Mary Magdalene and the two angels:

v. 11. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher, weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher,

v. 12. and seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

v. 13. they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.

When Peter and John had run to the tomb in such great haste, Mary had followed more slowly, arriving in the garden only after Peter and John had again left. Her mind was still filled with her first conclusion, namely, that the removal of her Lord’s body was due to grave robbery. And she had given way to a fit of unrestrained weeping. She still remained outside the tomb in helpless and hopeless despair. Incidentally, however, she is prompted to look whether the body of the Lord is really gone from the sepulcher, or whether the whole matter is only a kind of bad dream. So she stoops forward to look at the place where the men had laid the Lord in her own presence, with her tears still flowing freely. The love which Mary Magdalene had for the Master is a fitting example for the believers of all times. “This Mary is a fine, beautiful type and an excellent example of all those that cling to Christ, that their hearts should burn in pure and true love toward Christ. For she forgets everything, both her feminine modesty and person, is not bothered by the fact that she sees the two angels before her, does not remember that Hannas and Caiaphas are filled with hostile wrath. In brief, she sees nothing, she hears nothing but Christ only. If she could only find the dead Christ; then she would be perfectly satisfied. And the evangelist for that reason has described it so diligently in order that we, who preach and hear it, may also, according to this example, gain desire, love, and eagerness toward Christ the Lord. ” When Mary stooped forward to look into the grave, she saw two angels in white garments sitting there, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of the Lord had been lying. They were sitting there with a purpose; they were ready to give information concerning the truth of the resurrection to all that sought it. They may have been the same angels that had been present at the earlier hour, or they may have been new messengers of the Lord, become visible for the occasion. It seems that there must have been almost a friendly rivalry in heaven for the privilege of being the guardians of the grave of the Lord, just as at the birth of Christ the multitude of the heavenly host came down to the fields of Bethlehem to sing their anthem of praise. Sympathetically the angels asked Mary: Woman, why weepest thou? Their purpose was to open her eyes that she might see and hear the truth. But Mary’s grief is too deep to notice the presence of glorious comfort. She was surrounded with evidences of her Lord’s resurrection which should have caused her to leap and shout with joy, and here she gives the angels the hopeless answer: Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have placed Him. The case of Mary is repeated in the experience of Christians the world over. If they are visited with any real or supposed trouble, they are immediately so engrossed with their grief that they fail to see the multitude of evidences all about them that Jesus lives, and that therefore nothing can really matter. To trust unfailingly in the resurrected Savior, that must be the aim and the steady endeavor of the believers in the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Joh 20:11-14. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: The vision mentioned in Matthew and Mark was of one angel; that seen by Mary was of two; as was likewise that by Joanna and those with her. And whereas the first angel was found by the women upon their entering the sepulchre, sitting on the right side, the two last-mentioned appearances were abrupt and sudden. For the angels which Mary Magdalene discovered sitting, one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid, were not seen by Peter and John, who just before had entered the sepulchre, and viewed every part of it with attention; and Joanna, and those with her, had been some time in the sepulchre before they saw any angels; which angels seem also to have appeared to them in a different attitude from those seen by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. As the number of angels, and the manner of their appearance, was different, so likewise were the words spoken to them by the women, and their behaviour upon those several occasions. Mary and Salome were seized with fear and fled from the sepulchre; Joanna, and those with her, were struck with awe and reverence; but Mary Magdalene seems to have been so immersed in grief, at not being able to findthe body of the Lord, as to have taken little or no notice of so extraordinary an appearance; she sees, hears, and answers the angels without any emotion, and without quitting the object upon which her mind was wholly fixed, till she was awakened out of her trance by the well-known voice of her Master calling her by her name.But here let us stop a little, and inquireCould this appearance be an illusion? Could a mind so occupied, so lost in one idea, attend at the same time to the production of so many others of a different kind? Or could Mary’s imagination be strong enough to see and converse with angels, and yet too weak to make any impression on her, or call off her attention from a less affecting, less surprising subject? Real angels she may indeed be supposed to have seen and heard, and not to have regarded them; but apparitions raised by her own fancy, could not have failed engaging her notice. For although when we are awake, we cannot avoid perceiving the ideas excited in us by the organs of sensation, yet is it, in most instances, in our power to give them what degree of attention we think fit; and hence it comes, that when we are earnestly employed in any action, intent upon any thought, or transported by any passion, we see, and hear, and feel a thousand things, of which we take no more notice than if we were utterly insensible of them: but to the ideas not proceeding from sensation, but formed within us from the internal operation of our minds, we cannot but attend; because, in their own nature, they can exist no longer than while we attend to them. It is evident, that the mind cannot apply itself to the contemplation of more than one object at a time; which, as long as it keeps possession, excludes or obscures all others. Mary Magdalene therefore, having persuaded herself, upon seeing the stone rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre, that some persons had removed the body of her Lord; in which notion the was still more confirmed, after her return to the sepulchre with Peter and John; and grieving at being thus disappointed of paying her last duty to her deceased Master, whose body (as Peter, his most zealous, and John, his most beloved disciple, knew nothing of its removal) she might imagine had fallen into the hands of his enemies, to be exposed perhaps to fresh insults and indignities, or at least to be deprived of the pious offices which the duty and affection of his followers and disciples were preparing to performMaryMagdalene, falling into a passion of grief at this unexpected distress, and abandoning herself to all the melancholy reflections that must naturally arise from it, with her eyes suffused with tears, and thence discerning more imperfectly, looking as it were by accident, and while she was thinking on other matters, into the sepulchre, and seeing the angels, might, according to the reasoning above laid down, give but little heed to them, as not perceiving on a sudden, and under so great a cloud of sorrow, the tokens of any thing extraordinary in that appearance. She might take them for two young men, which was the form assumed by those who appeared to the other women, without reflecting that it was impossible such young men should have been in the sepulchre without being seen by John and Peter, and improbable that they should have entered into it after their departure,without having been observed by her. Intent upon what passed in her own bosom, she did not give herself time to consider and examine external objects; and, therefore, knew not even Christ himself, who appeared to her in the same miraculous manner; but, supposing him to be a gardener, begged him to tell her, if he had removed the body, where he had laid it, that she might take it away. By which question, and theanswer the made to the angels immediately before, we may perceive upon what her thoughts were so earnestly employed, and thence conclude still farther, that the angels were not the creatures of her imagination, since they were plainly not the objects of her attention. The appearances therefore of the angels were real.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 20:11-13 . Mary has followed to the grave the two disciples who ran before, but does not again meet them (they must have gone back another way), and now stands weeping at the grave, and that , for further she dares not go. Yet she bends down in the midst of her weeping, involuntarily impelled by her grief, forward into the grave (see on Joh 20:5 ), and beholds two angels, etc. On the question of these: , Ammonius correctly observes: , , .

Appearances of angels , whom Schleiermacher indeed was here able to regard as persons commissioned by Joseph of Arimathaea ( L. J . p. 471), are certainly, according to Scripture, not to be relegated into the mere subjective sphere; but they communicate with and render themselves visible and audible simply and solely to him for whom they are real, whilst they are not perceptible by others (comp. Joh 12:29 ); wherefore we are not even to ask where the angels may have been in the grave during the presence of Peter and John (Griesbach thought: in the side passages of the grave).

] Neut.: in white . That are meant is a matter of course. See Winer, p. 550 [E. T. p. 739]. Wetstein in loc. Clothed in white , the pure heavenly appearances, in keeping with their nature of light, represent themselves to mortal gaze. Comp. Ewald, ad Apoc. p. 126 f.

] Because they, etc. As yet the deep feeling of grief allows no place for any other thought. Of a message from angels, already received before this, there is no trace in John. The refrain of her deeply sorrowful feeling: they have taken away my Lord , etc., as in Joh 20:2 , was still unaltered and the same.

On the number and position of these angels the text offers no indications, which, accordingly, only run out into arbitrary invention and poetry, as e.g . in Luthardt: there were two in antithesis to the two joint-crucified ones; they had seated themselves because they had no occasion to contend; seated themselves at the head and at the feet , because the body from head to feet was under the protection of the Father and His servants.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

II
HOW THE RISEN ONE CHANGES MARY MAGDALENES DESOLATION INTO BLESSED PEACE AND MAKES HER HIS EASTER-MESSENGER

Joh 20:11-18

(Mat 28:1-15; Mar 16:1-11; Luk 24:1-12)

11But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping [But Mary was standing () without by the tomb weeping]6 : and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre [she stooped down into the tomb, ], 12And seeth [beholdeth, , not , see Joh 20:5-6] two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid14 him. And7 when she had thus said [Having said this, ], she turned herself back, and saw [beholdeth, ] Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener [that it was the gardener, ], saith unto him, Sir, if thou have [hast] borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. [!] She turned herself, and saith unto him [in Hebrew] 8 Rabboni; which is to say, Master [Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher!)] 17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not ;9 for I am [have] not yet ascended to my10 [the] Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, [omit (,)] and your Father; [,] and to [omit to] my God, [omit (,)] and your God. 18Mary [the] Magdalene came [cometh, ] and told the disciples [bringing tidings, , to the disciples] that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken [said] these things unto her.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Continuation of the history of the Magdalene. First manifestation of the Risen One.

