Same and Not the Same

It looks as if Mary as soon as she heard the voice of the risen Saviour bowed down to the ground and held his feet very tightly. Clearly, she thought that the former experience she had known with Jesus was going to continue. The Saviour had to indicate to her that the old experience was gone, but that did not mean that a lesser one was to follow.

 

Greater things were to happen with regard to Jesus. Not only was he alive from the dead, having defeated the power that seemed so dominant over everyone, he was no longer going to be constrained by the limits of being in one location at a time. Instead, he was going to ascend to heaven, to his Father, which is a reminder that he would ascend to the throne of God.

 

Mary discovered that Jesus wanted her to engage in a very important task, which was to inform the distraught disciples that he was alive, with a great future ahead of him. Because he had a great future, they would have a great future as well. What message was she to convey?

 

We can see from the words of Jesus that he focussed on the relationship of adoption. He refers to his disciples as his brothers, and he stated that they can regard his Father as their Father. Jesus wanted his disciples who had denied him three days earlier to understand that they possessed the greatest of all privileges, that of belonging to the family of God.

 

So Mary went to the disciples with this amazing message. How different her words now from the previous one she had conveyed earlier that day! Earlier, she had been concerned about what had happened to the body of Jesus. Now she could declare from personal experience that she had been given the great privilege of being the first to see the risen Christ. What a story she had to tell for the rest of her life.

A new perspective

Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Arriving there, she discovered that the body had disappeared. Her first response was to inform John and Peter about what had happened, but although they could confirm that the tomb was empty they could provide no explanation or solution to their common problem. As we know, the root of their problem was that they had not grasped what Jesus had said about his resurrection on the third day. But she was about to meet two who could.

 

Of course, we know that Mary was upset, indeed so upset that she was weeping. As the tears flowed, she looked inside the empty tomb and saw two angels sitting there. They observed her sorrow, but all they said was to ask her a question about why she was crying, an answer to which she may have assumed was obvious. She was weeping because there was no sign of the body of Jesus.

 

It is interesting that she still regarded Jesus as her Lord, even although she knew he had died. Her determination was that she would continue to live by his instructions, even if he would not be there to help her. She was not even prepared to ask the angels for help, because she turned away. 

 

Standing near her, she saw a man whom she thought was the gardener. In answer to his questions, she indicated that she was prepared to take away the body of Jesus for burial. This was a desire expressing her love for Jesus, and indeed said to Jesus personally, although she was unaware that it was him.

 

It took just one word from Jesus to change her entire perspective on life, indeed on the world. Of course, it was a word that she had heard often – her name, pronounced by the Lover of her soul. Likely, she responded by using the name she had always used when speaking to Jesus, but now perhaps said with more delight than ever before.

Running

Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb of Joseph early on the first day of the week, before dawn. What she saw distressed her greatly. The body of Jesus was not there. She assumed that a group whom she calls ‘they’ had removed the body. Her distress was a proof of her love, but we know that if she had listened to Jesus and what he had said about his resurrection, she would have derived comfort from the empty tomb.

 

What could she do? She had to inform her friends and do so quickly. Therefore, she ran to where Peter and John were staying. Perhaps the group of disciples were in different lodgings in the city. Whether they were or not, we know that Mary the mother of Jesus would have been with John because we are told that he took her to his own home when they left the site of the crucifixion. At that moment, Peter and John had not anticipated the resurrection of Jesus, but we can imagine what they could have said to others in the house if they had.

 

When Jesus later that day spoke with the couple on the road to Emmaus, they told him that the disciples had not believed what the women had told them about the empty tomb and the message the angels had given. So when Peter and John set off running to the tomb, it seems to have been just to check if Mary had not imagined it all. Of course, she had not even seen the angels yet. 

 

John reached there ahead of Peter and took a quick glance into the tomb, and he noticed the cloths that had been left behind. Peter, when he reached the tomb, took a longer look, and he also observed that the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was folded up and placed separate from the other cloths. Then John went in for a longer look, and he says that he believed. It cannot mean that he now believed that Jesus was alive because he goes on to say that at that moment they did not understand the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead (John 20:8-9). So he must have believed that Mary was right about the tomb being empty.

 

On that wonderful morning, there was a lot of running around. Every step was one of love, but not one was marked by an informed faith. Because none of them had listened to the words of Jesus about his resurrection, Peter and John had no words of comfort for Mary. All they could do was go home and leave her weeping at the tomb.

 

The obvious lesson for us is absorb what the Bible says and then when the moment comes for application we will know what to do instead of only moving around in a loving way. It is good to run for company with others in a time of crisis and uncertainty, but it is better to be able also to say wonderful things about Jesus to one another when we meet.

A Heart Full of Love

There are several women called Mary in the New Testament. One of them came from the village of Magdala which was located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. We are not told when she first met Jesus, but we are informed that at one stage he cast out seven demons that indwelt her. It is not possible to say why she was in such a state, or what effects that influences had on her. But we can say that Jesus delivered her from their influence, and that she was devoted to him as a result (Luke 8:1-3). She was obviously a woman with some financial resources from which she helped Jesus and his disciples.

Although she was involved in the ministry of Jesus in this practical manner, nothing is said about the various things that she did during those months and years in which she followed him. The only circumstances in which she is specifically mentioned is that she was present at the cross on Friday morning and afternoon, that she observed his burial by Joseph and Nicodemus on Friday evening, and that she went to the tomb of Joseph early on Sunday morning.

Each of those occasions had a surprising turn of events for Mary. No doubt, she had assumed with the other disciples that Jesus would set up an earthly kingdom, but on Friday morning her hope would have been destroyed, and that would have surprised her because she personally knew his amazing power to perform miracles. Little did she realise that, when she thought no miracle was happening, his greatest miracle of all was taking place when he paid the penalty for her sins.

Mary would have been aware of how the authorities disposed of the bodies of those who had been crucified. She would have expected that some officials would, after his death, send persons to manhandle the body carelessly, and show little respect as they did so, before taking it to the burial spot and throwing it in. What a surprise was hers when she saw two of the most important people in the Jewish Sanhedrin make their way to the cross of Jesus, gently take his body down, and then take it to a tomb that belonged to one of the richest men in Jerusalem! But as with everything about Jesus, what happened to him was in line with the Bible. It had been predicted in Isaiah 53 that he would be with the rich in his death.

Then on Sunday morning, she resolved to deal with the dead body. Maybe she had observed that the kind act of Joseph and Nicodemus had lacked some feminine skills as they prepared his body for burial. Her intention was an act of love, although if she had listened to what he had said about his resurrection on the third day she would have realised that her intention was unnecessary. Still, love had its reward, and what a wonderful surprise she had in Joseph’s garden when she met the man she came to anoint.