John 20:11-18--Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

John 20:11-18
English Standard Version

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene​
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.

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While John doesn't say "Mary Magdalene" specifically, it is clear by comparing this passages with the parallel passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that John is indeed speaking to Mary Magdalene.  From the best that I can tell, and entire group of women went to the tomb that morning with Mary Magdalene being one of them.  By putting all the accounts together, it seems like the account goes something like this.  The women woke up early in the morning before sunrise to take more spices and oils to the tomb to again anoint the body.  Among the women going to the tomb were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses (called "the other Mary" or "the wife of Cleopas" in some passages), Joanna the mother of James (assuming this is James the Greater) and Salome.  There were other women here too, but there is no mention in any of the accounts of Mary, the mother of Jesus and it would seem that she would have been mentioned by name if she was there.

The women realize on the way to the tomb that the stone that had been rolled in front of the grave would be in their way and that they would not be able to move it, and it seems they had no idea about the Roman guard that had been posted or the seal that had been put on the tomb because all that happened after they left the tomb following the crucifixion (it seems all these women were there at the foot of the cross and assisted Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea with the burial) God provided an answer to all of this as He sent an angel to roll away the stone.  The appearance of the angel as well as the display of its power made these seasoned Roman soldiers fall over like dead men.  The angel that rolled away the stone then sat on the tombstone waiting for the women and the disciples so that he could deliver the message that God had for each of them.

While only one angel was mentioned as rolling back the stone, sitting on it and speaking to the women, it is clear from other accounts that there were two angels present.  This is not an error or even conflict--just a difference in focus.  Some accounts only focus on the angel that was speaking and doing most of the action while other accounts tell us that there was another angel present who it appears did not say or do much.  The message from the angelic messenger(s) went something like, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise..  See, I have told you.”

At some point during all this, Mary Magdalene turns around, looking away from the angels--it appears that the others who were with her did not see or hear what she was going to because they were looking at and listening to the angels.  Mary Magdalene is weeping and a man appears in front of her who she does not recognize.  He askes, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?"  The question makes sense given the good news that was just told tot he women by the angels, but Mary seems to have not heard or not listened to it.  Mary assumes this person to be the gardener, that is the caretaker of the tomb and the property around it, and through her tears, she says, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  All that Jesus needs to do to cause her to listen and to reveal His identity to her is to say her name.  With simply one word, "Mary," He turns her grieving into joy.  She responds by saying, "Rabboni," which means "Teacher" or "Rabbi".

​Jesus then gives Mary a slightly different message than has been given by the angels to the other women, "“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.’”  What does this mean?  I don't think this is any kind of statement about the kind of body that Jesus had at that time, but instead the fact that Jesus had more work to do before He returned to heaven and while He loved Mary and understood her desire to cling to Him and keep Him with her so that she could worship Him and sit at His feet to enjoy His teaching, He had to go so that He could take care of everything that needed to be done while He was still here.  He also made clear to her that He was going away again, this time to return to the Father in heaven, and that it was important for her to remind the disciples of this.  This was one of the main messages He was trying to relay to His disciples on the evening of His arrest and they did not understand at that time, and Jesus wants them to be reminded that He is going to return to where He came from and that if He goes that He is going to prepare a place for them that where He is, there they may be also, and that if He goes, He will send the Comforter, that is the Holy Spirit, to them.  The Spirit of Truth, another name for the Holy Spirit, that is to come would lead them in all truth and cause them to remember the things that Jesus had said.  

The women fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.  They eventually returned to the disciples and told them all they had seen and heard and the message that had been given to them, but Mary said, "“I have seen the Lord. " The disciples appear to not believe Mary Magdalene's message because it differed from that of the other women, so Peter and John go to see for themselves.  John seems to have written these appearances out of order in his gospel, but remember that his goal was not necessarily to tell a chronological story, but to make the argument that Jesus was who He said He was and that in Him we have eternal life (we'll see his purpose statement for the book in a few verses).  My best assumption is that John but his own eyewitness testimony first because this was the best and most compelling testimony that he had to offer, however, he did not want to leave out that Jesus actually appeared to Mary Magdalene.  The fact that Jesus appears to a woman, particularly this woman, first is an amazing fact that should help us see that the disciples did not make up this story.  For no Jew would have believed that angels from heaven and the Son of God would have first spoken to women, let alone a woman who had been possessed by seven demons only a short time before.  Mary Magdalene was a woman who probably had a reputation and a past that would have made it easy for the religious leaders to ignore, deny, and reject her testimony.  So, everything she said was also validated by the testimony of two men--Peter and John as this is the standard by which all facts must be established in a Jewish court of law (see Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16, 2 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Timothy 5:19, and Hebrews 10:28).  God took care of all the details, but He did so in a way that would make us know that it was His plan and His work and not the invention of a story of man.

We'll pick up here next time as Jesus continues to appear to other disciples to open their eyes and explain the gospel to them from the Scriptures that we today call the Old Testament as well as from His own words that He had spoken to them in what we call the Gospels.