Joh 20:11. But Mary was standing by the tomb. [ (al. ) ]: she was standing as if rooted to the spot. The Evangelist has omitted to mention that she immediately followed the two disciples. Whether she met them at the grave, the narrative says not. She comes, and again finds the empty tomb. She now stations herself in front of it, as though, all too late, she would become its guardian. It is the plastic expression of her thought, her grief.

Now as she wept [ ].Her weeping is in reference to her idea that the body of Jesus has been stolen; hence she glances ever and anon down toward the empty place where He has lain.

Joh 20:12. And she beholdeth two angels. [ ].The angelic appearances in the resurrection history, a sign of the thoroughly new, wonderful epoch of this event. The truth and objectivity of her vision are supported by the slender impression which these appearances seem to make upon her in her present mood; the internal, subjective conditions, by the circumstance that the two apostles saw no angel, and the other women only one.

[Alford adopts the rather fanciful remark of Luthardt: The angels were in white because from the world of light; they sit, as not defending, but peacefully watching the Body; at the head and the feet, for the Body of the Lord was from head to foot in the charge of His Father and of His servantsP. S.]

Joh 20:14. She turned back. [ ], i. e., to look towards the garden, and to see if some one would not appear and give her information.

And knew not that it was Jesus. [ .There is foundation on both sides for her non-recognition. On the one hand, Jesus has altered: He is the Risen, the Transformed One. The external feature which, in addition to the one already mentioned, some assume, is less certain. She thinks the gardener (Joh 19:41) of Joseph of Arimathea is before her, and that he has assigned the body another place. The circumstance that the Risen One was clothed with the subligaculum, or loin-strip, which crucified persons wore, and the same also that field and garden laborers were in, the habit of wearing, might incline her the more to this opinion. Tholuck (following Hug). Kuinoel, Paulus, and others have even clothed Him in the dress of the gardener. On the other hand, Magdalenes faculties were concentrated within; she was in a visionary mood rather than in one favorable to acute observation; irrespective of the fact that her mind was not in the slightest degree predisposed to expect the appearance of the Lord. In a similar manner, the eyes of the disciples journeying to Emmaus were holden. Meyer denies the holdenness of the eyes in the present case (Grotius); perhaps because he imagines it to be the fruit of some magical working. [Drseke assigns as a reason because her tears wove a veil, and because the seeking after the dead prevents us from seeing the living. She was wholly absorbed in the thought of the absent Lord.P. S.]

Joh 20:15. If thou hast borne Him hence [ ].She does no name Him. She takes it for granted that every one is thinking of Him only. Of course if the supposed gardener had carried away the Lord, he would understand her saying (Meyer); otherwise it were necessarily unintelligible to him She will go, she will bring the body. Her as suming a posture with a view to hurrying away in a certain direction, is evident from the following: she turned herself. We cannot infer from these words that she turned directly to the grave again. She gives herself credit for sufficient strength to enable her to carry the corpse and deposit it in the tomb again. For at this very time it should be receiving anointment at the hands of the women.

Joh 20:16. Mary [].His voice had the same unique sound as before (see Luk 24:35; comp. 30, 31); especially the call by name (Isa 43:1). Since the voice of every human being in a healthy condition is the expression of the man within him, we can infer the impressiveness of Jesus voice without having a more definite conception of it. Recollections of things that address themselves to the ear are the most enduring, observes Strauss11 in his Glockentne. The manifestation of God begins with the hearing-wonder, and dies away in it. The expression of the voice is concentrated in the naming of a beloved name.

Rabboni [].With the infinite expression of the salutationMarywith which Christ makes Himself known to her, the word of recognition correspondsRabboni, my Teacher. The Evangelist cannot help reproducing the original Hebrew word in its sonorousness; therefore the interpretation. The solemnity of the passage is not contained in the explanatory supplement, but in the Rabboni. We can infer from that which follows that she meantime has fallen at His feet and embraced them, like those women in Mat 28:9, and the woman that was a sinner, Luk 7:39. I. e., her own self at the time.

Joh 20:17. Hold (Touch) Me not [ .12 Noli me tangere.In explaining this, reference should be had to Joh 20:22, where Thomas is directed by the Lord: , and Luk 24:39, where He calls upon the disciples: . It is therefore not the act of touching, as such, which the Lord reproves, but the animus or motive of Mary. The scene has often been represented in pictures called Noli me tangere.P. S.] Interpretations of the enigmatical :

1. Handle (Touch) Me not [in the literal sense]:

a. Strictly supernaturalistic: Jesus demands a greater reverence for His body now that it has become divine (Chrysostom, Erasmus and many others). Unseasonable devoutness and insufficient explanation of (for I have not yet ascended).

b. Decidedly natural, in various apprehensions. Ammon: Jesus desired to spare her the touching of One levitically unclean; Paulus: His wounds still pained Him, therefore touching Him would have hurt Him!

c. Spiritualistic: Weisse: He was still bodiless, a mere spiritual apparition (a ghost).

d. Gnostic: Hilgenfeld: He as yet appeared only as a mere Man, being not yet reunited to the Logos, and therefore adoration was unseasonable. [Yet immediately afterwards He allows Himself to be called by Thomas: My Lord and My God; comp. also Mat 28:9.P. S.]

e. Physiological. Because the new, glorified corporeality of Jesus was still so tender as to shun every vigorous grasp (Schleiermacher [and Olshausen, edd. 1 and 3]).

f. Psychological: Handle Me not for the purpose of examining whether it be really Myself in the body, or My glorified spirit. Meyer (following J. Fred. von Meyer13), Lcke. [In this case the following words , . . ., express the assurance of the Lord that He is still corporeally present with her, having not yet been translated to the Father in heaven.P. S.]

2. Hold Me not fast.

a. Supernaturalistic: Seek not thy comfort in My present appearance by terrestrial contact, but by spiritual communion (Aret., Grot., Neand. and others).

[Also Augustine (Tract, cxxi. c. 3). Noli Me tangere: id est, Noli in Me sic credere, quemadmodum adhuc sapis; noli tuum sensum huc usque pertendere quod pro te factus sum, nec transire ad illud per quod facta es. Quomodo enim non carnaliter adhuc in eum credebat, quem sicut hominem flebat? Leo the Great, Serm. 74 (al. 72), c. John 4 : Nolo ut ad Me corporaliter venias, net ut me sensu carnis agnoscas: ad sublimiora te differo, majora tibi prparo: cum ad Patrem ascendero, tunc Me perfectius veriusgue palpabis, apprehensura quod non tangis, et creditura quod non cernis. Calvin, Melancthon, De Wette, Tholuck, Luthardt, Hengstenberg, Godet hold substantially this same view. Alford: She believed she had now gotten Him again, never to be parted from Him. This gesture He reproves as unsuited to the time, and the nature of His present appearance. Do not thusfor I am not yet restored fully to you in bodyI have yet to ascend to the Father. This implies in the background another and truer touching when He should have ascended to the Father. Wordsworth (who has a long note here): Cleave not to Me in My bodily appearance; do not touch Me carnally, but learn to touch Me spiritually. When the power of the bodily touch ends, then the spiritual touch begins, and that touch most honors Christ and profits us. Wordsworth then applies the passage to Christs presence in the eucharist which is spiritual, not carnal.Hengstenberg (III. p. 303) conjectures that Mary, in the mistaken notion that the partition wall between Christ and her had now fallen, desired to embrace Him; this the Lord withstood, because the process of glorification was not yet completed, and the separation still continued in part. Godet: is to touch in order to enjoy, to attach ones self to some one: This is not the moment to attach yourself to Me as I am before you in My human individuality. Comp. below sub d.P. S.]

b. Historical: Tarry not with Me, but make haste and discharge the message; time enough later for handling, greeting, holding (Beza, Calovius, Bengel).

c. Spiritualistic-mythical: Jesus was on the point of ascending, and did not desire to be detained by Mary (Baur, Kinkel: One of the numerous ascensions occurring in the period of the forty days was about to be performed).

d. Christologico-psychological: Hold Me not as though we were in the perfection of the existence of that world beyond us, for I am not yet ascended, etc., to say nothing of thyself. (Leben Jesu II., 1661; III., 74414 Hofmann, Luthardt, Tholuck. As regards the sense, similarly Luther and others at an earlier period.)15 [Similar to explanation 2 a, above.P. S.].

On the fact that the term does not barely mean to touch, to handle, but that it also particularly denotes a hanging upon, a holding fast, see Tholuck, p. 434 [Krauths transl. p. 411]. Tholuck divides the interpretations into two classes, one of which discovers the reason for the repulse in the not yet glorified condition of Christ; while the other maintains that it lies in the glorified state of the Lord. According to the distribution into to lay hold of, and to hold fast, the former is by preference interpreted as signifying the catching hold of the knees, worshipping. Yet not exclusively. The design of Jesus speech was undoubtedly to limit the exuberance of Magdalenes rapture, to deprive her of the new illusion which is persuading her that every difficulty and danger of her life is laid behind her, that external intercourse with Jesus is now to continue and that it is the supreme thing,and so to guide her feeling into a practical channel. Hence the commission.

To my brethren [ .]So He calls the disciples by a new name of familiar co-ordination. Meyer: He means her to gather from this that His appearance is not as yet a super-terrestrial and glorified one. Glorification, however, does not put an end to the brotherly feeling. Bengel: The word is designed to speak peace to the disciples concerning their flight. Right, but too narrow. Christ breathes in the paradisaic peace of the new reconciliation. God is become the Father of the disciples; He greets them in the dignity of their new lifein which He will soon make them glad through the Spirit of adoption, as co-brothers in the new kingdom that is now founded, and as co-heirs. The relation of humanity to God is changed, the new Paradise is opened, together with the new Man there are born into the world His brethren in spe, He nevertheless remaining the Lord and King of them. Tholuck. It is the intimation of the relationship of reconciliation (Apollinaris, Luther, Bucer).

I ascend [].The imminent ascension spoken of as already present, since He even now finds Himself in the new heavenly state, or transition state, which is the condition of ascension. To My Father and your Father [ ].He does not say to our (as also elsewhere your Father, My Father, Mat 6:9 : after this manner pray ye: Our Father), for the relation in which He stands to the Father is, in its character of an eternal, immediate, principial relation, specifically different from their mediate relation to the Father. Still this positive assurance is herein contained: My Father is also your Father now; ye shall be glorified along with Me.To my God [ ].There; is the same contrast again on both sides in His generalizations. His consciousness of God is specifically unique and the source of theirs (Eph 1:3). But as in the resurrection, the Father has demonstrated Himself to be His almighty God, so in future, in their course of life and victory, He will prove Himself to be their God also.Thus is Magdalene made the first Evangelist of the resurrection to the apostolic circle itself, the Lord having also first appeared to her.

Joh 20:18. Magdalene cometh [ ].She is obedient to the commission. She first announces her joy that she has seen Him, then discharges His commission. According to Meyer, there is a difference between this commission and the passage Mat 28:10. Progress, however, from the most general disclosure to a more special one never constitutes a difference. Otherwise, the announcement of His imminent ascension would also present a difference from the directly following revelations of Jesus in the circle of disciples, as recorded by John himself.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Mary Magdalene, the first guardian of the Holy Sepulchre. The later and present guardians of it.

2. The angelic apparitions at the Birth, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord mark these moments as the great epochs in the life of Jesus. For the angelic world does, in general, emerge into view in the grand epochs of the Kingdom of God. Therefore particularly in the life of Abraham and in that of Moses; at the founding of the covenant-religion, and at the establishment of the Old Testament theocracy. For this reason, after the establishment of the New Covenant in the life of Jesus, there is a withdrawal of angelic apparitions in all the period through which the Churchs history extends; their return, however, is promised for the end of the world. The psychological reason is contained in the fact that in all those moments the human world is brought into closest proximity to the spirit-world; that the whole form of the visible world vanishes, to a greater or less degree, from the deeply moved elect on this side the gulf, and in the deep twilight of this world there uncloses within them a ghostly vision for the spirit-world See the authors Positive Dogmatik, p. 578 ff.

3. That the perception of the angels in their objective manifestation was still conditioned by the liberation of a visionary faculty on the part of those who beheld them, results from the history of the resurrection. Peter and John see no angel here, the other-women see but one angel, Magdalene sees two angels. Similar relative degrees of visionary perception are announced Joh 12:28-29; likewise Act 9:7; Act 22:9. Comp. Dan 10:7.

4. Christs superiority to the angels a doctrine taught by Scripture, Matthew 4; Mat 26:63; Eph 1:21; Php 2:10; Heb 2:5 ff., Mary Magdalene, who was scarcely dogmatically instructed therein, here scenically sets forth, in accordance with the instinct of Christian vital feeling.

5. The fact of Marys recognizing the Lord by her ear rather than by her eye is entirely in agreement with the laws of manifestation; according to these laws, wonders which address themselves to the hearing are of earlier and more frequent occurrence and of later with drawal than such as appeal to the sight. Here, however, it is at the same time a testimony to the spiritual and divine character of Magdalenes attachment to the Lord. She knows Him by the tone in which Christ calls her name. Through the human call she becomes aware of the divine call, the perception of which constitutes the most blissful experience of the elect. See Isa 43:1.

6. A dialogue most brief and yet most pregnant: Mary; Rabboni.

7. Hold me not. In no moment of blissful ecstasy may we forget that we are still on earth and still have a mission here. Even Mary must attain to a consciousness of the situation. The fact that Mary had not yet arrived at the goal was gently expressed by the Lord in the saying that He Himself had not yet reached it. At the same time there is here intimated the truth that spiritual communion with the Lord constitutes the essential part of a beatifying communion with Him, and is the condition of the bliss of beholding Him [face to face].

8. The message entrusted to Mary. It is addressed to the brethren. It is a message concerning the imminent perfecting of Christ. He does not speak of His resurrection; He speaks of His imminent ascension. His eye glances forward to the supreme goal. He designates His glorification as an ascension to His Father, in His character as the Son of God; to His God, in His character as the glorified Son of Man. This His ascension is, however, to redound to the advantage of His brethren as well as His own good. Hence the saying runs: and to your Father, etc. It is to be observed that Christ connects His relation to God with that of His brethren, and also makes a distinction between the two.

9. The first Easter-message addressed by Christ to the apostolic circle itself, was discharged by a woman, a female disciple, who, without doubt, was formerly the great sinner. The first manifestation of Christ was apportioned to Magdalene, as was the first manifestation of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament to the Egyptian maid Hagardoubtless for the reason that both, being in a condition most sorely needing consolation, first had need of the manifestation, and were moreover mentally disposed to receive it. [Hagar the bondmaid of Sarah, Magdalene once the bondmaid of sin.] Wenn wir in hchsten Nthen sein.16 (When in the hour of utmost need.) At such a time is evolved the ability of perceiving the most wonderful help.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See the Doct. Notes.

Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre of the Lord: 1. How disconsolate: a. she standeth chained to the spot, as the guardian of the sepulchre; b. she weepeth; c. she stoopeth down. 2. How comforted: a. she seeth the angels; b. she seeth the Lord; c. she is made a messenger of joy to the flock of disciples.The spiritual unity in the great change experienced by Mary: 1. In all her desolation, love for the Lord remained the light of her life (her faith and her hope). 2. In all her bliss there remained the painful pressure of her longing after the consummation.How the Lord crowneth love for Him: 1. She sought the Body of the Lord to anoint it and received the anointing of the Spirit from the Living One. 2. In her grief for the Body, she hoped in the Living One, and became a messenger of life to the whole Church of Christ in all ages.The blessing of true mourning at the grave.The saying, Blessed are they that mournmost conspicuously fulfilled.The angels at the feet and head of the dead and risen Lord.While pious men weep, there is already prepared for them supreme consolation.The threefold conversation of Mary indicative of three degrees of her Easter-joy: 1. With the angels, 2. with the Lord, 3. with the disciples.The great school of the Spirit of Christ: 1. At first she thought it impossible to part from the body of Christ; 2. and soon she learns to let the Risen One Himself externally go home.The mood of Mary when desirous of detaining the Lord, compared with the mood of Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.The message of the Risen One to His disciples: 1. Addressed to His brethren, 2. a message concerning His ascension on their behalf also, 3. the preparation for His appearing in the midst of them.The first sermon about the Risen One: 1. Delivered by a soul that was nigh unto despair; 2. by a woman; 3. by a pardoned sinner.How she discharges the message: 1. She speaks of her blessedness (I have seen the Lord). Then 2. she faithfully delivers the saying. Application: Thus in the true preaching of Christ, the testimony of experience and the commanded word must accompany each other.The Christian life, until the consummation, an eternal alternation of beholding and renouncing (or of receiving and sacrificing; making holiday and working).The mission to the brethren ever the precious heavenly fruit of the beholding of Christs glory.

