The First Witness: Mary of Magdala
Notes
Transcript
Today we are looking at the first of four post-resurrection appearances included by John in his gospel account. There were many appearances by Jesus following His resurrection before He ascended to the Father, and some even after Pentecost. In general chronological order:
Easter:
Mary Magdalene
The other women
to Peter
to two disciples on the road to Emmaus
to about 12 disciples excluding Thomas
The following Sunday:
to 11 disciples including Thomas
The following 32 days:
to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee
to 500 people including the Eleven at a mountain in Galilee
to His half-brother James
to his disciples in Jerusalem
to His disciples on the Mount of Olives
After Pentecost:
to Stephen
to Saul of Tarsus
to John on the island of Patmos
But Mary Magdalene was the first...
1. The “Throne of Grace”, vs. 11-12.
1. The “Throne of Grace”, vs. 11-12.
V. 11 - Peter and John have left the tomb but Mary has returned, possibly following them, and lingers there.
The twofold depiction of Mary’s “weeping” [klaiousa; eklaien] emphasizes her state of grief. She was still grieving over Jesus’ death and weeping over the missing body of Jesus.
Mary did not go into the tomb but simply “stooped and looked” inside. What did she see?
v. 12 - None of the Gospel writers describe the structure of the interior of the tomb in detail. It was a tomb like many others in the first century. There would be a carved stone bench or ledge for two adult-size angels to be visibly seated. Here are some samples:
Mary saw (theoreo) these angels sitting in a particular way: one at the head and one at the foot of where the body of Jesus had been lying.
The color the angels were dressed in is the common color of attire for angelic beings and priests in the Mediterranean regions, including Judaism. But why are they here?
Their presence makes it clear that this place, and the body previously lying upon it, is not a place left in disarray by grave robbers. John tells of the presence of angels to highlight the sacredness of the site; their presence here now, where the corpse previously lay implies that God had something to do with this.
The focus here is not on the angels’ attire or on Mary’s response. It is on the places where the angels were seated. John focuses on the unique location they were seated: at the head and foot of the bench. Why?
Let me suggest that location of the angels at each end of the bench Jesus had been lying on intends to signify the angels at the two ends of the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. Look at John’s description and its resemblance to the instructions given to Moses regarding the ark: Exodus 25:17-19
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.
“You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.
“Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.
The place between the two angels was “the place of Propitiation” or “the mercy seat”, the cover of the ark that was associated with the sin offering on the Day of Atonement, the place where God authoritatively atones for sins. it is for this reason that Martin Luther’s translation of the term in Exodus 25 is a most fitting description of this place: “the throne of grace”.
This is the only place in Scripture where angels are described as sitting. Mary had responded to them as she would have responded to human beings, probably because she was in the shock of grief and was weeping.
2. Question: “Why are you weeping?”, vs. 13-15.
2. Question: “Why are you weeping?”, vs. 13-15.
v. 13 - The angels respectfully addressed Mary, but the question of the angels may have been because weeping was inappropriate in light of Jesus’ resurrection, but Mary did not understand that Jesus had risen.
Her response clearly reveals that she still thought someone had removed Jesus’ body from the tomb. Her desire to mourn over Jesus’ body has been denied because she did not know where the body was now. Her behavior is perhaps more understandable if we remember that many people in that part of the world still express their grief almost uncontrollably.
v. 14 - She apparently backed out of the tomb, turned around, and saw (Gk. theorei) Jesus standing outside it. She looked at Him attentively, but did not recognize Him for who He was. There are a couple of possibilities as to why. She may have been so deep in her sorrow that she failed to recognize Him. It would have been entirely unexpected.
A second may have been that Jesus supernaturally blocked her perception of Him, similar to His appearance to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Another possibility is that between the beatings and crucifixion and the resurrected body, Jesus was not immediately recognized by Mary, even though she was present at the crucifixion. Isa 52:13-15 may point to this possibility: Isaiah 52:13-15
Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.
Edwin A. Blum, in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, points out the following:
The fact that He appeared to Mary rather than to Pilate or Caiaphas or to one of His disciples is significant. That a woman would be the first to see Him is an evidence of Jesus’ electing love as well as a mark of the narrative’s historicity. No Jewish author in the ancient world would have invented a story with a woman as the first witness to this most important event.
Furthermore, Jesus may have introduced Himself to Mary first because she had so earnestly sought Him. She was at the cross while He was dying (John 19:25), and she went to His tomb early on Sunday morning (20:1).
v. 15 - Jesus respectfully addresses Mary, then asks the same question that the angels asked. This first recorded post-resurrection words of Jesus combined compassion and mild rebuke. His second question asked whom she was seeking. As He prepared to reveal Himself to her, his question meant:
What type of Messiah did you think Jesus was?
or:
Which Messiah are you looking for?
