THE LAST WEEK OF JESUS' PUBLIC MINISTRY AND HIS CRUCIFIXION
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
-Mark 16:9-11; John 20:11-18
-After running to Peter and John, Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb. The two apostles had
already departed; therefore, Mary was alone. She stood outside the tomb and wept.
-With a mournful spirit, she was still convinced that the body of Jesus had been hastily removed
from the grave. Nothing had happened yet to change her perception. She felt that she had been
robbed of the opportunity of making the final preparations to the body of Jesus – what she
thought was her last opportunity to show her love for her Lord.
-It is difficult to grasp the depths of her despair.
-Mary had not yet looked into the tomb. Upon her initial arrival at the site, when she saw the stone
removed, she immediately departed to deliver the news. So, at this time, she stooped down and
looked within.
-Inside the tomb were two angels seated where Jesus’ body had lain – one at the head and one
at the foot. The angels were sitting “as if their proper business had already been finished, but
they had been left there to await the arrival of their Lord's friends, and reassure them”
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown).
-It is interesting that Mary seemingly did not react to the angels. The Roman soldiers had been
frozen in fear. The other women had bowed down in fear. Yet, not Mary.
-“So overwhelmed with grief was she that her perception was for the moment suspended and
she thought only of the fact of the missing body” (Woods, pg 423).
-The sight of the empty tomb is a wondrous thought to all faithful Christians. It exclaims the
resurrection of our Savior and instills a message of victory, promise and hope. Yet, for
Mary, such a sight was one that brought about increased grief and despair. Her depths of
despair were not even interrupted by angels from heaven.
-The angels asked, “Woman, why weepest thou?” Her response to them was the same message
she had delivered to Peter and John, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know
not where they have laid him” (John 20:13). Unable to bear the thought, she turned away.
-When Mary turned away from the tomb, she became the first person to see our resurrected
Lord (even though she did not know it at the time).
-Jesus repeated the question asked by the angels and added to it, “whom seekest thou?”
-With the tomb being located in a garden (John 19:41), Mary assumed that the person
who spoke to her was the gardener. She hoped that he was the one that removed Jesus’
body. If so, if he would tell her where His body was, she would assume responsibility for it.
-Jesus then spoke a single word, her name, “Mary.” Recognizing the voice of the Lord, Mary’s
grief and despair immediately evaporated and were replaced with great comfort and joy.
-“She simply replied, Rabboni…It was a title of Jewish teachers. There were three degrees:
(1) Rab, teacher; (2) Rabbi, my teacher; (3) Rabboni, my great teacher” (Woods, pg 424).
-“Seasons of greatest joy are marked by little speech; Jesus and Mary each expressed
themselves in a single word” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pg 744).
-Upon realizing that Jesus was risen and that He stood before her, Mary clung to Him. Jesus
instructed, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren,
and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17,
NASB).
-“Jesus does not say ‘our Father.’ Our relation to God is not the same as his. While, however,
our Lord’s language recognizes the difference between his divine and our human relationship
to the Father, his words are intended to show us our exaltation. We have reason to believe that
next to our Lord’s titles as Son our title as sons of God by adoption is as high in honor as any
in the universe” (McGarvey/Pendleton, pgs 744-745).