Starke: Even pious souls do often err when they yield too much to those emotions which are good in themselves, Luk 24:17 f.O how many peek and pine without cause!Hall: Holy desires always prosper, Pro 8:17.To speak comfortably to the afflicted is praiseworthy, and in accordance with the custom of the angels, yea, of the great God Himself, Luk 7:13; 1Th 5:14.I bid.: Many a tender and humbled soul mourns over the loss of its Saviour and yet He, the while, is beside it, Son 3:1-4.Hedinger: The greater and more intense the misery of a distressed soul, the nearer Christ is; but He is not immediately recognized in the darkness.Canstein: It stands to reason that believers, Jesus being risen, should not weep nor be sorrowful, but put in practice the words of St. Paul: Rejoice in the Lord away, etc., Php 4:4.Hall: Jesus knoweth His sheep by name, Joh 10:3. Whoso is a true sheep of Jesus, knoweth also the voice of his Shepherd, Joh 10:4.Canstein: Christs voice still presses upon our ears and pierces into our hearts when He calls us by name.Hedinger: Unto faithful hearts there suddenly ariseth a light of joy, Psa 97:11; yet must they moderate their longing and be satisfied with the brief glimpse granted them. The Lord will not have them hang upon His gifts and friendliness, but upon Himself and His love.Zeisius: Eve, the first woman, brought transgression into the world; Mary, on the other hand, was the first preacher of restored, eternal righteousness.Bibl. Wirt.: Through Christs resurrection we are become His brethren and Gods children. Now if we be children of God, we are also His heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, our Brother, to eternal blessedness, Rom 8:17.Cramer: As woman was the first to serve the devil, so she must be the first to serve Christ, 1Ti 2:14.Hall: Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness, from the Gracious, Compassionate and Righteous One, Psa 112:4. 17Gerlach: The inquiry of the angels concerning a thing which they know, is to be understood similarly with Christs question to the blind men: what will ye that I should do unto you? Grief when uttered makes a man susceptible of consolation.Before this speech of Jesus one manuscript inserts the words: And she ran toward Him to lay hold of Him, which, even if John did not write it, we of course are to supply mentally.Father has particular reference to His divinity, God to His humanity. Here, for the first time, He significantly calls them brethren (comp. Mat 28:10).

Gossner: Angels ministered unto the Lord after His temptation: they likewise ministered unto Him in His death and at His resurrection, as well as at His birth and His ascension. They were present everywhereupon every occasionAnd behold, as Mary turneth away from every creature, even from the angels, she findeth and seeth Jesus standing!We might at times become disconcerted at the greatness of the Lord and at our own amazing littleness and distance from Him, the while He is desiring to draw so near unto us and behaveth Himself so brotherly toward us. For the prevention of such feeling on our part there was no better means than His own positive declaration: I am your Brother, I am one of you, and I go, as such, unto our Father; for, I have one God and Father with you; My Father is your Father; My God is your God; I indeed claim the pre-eminence, yet do pretend, not with standing, to be one of you.Our Brother is the Supreme Good; the Supreme Good is our Brother!

Heubner: How brief is the season of tears; even whilst we weep, the Author of joy is at our side, ready to wipe away our tears.Love hides itself in order that it may, on discovering itself, occasion us the more surprise and joy. What is this whole life of trial and miseryexile?A hiding of the heavenly Fathers love.The measure of affliction the measure of joy.He who tendeth the heavenly plants of His Father, was in a certain sense the Gardener.Strive that Jesus may one day call thy name too, that thou mayest not belong to those spoken of in Psa 16:4.Mary and Rabboni,just two words constitute the entire heart-conversation, but they are words full of power.(Justinus:) Moderate now thy craving for Me, for in heaven only shall our intimate, perfect connection begin,earth is not the place of perfect union. Yonder alone shall the souls longing for Jesus be satisfied. Do not now accompany Me, do not now follow Me as if the old intercourse still lasted.St. Peter and St. John have no more than Mary Magdalene and I and thou! Take them all in a lump,they are all brethren together. (Luther.)As yet we ascend not, but we shall one day ascend. Comp. Reinhards Himmelfahrtspred., 1809 and Theremin, Pred., 1819, III., 11018Hter, Zeugnisse christlicher Wahrheit, Bielefeld, 1858; Mary Magdalenes Easter-celebration: 1. The Easter-sorrow of Mary Magdalene; 2. her Easter-joy.Ibid.: That none can rob us of the true Easter-joy: 1. The character or nature of Easter-joy; 2. the subject of Easter-joy, or the good whereat we rejoice on the Easter-feast.

[Craven: From Augustine: Joh 20:13. And I know not where they have placed Him; it was a still greater grief, that she did not know where to go to console her grief.From Gregory: Joh 20:11. To have looked once is not enough for love.

Joh 20:12. She sought the body and found it not; she persevered in seeking; and so it came to pass that she found. For holy longings ever gain strength by delay; did they not, they would not be longings.

Joh 20:13. The very declarations of Scripture which excite our tears of love, wipe away those very tears, by promising us the sight of our Redeemer again.

Joh 20:15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? He asks the cause of her grief, to set her longing still more. For the mere mentioning His name Whom she sought would inflame her love for Him.Perhaps, however, the woman was right in believing Jesus to be the gardener; was not He the spiritual Gardener, who by the power of His love had sown strong seeds of virtue in her heart?But how is it that, as soon as she sees the gardener, as she supposes Him to be, she says without having told Him who it was she was seeking, Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence? It arises from her love; when one loves a person, one never thinks that any one else can be ignorant of him.

Joh 20:18. So the sin of mankind is buried in the very place whence it came forth. For whereas in Paradise the woman gave the man the deadly fruit, a woman from the sepulchre announced life to men; a woman delivers the message of Him who raises us from the dead, as a woman had delivered the words of the serpent who slew us.From Bede: Joh 20:18. In that Mary Magdalene announced Christs resurrection to the disciples, all, especially those to whom the office of preaching is committed, are admonished to be zealous in setting forth to others whatever is revealed from above.

[From Burkitt: Joh 20:11. Note Marys carriage and behaviour towards her Saviour; this is discovered by her patient attendance; She stood without at the sepulcher; by her passionate mourning, weeping; by her unwearied diligence, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher.Learn 1. True love to Christ suffers not itself to be stinted or limited, no, not by the greatest examples; the weakest woman that truly loves Christ, may piously strive with the greatest apostle in this point; 2. Strong love is valiant and undaunted, it will grapple and encounter with the strongest opposition; Mary fears nothing in seeking of her Lord, neither the darkness of the night, nor the terror of the soldiers, nor the malice of the Jews: Love is strong as death, and the flames thereof are vehement.

Joh 20:12. Such as sincerely seek the Lord, shall certainly find, if not the very thing which they seek, yet that which is much better for them; Mary did not find Christs dead body, but she finds two angels to testify that He was risen.It is matter of comfort to the members of Christ, that angels do not wait upon the head only, but upon the feet also; and it ought to be matter of imitation also.

Joh 20:13. The best company in the world will not satisfy or content such as are seeking for Jesus Christ, when they find not Him whom their souls seek; Mary now enjoyed the presence and company of two angels, but this did not satisfy her in the absence of Christ Himself,

Joh 20:14. Christ may be present with, and very near unto, His people, and yet not be presently discerned by them; Jesus stood by Mary, but she knew not that it was Jesus; her not expecting a living Christ, was one cause why she did not discern Him.

Joh 20:15. The soul of a sincere believer, 1. Is full of earnest and longing desires after Jesus Christ; 2. Is yet sometimes at a loss for Christ, and cannot tell where to find Him; 3. Whilst it is at a loss for Christ, its desires are often quicker and more stirring after Him.

Joh 20:17. Our love to Jesus Christ is best shown, not by our human passionate affection to His bodily presence, but by our spiritual communion with Him by faith here on earth, in order to an immediate communion with Him face to face in heaven.Christ calls His disciples brethren, after His exaltation and resurrection; thereby showing that the change of His condition had wrought no change in His affection.God for Christs sake has dignified believers with that near and dear relation of His being a Father to them in and through His Son.

[From M. Henry: Joh 20:11. Where there is a true love to Christ, there will be a constant adherence to Him, and a resolution with purpose of heart to cleave to Him.Where there is a true desire of acquaintance with Christ, there will be a constant attendance on the means of knowledge.They that seek Christ must seek Him sorrowing (Luk 2:48), must weep, not for Him, but for themselves.Weeping must not hinder seeking; though she wept, she stooped down, and looked in.Those are likely to seek and find, that seek with affection and in tears.

Joh 20:14. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart (Psa 34:18), nearer than they are aware. They that seek Christ, though they do not see Him, may yet be sure He is not far from them.Those that diligently seek the Lord, will turn every way in their inquiry after Him; Mary turned herself back, in hopes of some discoveries.

Joh 20:15. Whom seekest Thou? When Christ knows that His people are seeking Him, yet He will know it from themselves; they must tell Him whom they seek.She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith, etc.; Troubled spirits, in a cloudy and dark day, are apt to misrepresent Christ to themselves, and to put wrong constructions upon the methods of His providence and grace.

Joh 20:16. Mary; When those whom God knew by name in the counsels of His love (Exo 33:12), are called by name in the efficacy of His grace, then He reveals His Son in them, as in Paul (Gal 1:16).Rabboni; Notwithstanding the freedom of communion which Christ is pleased to admit us to with Himself, we must remember that He is our Master, and to be approached with a godly fear.Mary turned herself from the angels whom she had in her eye, to look unto Jesus; we must take off our regards from all creatures, even the brightest and best, to fix them upon Christ.The soul that hears Christs voice, and is turned to Him, calls Him, with joy and triumph, My Master.

Joh 20:17. Mary must not stay to talk with her Master, but must carry His message; for it was a day of good tidings, which she must not engross the comfort of, but hand it to others.My brethren; Though Christ be high, yet He is not haughty; notwithstanding His elevation, He disdains not to own His poor relations.My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God; There are such an advancement of Christians and such a condescension of Christ, as bring them very near together.

Joh 20:18. When God comforts us, it is with this design, that we may comfort others.

[From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh 20:12. Christs resting-place is therefore between two Angels, like the mercy-seat, of old. Even in His death, He is found to have dwelt, as in ancient days, between the Cherubim.

Joh 20:13. Woman, why weepest thou? This case of Mary Magdalene is our case oftentimes: in the error of our conceit, to weep where we have no cause; to joy, where we have as little. Where we have cause to joy, we weep; and whereto weep, we joy. False joys and false sorrows, false hopes and false fears, this life of ours is full of. (Bishop Andrewes.)

Joh 20:15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Now, seeing Christ asks it again a second time, we will think there is something in it, and stay a little at it. The rather, for that it is the very opening of His mouth; the very first words that ever came from Him, and that He spoke first of all, after His rising again from death.Thus say the Fathers; that Mary Magdalene standing by the graves side, and there weeping, is thus brought in to represent unto us the slate of all mankind before this Day, the Day of Christs rising again; weeping over the dead as do the heathens, who have no hope. But Christ comes and asks Why weepest thou? as much as to say, Weep not! There is no cause of weeping now. Henceforth, none shall need to stand by the grave to weep there any more. So that this, Why weepest thou? of Christs, (a question very proper for the day of the Resurrection,) wipes away tears from all eyes; puts off our mourning weeds, girds us with gladness, and robes us all in white, with the Angels. (Bishop Andrewes.)

Joh 20:17. Take notice that our Lord makes mention of ascending, twice; of rising, not at all. And it is to teach us that Resurrection is nothing, nor is any account to be made of it, if Ascension go not with it.Never take cave for Resurrection! That will come of itself, without any thought-taking of thine. Take thought for Ascension! set your minds there! Better lie still in our graves, better never rise, than rise, and, rising, not ascend. (Bishop Andrewes.)

[From Barnes: Joh 20:17. Nothing was better fitted to afford them consolation than this assurance, that His God was theirs.From Jacobus: Joh 20:13; Joh 20:15. Why weepest thou? How different are these words as spoken by Jesus from the same words spoken even by His Angels. Friends often ask the same thing, in our moments of anguish; but they can give no relief, and no arguments of theirs can cure the inward wound. But our blessed Lord reveals Himself in words of grace that go to the hearts wound, and wonderfully heal.

Joh 20:15. Whom seekest thou? Thus the adorable Saviour would draw her out to tell what she wants and whom she seeks for. So pleased is He to hear any poor sinner say, I seek Jesus.Your Beloved is near you, though you have thought Him afar off. Who ever sought and did not find? But oh! instead of finding Him a corpse, you shall find Him a risen, living, glorious Redeemer.

Joh 20:17. Go to My brethren; This was a far greater honor than that which was denied her. The gracious Saviour denies us nothing but for our greater advantage.

[From Owen: Joh 20:15. I will take him away; She takes all the responsibility upon herself. If no one else will share her pious duty, she is ready to discharge it independent and alone. Noble woman! The Church to the end of time shall embalm thy memory, and point to thee as the most loving and faithful of that devoted band, who

While Apostles shrunk, could dangers brave,
Last at His cross, and earliest at His grave.

Joh 20:17. Do not stay here to embrace Me now, either to pay thy homage to Me, or to confirm thy faith, both which thou wilt have other opportunities of doing; for I am not yet withdrawn from your world, and ascended to the heavenly court of My Father, as you imagine I shall presently do, but I shall yet continue for a little while on earth, and give you further opportunities of seeing Me again; let nothing therefore detain thee any longer, but go immediately to My dear brethren and say unto them, etc.Thou shalt possess Me again, but not as before, it shall be from this time and forever in the Spirit. The time of exalted and divine relationship is come. (Stier.)]

Footnotes:

[6]Joh 20:11.The position of the words is in accordance with B. D. O. X., etc., Tischendorf [The rec. reads before . with B.* D. etc. Tisch. Treg. Alf. : . A. B.,3 etc., Westcott. . : A. B. D. Tisch. Alf. Westc. : text rec. : (See Tischendorf, Alford).P. S.]

[7]Joh 20:14. before [E. text, rec] should be omitted in accordance with . A. B. D., etc. and the critical editions].

[8]Joh 20:16.The addition , in accordance with B. D. L. O. X. . Sin., is received by Tischendorf [Tregelles, Alford, Westcott. Most MSS. read (so Tischend. Alf. Treg.); some (so Westcott), some , some .P. S.]

[9]Joh 20:17.[ is the usual reading of the MSS. and Iren., Orig., etc., but Cod. B. and Tert. put after , and Westcott inserts this on the margin.P. S.]

[10]Joh 20:17.The first is wanting in B. D. X., Itala, Tischendorf. It was probably supplemented in imitation of the subsequent . [Treg. Alf. Westcott likewise read . without .P. S.]

[11][Late Professor of Practical Theology in the University of Berlin and Court-Chaplain and friend of Frederick IV, of Prussia. The Glockentne were his first, the Abend Glockentne his last work.P. S.]

[12][ occurs thirty-five times in the New Testament, and is uniformly translated to touch in the E. V. It is used of touching the hand, the garment, the body, food, etc.P. S,]

[13][Not the better known commentator, but also an eminent Biblical scholar (though a layman. Senator of Frankfort on the Maine) and reviser of Luthers German Bible.P. S.]

[14]Tholucks classification of J. P. Lange, p. 436, rests upon a mistake.

[15]The conjunctures, in despair of the text, (Gersdorf) and , need merely be mentioned.

[16][Beginning of a German hymn by Paul Eber (1547), see Schaffs German Hymn Book, No, 336. English translation by Miss C. Winkworth.P. S.]

[17][The above is a literal rendering of the passage as it stands in Luthers Version.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, (12) And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (13) And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? she saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. (14) And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

There is somewhat particularly interesting in this short account of Mary still waiting at the sepulchre. So attached was she to the Person of Jesus, that, though she had no hopes of ever seeing him again, and convinced that he was not there, yet still she waits in silence, weeping with great sorrow, and still looking in, not knowing how to leave the sacred spot. And is it not so with waiting souls now when they miss Jesus where before they have found him; and though ordinances, and hearing the word preached, or reading it themselves in dark seasons, do not bring such sweet views of Christ as in times past; yet can they not go away from the means, but will be sending forth the anxious enquiry like the spouse of old; Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth? Son 3:3 .

It doth not appear that Mary felt any fear at the surprizing sight of those angels in white, which she saw in looking in again to the sepulchre. One might have been led to suppose, that though her grief was great, yet such a supernatural appearance would have alarmed her. Neither did their address, as it should seem, affect her with any concern, for she answered their questions as though they had been men. And when she turned herself about, perhaps at hearing the footsteps of Jesus, and beheld Jesus without knowing him, we do not read of any of that alarm, which at such a place, and upon such an occasion, might have been reasonably expected, No doubt, agreeably to that sweet promise, as thy days, so shall thy strength be; the Lord who was so near her, strengthened her mind with suitable firmness. And so we may conclude the Lord doth by all his people. Many sweet instructions arise out of this short scripture. You see the Lord may be, and, as in this instance, certainly is, very near his redeemed, when they like Mary are very unconscious of his presence. And you observe, that the first discovery of Jesus, as here, must begin on the Lord’s side; for otherwise, like her, our eyes will be holden, we shall not know him. And I pray the Reader to observe yet further, that however earnest we are at any time in seeking Jesus, the Lord is still before-hand in seeking us. For it is not only one of the most precious truths of our charter in grace, if we love him, it is because he hath first loved us; but it is a blessed promise of the same divine covenant, that before his people at any time call, he answers. 1Jn 4:19 ; Isa 65:24 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

Ver. 11. Mary stood at the sepulchre, weeping ] Some think it was because she conceived that the Jews had gotten away our Saviour’s dead body to dishonour it; as the Popish persecutors digged up Bucer’s and many other good men’s bones to burn them. She wept where she had no such cause; so do too many, women especially, who should do well to keep their tears for better uses, and not wash foul rooms with sweet waters. Needless tears must be unwept again.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

11. ] She had come with them, but more slowly. , was standing, strictly imperfect: not ‘ had been standing .’

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 20:11-18 . Jesus reveals Himself to Mary .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Joh 20:11 . . Hitherto John has told us simply what he himself saw: now he reports what Mary told him, see Joh 20:18 . She had come to the tomb after the men, but could not share in their belief. She remained outside the tomb helplessly and hopelessly weeping. She herself had told the disciples that the tomb was empty, and she had seen them come out of it; but again “she peered into the tomb”; an inimitably natural touch. She could not believe her Lord was gone. . This, says Holtzmann, is a mere reminiscence of Luk 24:4 . But even the description of the angels differs. They were “seated one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus lay”; sitting, says Bengel, “quasi opera quapiam perfunctos, et exspectantes aliquem, quem docerent”. Lampe has little help to give here; and Lcke is justified in saying that neither the believing nor the critical inquirer can lift the veil that hangs over this appearance of angels. In Mary’s case it was wholly without result; for no sooner does she answer the angels’ question than she turns away, probably hearing a footstep behind her.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 20:11-18

11But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “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.'” 18Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.

Joh 20:11 “weeping” This is literally “wailing” (cf. Joh 11:31). It is Imperfect tense, which speaks of continuous action in past time. Eastern funeral practices are characteristically very emotional.

Joh 20:12 “two angels” John and Luke (Luk 24:23) agree that there were two angels. Matthew, who usually has two of everything (cf. Joh 8:28; Joh 9:27; Joh 20:30), has only one angel! This is one example of the unexplainable differences between the Gospels.

The Gospels are eyewitness accounts that select, adapt, and combine the words and works of Jesus for their own (inspired) theological purposes and target group. Modern readers often ask questions such as (1) which one of the Gospels is historically accurate or (2) seek more historical details about an event or teaching than is recorded by an individual inspired Gospel writer. Interpreters must first seek the intent of the original author as expressed in an individual Gospel. We do not need more historical detail to understand the Gospel.

“in white” The spiritual realm or spiritual beings are described as wearing white.

1. Jesus’ garments at the transfiguration – Mat 17:2; Mar 9:3; Luk 9:29

2. angels at the tomb – Mat 28:3; Mar 16:5; Luk 24:4; Joh 20:12

3. angels at the ascension – Act 1:10

4. saints with the glorified Christ – Rev 3:4-5; Rev 3:18

5. the elders (angels) around the throne of God – Rev 4:4

6. the martyrs under the throne of God – Rev 6:11

7. all of the redeemed – Rev 7:9; Rev 7:13-14 (cf. Dan 12:10)

8. the armies (of angels) in heaven – Rev 19:14

9. OT imagery for forgiveness – Psa 51:7; Isa 1:18 (symbolizing God’s purity, cf. Dan 7:9)

Joh 20:14 “did not know that it was Jesus” Mary Magdala did not recognize Jesus. The possible reasons for this are:

1. there were tears in her eyes

2. she was looking from the darkness to light

3. Jesus’ appearance was somewhat different (cf. Mat 28:17 and Luk 24:16; Luk 24:37)

Joh 20:15 “Sir” This is the Greek word kurios. It is used here in its non-theological sense (cf. Joh 12:21). It can mean “sir,” “mister,” “master,” “owner,” “husband,” or “Lord.” Mary thought she was talking to (1) a gardener or (2) the owner of the garden.

But note its theological usage in Joh 20:28!

“if” This is a first class conditional sentence which is assumed to be true from the speaker’s perspective. She believed someone had stolen the body.

Joh 20:16 “Mary. . .Rabboni” Mary is literally Miriam. Both of these terms are Aramaic (“Hebrew” means Aramaic, cf. Joh 5:2; Joh 19:13; Joh 19:17; Joh 19:20). Apparently Jesus said her name in a characteristic manner. He must have done the same type of thing when He prayed with two on the road to Emmaus (cf. Luk 24:30-31). The “I” on the end of “Rabboni” may reflect “my Rabbi,” “my Master” or “my teacher.”

SPECIAL TOPIC: JESUS’ POST-RESURRECTION APPEARANCES

Joh 20:17

NASB”stop clinging to Me”

NKJV”Do not cling to Me”

NRSV”Do not hold on to Me”

TEV”Do not hold on to Me”

NJB”Do not cling to Me”

The KJV has “touch me not.” This is a present middle imperative with the negative particle which usually means to stop an act which is already in process. Mary had grabbed Him and was holding on! This has no theological implications about touching Jesus’ body before the ascension. In Joh 20:27 Jesus allows Thomas to touch Him and in Mat 28:9 He allows the women to hold His feet.

“I have not yet ascended” This is perfect active indicative. Jesus will not ascend into heaven until 40 days after His resurrection (cf. Act 1:9).

“go to My brethren” The resurrected, glorified Lord calls these cowards “brothers” (cf. Mat 12:50).

“I am going up” This is present tense. This did not actually happen until forty days later while He was in their presence (cf. Luk 24:50-52; Act 1:2-3). John consistently uses the vertical dualism of “above” and “below.” Jesus is from the Father (pre-existence) and He returns to the Father (glorification).

“to My Father and your Father” What a marvelous statement! However, it must also be stated that this does not imply that believers’ sonship is equal to Jesus’ sonship. He is the unique Son of the Father (Joh 3:16), fully God and fully man. Believers become family members only through Him. He is both Lord, Savior, and brother!

Joh 20:18 Mary is also a witness!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

at. Greek. pros. App-104.

weeping. Greek. klaio. See on Joh 11:33.

and = therefore.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

11.] She had come with them, but more slowly. , was standing, strictly imperfect: not had been standing.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 20:11-12. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

You see, dear friends, love is very patient and persevering. The other disciples had gone away home, but not so Mary, she stands outside the sepulcher, and still waits, for she cannot go till she has seen her Lord. Love, however, has many sorrows for, as Mary stood without the sepulcher, she was weeping. Oftentimes your love to Christ will make you sorrowful when you for a while lose his presence; it will be a great sorrow to you if your Lord should seem to have hidden himself from you. But see how quick-sighted love is; Mary saw the angels, whom the other disciples might have seen if they had not gone home. One of the beatitudes is, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God; and love is one of the most eminent signs of purity. I do not wonder, therefore, that love saw angels, since love sees God himself.

Joh 20:13. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?

They could not understand Marys tears, their question seemed to say Christ the Lord is risen from the dead, and all the streets of heaven are ringing with hallelujahs because the great Conqueror has returned bearing the spoils of his victory. Why weepest thou? Art not thou one of those for whom this redeeming work was done? Woman, why weepest thou?

Joh 20:13. She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

That was enough to make any of Christs loved ones weep, and if ever you hear a sermon which has not Christ in it, you may well go down the aisle weeping, and if any ask why you weep, you may reply, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

Joh 20:14. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

A strange and sad unbelief had taken possession of her, and there is nothing that blinds the eye so quickly as unbelief. Christ is near thee, poor soul, near thee in thy trouble, but thou dost not know that it is Jesus. Open thine eyes, may God the Holy Spirit touch them with his heavenly eye-salve, that thou mayest see that it is Christ himself who is close beside thee!

Joh 20:15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Her supposition was wrong in one way, but right in another, for Jesus is the Gardener, and his Church is his garden. There was one gardener in whom we fell; here is another and a better Gardener in whom we rise. It is he, and he alone, who can properly tend all the plants of his Fathers right-hand planting. He is the Gardener, though not the one that Mary supposed, but what a strange request this was for her to make: If thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Could she have carried away the body of Jesus if it had been there? If so, what a ghastly load for her tender frame to bear! Ay, but she would have done it somehow or other; for, if faith laughs at impossibilities, and cries, It shall be done, it is love that actually does the deed of holy daring. The task that seems well-nigh impossible is readily performed when the spirit is invigorated by love.

Joh 20:16. Jesus saith unto her, Mary.

In the simple utterance of her name, there were tones which she could not mistake, it was the sweetest music she had heard since her Lords last message from the cross: Mary. Why, surely, she must have thought, it was the Masters voice calling me by name!

Joh 20:16. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

Or, My Master! The word Rabboni means something more than Master. Mary seems to say, Greatest and best of all teachers, I know thy voice; now that thou hast called me by my name, I recognize thee, and I wait to listen to the instruction thou art ready to impart to me.

Joh 20:17. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father:

There will be time enough for the fellowship your heart craves:

Joh 20:17. But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Practical service is better than personal rapture. Mary would fain have held her Lord, but he says to her, Go to my brethren. You will always find that it is best and safest to do what Jesus tells you, when he tells you, and as he tells you. What a delightful message is this from the risen Christ! Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Joh 20:18-19. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

If they had possessed more faith, they would have left a door open for Jesus to come in, however anxious they might have been to shut out the Jews. I am afraid, dear brethren and sisters, that we also are sometimes more anxious about shutting out the Jews than we are about letting in Christ. I mean, we are very particular in trying to keep out our own troubles and cares, but if we get Jesus within, we shall not think of the Jews, nor of our troubles and cares; they will all disappear as soon as he appears.

Joh 20:20. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

That was enough to make them glad. The gladdest sight out of heaven, and the gladdest sight in heaven itself, is to see the Lord.

Joh 20:21. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

I am the Messiah, the sent One; you, too, shall be my missionaries, my sent ones; it is but another form of the same word.

Joh 20:22-23. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

That is to say, As you proclaim my gospel, I will back up your message; when you preach of pardoning blood, I will make it efficacious. When you declare to penitent sinners that their sins are remitted, it shall be so; and when you tell those who believe not that they are condemned already, and that except they repent they shall abide in condemnation, their sins shall still be retained. The true minister of God speaketh not apart from the Word of God, and when he speaks the Word of God, the God of the Word is himself there to make it effectual. It shall be no brutum fulmen, no wasted thunderbolt; it shall fall in reality, and what the servant of Christ declares, according to the Scriptures, shall really be proved to be true.

Joh 20:24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

Possibly he did not go out of an evening; it may be that he was a half-dead sort of Christian, like a great many people are in London. They think they have done finely if they go out on the Sabbath morning, but the evening, well, it is too cold for them, or they must find some other excuse for keeping indoors: Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. That was a great pity, because Thomas would not only be a loser by his absence, but he would be sure to influence others, for he was an apostle. Surely, whenever it is possible, we who are leaders in the church, ministers, deacons, and elders, should take care that we are not absent from the house of the Lord.

Joh 20:25. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.

But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. There is something good about that declaration of Thomas, for a man is not bound to believe merely on the testimony of others. He should, if he can, endeavor to get evidence for himself, and as Christ is still alive, the very best thing is to go to him. But there was also much that Thomas said which was very wrong, he had no right to demand that he should see the nail prints in Christs hands, and, worse still, that he should be permitted to put his finger into them, and to thrust his hand into his Lords side. There was more than a little impertinence about that utterance, and something more even than an ordinary unbelief; and when we ask for signs and wonders from God, and say that we will not believe except we have them, we are guilty of very presumptuous conduct. We are bound to look for evidence concerning Christ; but when the evidence is sufficient, we ought not out of curiosity to crave for more.

Joh 20:26. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them.

That was an improvement upon the meeting of the previous Lords-day evening; Thomas had learnt by this time what he had lost the week before, so he was present on this occasion.

Joh 20:26-27. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas,

Picking out the one who most needed to be addressed, like the Good Shepherd seeking out the sick sheep first: Then saith he to Thomas,

Joh 20:27-28. Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

It has been well observed that Thomas was the first person who ever proved to himself the Deity of Christ from the exhibition of his wounds. There is a good argument in it, which we cannot stay to explain at this time; but the very humanity of Christ has in it the doctrine of his Deity; you can easily argue from the one to the other. How divine must he be who, in his condescension, took upon himself our nature!

Joh 20:29. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

That blessedness can be reached by all of us who believe in Christ. Those who lived in this world before Christ came, saw his day by faith, and they were blessed; those who lived in his day, and saw him in the flesh, and trusted him, were blessed; but we who cannot see him, yet believe in him,

are the most blessed of them all.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Joh 20:11. , had stood) with greater perseverance.- ) The Dative: Joh 20:12, At the ( ) head-at the ( ) feet-, without) This denotes her deep feeling of affectionate piety; for usually persons weeping avail themselves of solitude, when they can.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 20:11

Joh 20:11

But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;-Mary, with her feelings wrought up, disappointed and supposing that some one had moved his body to a permanent resting place, lingered near the grave and relieved her overburdened feelings by weeping. She again stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. [Jesus had been everything to Mary in a spiritual way. He had freed her from the influence of seven devils. Around him all her hopes had centered, and now to be deprived of the privilege of embalming his body, the last sad rite of affection to his lacerated body seemed to be greater than she could bear.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

the Joy of the Resurrection

Joh 20:11-18

Mary wept with hopeless sorrow, with no thought that Jesus was risen, and anxious only to secure the body of her dear Master and Friend. It is because we know so little of the inner meaning of events which are happening around us, under the hand of God, that we weep so bitterly. What we suppose we have lost is really close at hand, and what we count disastrous is part of the process designed to irradiate our lives for evermore.

In her grief Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener, but who shall say that she was greatly mistaken? for surely Jesus is the Keeper of the Church, which may fitly be compared to a garden. At that moment He had come into it to lift up one drooping flower. She recognized the intonation of His voice, for speech is ever a telltale. In the resurrection we shall hear again tones that we have not heard since childhood. In Joh 20:17 women receive the highest authority for acting as evangelists. Let them tell out the glad news of a love that is stronger than death, and which passes through death undiminished and unchanged. Our beloved are waiting for us in the garden of Paradise. We shall hear and see them and be with them forever.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Reciprocal: Mar 15:40 – Mary Magdalene Mar 16:5 – a young Luk 24:4 – two men Luk 24:10 – General Joh 16:6 – General Joh 19:25 – and Mary

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

WHAT MARY SAW THROUGH HER TEARS

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping.

Joh 20:11

Here is the lone figure of Mary Magdalene weeping before the tomb in the early dawn of the first Easter Day. Let us think of what Mary saw through her tears.

I. She saw the stone rolled away.Matthew says the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. A grave-stone a seat for an angel. What a triumph!

II. She saw the empty grave.The grave-clothes were there, the sweet scent of the spices clings around the rock-hewn tomb, but Jesus was not there. The Resurrection was entirely unexpected. Mary expected to find the Body, for she brought spices to complete the embalmment. St. Peter and John are equally surprised (Joh 20:9). Yes, the grave was empty, except that the sins of all believers were buried in that grave.

III. She saw the ministering angels.

IV. She saw the Living Lord.The Lord is risen indeed. Risenthat one word, if we hold it fast, changes all things, conquers death, dries tears, calms grief, widens our outlook, and makes earth the nursery and heaven home. The Risen Christ is our Hope and Salvation, and is the one Divine answer to all our sorrows and questionings. Wonderful things are seen through tears, and seen no other way. The way to the Cross is wet with tears. The way to the grave is wet with tears. The most blessed things of our lives come through tears. May we learn to pray those lovely lines of Hartley Coleridge

I am a sinner, full of doubts and fears,

Make me a humble thing of love and tears.

Then the raindrops of grief will become rainbows of joy. Other times for other things, but Easter for joy.

Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

It is scarcely too much to say of this narrative that it needs no other evidence of its truth than its own beauty and suggestiveness. If this and the other accounts in these two last chapters of the Fourth Gospel are not descriptive of historical events, where in the imaginative literature of the world are their parallels to be found? As we master them in detail we feel that they could never have sprung from invention or misunderstanding. Ifsays a modern preacherit is not history, I would match the story of Mary Magdalene and the Lord on the Resurrection morning, for subtlety of characterisation, for exquisite beauty, for reticence, for simplicity that goes straight to the heart, against anything that a Shakespeare or a Dante ever wrote.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1

In the meantime, Mary had returned to the tomb, and was weeping in grief for her Lord. Her interest would not let her be inactive, so she stooped down and looked into the tomb.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

The interview between the Lord Jesus and Mary Magdalene immediately after His resurrection, described in these verses, is a narrative peculiar to John. No other Evangelist has been inspired to record it. Of all the accounts of the appearances of our Lord, after He rose from the dead, none perhaps is so affecting and touching as this. He that can read this simple story without a deep interest, must have a very cold and unfeeling heart.

We see, first, in these verses, that those who love Christ most diligently and perseveringly, are them that receive most privileges from Christ’s hand. It is a touching fact, and one to be carefully noted, that Mary Magdalene would not leave the sepulcher, when Peter and John went away to their own home. Love to her gracious Master would not let her leave the place where He had been lain. Where He was now she could not tell. What had become of Him she did not know. But love made her linger about the empty tomb, where Joseph and Nicodemus had recently laid Him. Love made her honor the last place where His precious body had been seen by mortal eyes. And her love reaped a rich reward. She saw the angels whom Peter and John had never observed. She actually heard them speak, and had soothing words addressed to her. She was the first to see our Lord after He rose from the dead, the first to hear His voice, the first to hold conversation with Him. Can any one doubt that this was written for our learning? Wherever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, this little incident testifies that them that honor Christ will be honored by Christ.

As it was in the morning of the first Resurrection day, so will it be as long as the Church stands. The great principle contained in the passage before us, will hold good till the Lord comes again. All believers have not the same degree of faith, or hope, or knowledge, or courage, or wisdom; and it is vain to expect it. But it is a certain fact that them that love Christ most fervently, and cleave to Him most closely, will always enjoy most communion with Him, and feel most of the witness of the Spirit in their hearts. It is precisely them that wait on the Lord, in the temper of Mary Magdalene, to whom the Lord will reveal Himself most fully, and make them know and feel more than others. To know Christ is good; but to “know that we know Him” is far better.

We see, secondly, in these verses, that the fears and sorrows of believers are often quite needless. We are told that Mary stood at the sepulcher weeping, and wept as if nothing could comfort her. She wept when the angels spoke to her; “Woman,” they said, “why weepest thou?” She was weeping still when our Lord spoke to her,-“Woman,” He also said, “why weepest thou?” And the burden of her complaint was always the same,-“They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.” Yet all this time her risen Master was close to her, with “body, flesh, and bones, and all things pertaining to the perfection of man’s nature.” Her tears were needless. Her anxiety was unnecessary. Like Hagar in the wilderness, she had a well of water by her side, but she had not eyes to see it.