She did not answer either question. She instead supposed that he was the gardener, caretaker of the area. This would be someone who is not growing a garden of flowers; more likely tending to paths, trees and shrubbery around the gravesites. She must have thought that the gardener had removed the body for some reason, so she respectfully requested if He was the one responsible for removing Jesus’ body, to tell her and she would take care of the body herself. Apparently she then turned her back to Him. At that moment she was speaking with two unique conversation partners, both of whom represented the presence of God: the ark of the new covenant and the resurrected Lord. The physical position of the angels declared in Mosaic categories that Jesus’ body was offered as a sacrifice for others, and the tomb in which the angels were sitting likewise announced that God is accessed through this death. The physical presence of Jesus declared that the resurrection proves that He was not taken by the authority of others, but was given for others by His own authority, John 10:18
“No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
It is important that Jesus stands outside the tomb because His intercession on behalf of His sheep is not accomplished by His death alone but also by His newness of life.
So it was this that Mary stood between at the tomb: the declaration of the risen Lord outside the tomb and the declaration of the sacrificial Christ in the tomb.
3. The Ascension, vs. 16-17.
3. The Ascension, vs. 16-17.
v. 16 - One word - her name, spoken to her by Jesus, leaved whatever veil blinded her to who He was. John 10:3
“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
She responded immediately, turning back around to face Jesus, calling Him “Rabboni,” undoubtedly used by her and others many times, expressing her shock and joy of a restored relationship that she had thought had ended.
R. V. G. Tasker, in his commentary on John, said it this way:
“Never was there a one-word utterance more charged with emotion than this.” (p. 221)
v. 17 - There are three commands; one of them is a prohibition.
It is evident from the words of Jesus that Mary also embraced Jesus, probably lowering herself before Jesus and embracing His lower legs. The Greek word translated “clinging” (aptesthai) means “to grasp tightly.”
This is one of a handful of the most difficult verses in the New Testament. The meaning depends on what Jesus meant when He said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”
The best explanation seems to be that Mary was holding on to Jesus as though she would never let go. But the reason she should release Him was that He had not yet ascended to the Father. He had other work to do first. Only when He was in heaven would it be possible for loving believers such as Mary to maintain intimate contact with Jesus forever. This view makes good sense of the text as well as harmonizing with Jesus’ invitation to Thomas in v. 27. He needed to touch Jesus in order to strengthen his faith. Mary needed to release Him because she had no reason to fear losing Him.
Matthew Henry writes:
He bade the disciples touch him, for the confirmation of their faith; he allowed the women to take hold of his feet, and worship him (Mt. 28:9); but Mary, supposing that he was risen, as Lazarus was, to live among them constantly, and converse with them freely as he had done, upon that presumption was about to take hold of his hand with her usual freedom. This mistake Christ rectified; she must believe him, and adore him, as exalted, but must not expect to be familiar with him as formerly. See 2 Co. 5:16. He forbids her to dote upon his bodily presence, to set her heart on this, or expect its continuance, and leads her to the spiritual converse and communion which she should have with him after he was ascended to his Father; for the greatest joy of his resurrection was that it was a step towards his ascension
Mary is to go and say. The message that she was to communicate is that Jesus is going to ascend to the Father. His disciples needed to understand that His death and resurrection had not wiped out His earlier predictions He made regarding His ascension, such as John 7:33
Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me.
“You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
and John 16:28
“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”
The Resurrection fulfilled one aspect of Jesus’ ministry; Now Jesus’ return to the Father would be the climax of events following His resurrection.
Jesus here also describes the Father in a new way. He was Jesus’ Father, but He was also the disciples’ Father. But note that Jesus did not say “our” Father. They had a different relationship than Jesus has to the Father, yet the disciples were all sons of the Father. Jesus, for the first time in the Gospels, calls the disciples “My brethren (brothers)” here.
The relationship of Jesus to God was similar to, but not exactly the same, as the disciples’ relationship to God. The emphasis in Jesus’ statement was on the privileges that His disciples now share with Him due to His death, resurrection, and ascension.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”
4. Proclamation: “I Have Seen the Lord,” v. 18.
4. Proclamation: “I Have Seen the Lord,” v. 18.
In obedience, Mary Magdalene sought out the disciples and communicated His glad tidings to them as He had communicated them to her. She did exactly as she was told.
Mary has had a remarkable role in “the hour” of Jesus:
She was near the cross at His death (19:25);
She was the first to discover the empty tomb (20:1);
She was the first to see and talk with the resurrected Jesus (20:14-17).
Now Mary has been given a commission to make this important announcement to the disciples.
Mary was sent by God, much like John the Baptist, to herald the conclusion of Jesus’ public ministry and His arrival in and by the Spirit, John 14:16
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;