrong with touching the resurrected body of Jesus as we
see in verse 27 when Jesus will tell Thomas to touch Him.
Second, the point is much the same as it was with Mary the mother of Jesus when Jesus gives her to the care of the apostle John, to make sure that the mother of Jesus
will view Jesus not merely as her son, but as HER Lord and HER Savior. Jesus saying this put Mary under the care of the church, represented by the apostles, for that was the church then.
Here, Jesus is saying to Mary Magdalene that she cannot receive him back as merely recovered or healed but rather as resurrected! Therefore, he has once and for all
proved that HE is the one spoken of from of old, He is the Messiah, He is the Son of God and the only Savior of sinners.
Here is the point: There is continued intimacy with Him but now things will be different, for He will ascend and take his rightful place by the side of the Father
in victory and in the glory that was His before the world began.
Now, it is through the church that the resurrection glory shines in the earth. It is through Mary, John, it is through you and me. The church becomes the foundation
for the work of Jesus…our Christianity cannot be expressed and truly lived outside of the people of God. Jesus’ mother was to learn this as was Mary Magdalene.
And how appropriate, that this woman, Mary, once unclean, defiled, a residence for demons is the first one commissioned by the risen Savior to go and proclaim that
Xp Jesus is not dead, but alive? Mary who once had 7 demons in her, the sinner of sinners, will proclaim resurrection even to the disciples themselves!
Sinners proclaiming and living the glory of the resurrected Jesus.
Sinners being the trophies of grace to the world.
Sinners are loved by God and His Christ so much that His life, His purpose, His intention, is now theirs, is now…ours. Sinners, who make up the church, the family
of the righteous…Sinners who proclaim to all the earth that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!
Prayer: Father, may I proclaim to my own heart, to my brothers and sisters and to all the world the wonders of grace and the glories of Jesus Christ the King! May
I possess a holy abandon to live the wonders of the salvation of the living God and live in the power of the resurrection and the hope of the age to come, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted