11 Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb 12 and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 “Woman, why are you crying?” they asked her.
She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!”
14 Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 “Woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who is it that you are looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This means “Teacher.”)
17 “Do not hold on to me,” Jesus told her, “because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.”
18 So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her.
Read John 20:11-18 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
During the weekend of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, we find an interesting event in John’s gospel that centers on Mary Magdalene looking for Jesus. Early on resurrection morning, she had come to the tomb, saw the stone rolled away, ran to get the disciples, and had come back with the disciples to confirm the empty tomb. However, after the disciples see for themselves that the tomb was empty, they leave to confirm Mary’s story to the rest of the disciples.
But Mary stayed in the garden crying. “While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. “Woman, why are you crying?” they asked her.” (v. 11-13a)
To those who know the whole story of what happened, the reality that any of Jesus’ followers cried is amazing. The angels know that Jesus had risen from the dead, and on several occasions, Jesus even tried to tell the disciples what was going to happen.
But all the predictions Jesus tried to give His followers fell on deaf ears. His followers were not able to understand what Jesus was trying to tell them.
Mary was among those who believed Jesus was dead. She responds to the angels by saying, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” (v. 13b)
Then looking up, she sees a person standing near her. This person asks the exact same question as the angels, “Woman, why are you crying?” (v. 15a)
John tells us that while Mary believes this person is the gardener, she is actually talking to Jesus Himself. Part of me wonders if Jesus’ appearance had changed significantly enough that she couldn’t recognize Him, or perhaps Jesus looked the same, but Mary’s belief that Jesus had died blinded her from recognizing Him at first.
It is only after Jesus says her name that He breaks through her grief. If this person was the gardener, there would be no way he could have known her name. But perhaps the way Jesus says her name is familiar enough for her to open her mind to the possibility that Jesus is standing there in front of her.
This event is amazing to me because it tells us that even when we are in our darkest moments of sorrow, and even when we cannot recognize it at first, Jesus is right there with us in our grief. We might not recognize Him, but if we are open to letting Him speak to us, He will bring life back into our hearts.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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