What thoughtful Christian can fail to see, that we have here a faithful picture of many a believer’s experience? How often we are anxious when there is no just cause for anxiety! How often we mourn over the absence of things which in reality are within our grasp, and even at our right hand! Two-thirds of the things we fear in life never happen at all, and two-thirds of the tears we shed are thrown away, and shed in vain. Let us pray for more faith and patience, and allow more time for the full development of God’s purposes. Let us believe that things are often working together for our peace and joy, which seem at one time to contain nothing but bitterness and sorrow. Old Jacob said at one time of his life, “all these things are against me” (Gen 42:36); yet he lived to see Joseph again, rich and prosperous, and to thank God for all that had happened. If Mary had found the seal of the tomb unbroken, and her Master’s body lying cold within, she might well have wept! The very absence of the body which made her weep, was a token for good, and a cause of joy for herself and all mankind.

We see, thirdly, in these verses, what low and earthly thoughts of Christ may creep into the mind of a true believer. It seems impossible to gather any other lesson from the solemn words which our Lord addressed to Mary Magdalene, when He said, “Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” No doubt the language is somewhat mysterious, and ought to be delicately and reverently handled. Yet it is only reasonable to suppose that the first surprise, and the reaction from great sorrow to great joy, was more than the mind of Mary could bear. She was only a woman, though a holy and faithful woman. It is highly probable that, in the first excess of her joy, she threw herself at our Lord’s feet, and made greater demonstrations of feeling than were seemly or becoming. Very likely she behaved too much like one who thought all must be right if she had her Lord’s bodily presence, and all must be wrong in His bodily absence. This was not the highest style of faith. She acted, in short, like one who forgot that her Master was God as well as man. She made too little of His divinity, and too much of His humanity. And hence she called forth our Lord’s gentle rebuke, “Touch Me not! There is no need of this excessive demonstration of feeling. I am not yet ascending to my Father for forty days,-your present duty is not to linger at my feet, but to go and tell my brethren that I have risen. Think of the feelings of others as well as of your own.”

After all, we must confess that the fault of this holy woman was one into which Christians have always been too ready to fall. In every age there has been a tendency in the minds of many, to make too much of Christ’s bodily presence, and to forget that He is not a mere earthly friend, but one who is “God over all, blessed forever,” as well as man. The pertinacity with which Romanists and their allies cling to the doctrine of Christ’s real corporal presence in the Lord’s Supper, is only another exhibition of Mary’s feeling when she wanted Christ’s body, or no Christ at all. Let us pray for a right judgment in this matter, as in all other things concerning our Lord’s person. Let us be content to have Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, and present when two or three are met in His name, and to wait for the real presence of Christ’s body till He comes again. What we really need is not His literal flesh, but His Spirit. It is not for nothing that it is written, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing.” “If we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him no more.” (Joh 6:63; 2Co 5:16.)

We see, lastly, in these verses, how kindly and graciously our Lord speaks of His disciples. He bids Mary Magdalene carry a message to them as “His brethren.” He bids her tell them that His Father was their Father, and His God their God. It was but three days before that they had all forsaken Him shamefully, and fled. Yet this merciful Master speaks as if all was forgiven and forgotten. His first thought is to bring back the wanderers, to bind up the wounds of their consciences, to reanimate their courage, to restore them to their former place. This was indeed a love that passes knowledge. To trust deserters, and to show confidence in backsliders, was a compassion which man can hardly understand. So true is that word of David: “Like as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” (Psa 103:13-14.)

Let us leave the passage with the comfortable reflection that Jesus Christ never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As He dealt with His erring disciples in the morning of His resurrection, so will He deal with all who believe and love Him, till He comes again. When we wander out of the way He will bring us back. When we fall He will raise us again. But he will never break His royal word,-“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (Joh 6:37.) The saints in glory will have one anthem in which every voice and heart will join: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” (Psa 103:10.)

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Notes-

v11.-[But Mary stood without…weeping.] The question naturally arises, “Why did not Mary go away from the tomb with Peter and John?”-The answer to that question must probably be found in the curiously different temperaments of men and women. Mary acted like a woman, and Peter and John acted like men. The head of a woman is generally weaker than that of a man, but the affections are generally stronger.-In the case before us the heart of Mary was not satisfied. Her mind was not convinced, like that of John, that our Lord had risen from the dead. It was not enough for her to know that the body was gone, and the tomb empty, and something wonderful had occurred, as it was for Peter. Her strong love and gratitude towards our Lord made her linger near the tomb, in the faint hope that something might yet turn up to explain where the body was gone. At any rate she could not tear herself away from the place where her Master’s body had last been seen, and when Peter and John departed she stayed behind, like a real warm-hearted woman, and gave a natural vent to her feelings in tears. She felt as if she must see something, before she could be satisfied, and so lingered near the grave, perhaps hardly knowing what she expected to see. The Lord had compassion on her. Her deep love was richly rewarded.

On Mary staying at the sepulchre, Andrews remarks, “The going away of Peter and John commends Mary’s staying behind. To the grave she came before them, from the grave she went to tell them, to the grave she returned with them, at the grave she remains behind them.” “To stay, while others do so, while company stays, that is the world’s love. But Peter is gone, and John too; all are gone and she left alone. Thus to stay is love, and constant love.”

Epiphanius, an ancient writer (A. D. 390), according to Heinsius, maintains the monstrous theory that the Mary here spoken of is the mother of our Lord, and not Mary Magdalene! It is well to know that the ancient Fathers were not always wise, and are certainly not infallible in expounding Scripture.

Tholuck thinks that Mary did not go to the sepulchre with Peter and John, but followed them alone, more slowly. This is possible; but I rather doubt it.

[And as she wept…stooped…sepulchre.] How long Mary wept, after she was left alone, we are left to conjecture. Probably not very long. At last it came into her mind to stoop down and look into the grave, through the small door or opening against which the stone had been rolled. It is worth noticing that we are not told that she had either entered, or looked into the sepulchre, before. Up to this time apparently she had only heard the report of Peter and John. Now, left alone, she probably felt a natural curiosity and anxiety to see with her own eyes what they had reported, and so, in the middle of her weeping, she stooped down and looked in, and at once saw a wondrous sight.

I think Mary’s case teaches us that heart is of more value in God’s sight than intellect. Those who feel most and love most get most privileges. The more we love, the more we are like to Christ.

v12.-[And seeth two angels…white…sitting, etc.] The incident here recorded is very remarkable and interesting. Mary saw figures in white sitting inside the grave. They evidently looked like men, but they were in reality angels,-two of those mysterious ministering spirits whom the Bible teaches us that God is pleased to employ on great occasions. An angel announced the coming birth of John Baptist and of Christ himself. Angels told the shepherds that Christ was born. Angels ministered to our Lord after the temptation, and an angel strengthened Him in Gethsemane. And now also angels appeared in the day of our Lord’s resurrection. They first announced that He was born, and they again, after thirty-three years, announced that He was risen.

The whole subject of angels is very deep and mysterious, and one about which we must beware of holding anything that is not revealed. But the case before us teaches one or two wonderful things, which we should do well to remember. These angels evidently came and went away, appeared and disappeared, after a manner supernatural, invisible, and inexplicable to our minds. It is clear that angels were at the tomb, when the party of women arrived there, after Mary Magdalene had run to tell Peter and John. It is equally clear that they were not to be seen, when Peter and John ran to the grave on hearing Mary’s report. Not one word do we read of their seeing angels. Yet it is equally clear that when Mary Magdalene looked in, after Peter and John went away, she saw two angels and talked with them. These are very deep things. They prove plainly that the angels of God appear and disappear, are visible or invisible, instantaneously and supernaturally, according as God commissions them. In short they are beings of a totally different nature to our own, and are in all the conditions of their constitution totally unlike us. For anything we know, they were in the tomb when Peter and John inspected it, but at that moment were invisible. For anything we know, they are now very near us every minute of our existence, and doing God’s will concerning us, though we are utterly unaware of their presence. All this no doubt is very mysterious, and past the power of man to explain and comprehend. One thing, however, is very certain. Neither here nor elsewhere do we ever find the slightest warrant in Scripture for praying to angels, any more than to dead saints, or for giving them the smallest portion of worship, as if they were divine. Like ourselves, after all, they are only God’s creatures.

The expression “in white,” means literally “in white robes or garments.” It is an adjective, and we are left to supply the substantive. The Holy Ghost here abstains from telling us the precise fashion of apparel which these angels wore. The garment worn by the angel mentioned in Mark, at the resurrection, was a long stole or flowing robe. (Mar 16:5.) It is worth noticing that “white” was the colour of the Lord’s raiment in the transfiguration, and white is the colour in which the angels always seem to have appeared. It need hardly be said that the colour is symbolical of that perfect purity and freedom from defilement, which is the character of the inhabitants of heaven. It will be the garment of the saved souls in glory. (Rev 3:4; Rev 7:9.)

The attitude in which the angels were seen by Mary deserves attention. “Sitting one at the head and the other at the feet,” where our Lord’s body had lain, they would seem to have been placed there by God as watchmen and guards over the sacred body of our Lord, during the time He was in the grave. It is written, “He shall give His angels charge over Thee.” (Psa 91:11.)

Some have thought that the position of the angels points to that of the Cherubim, who sat on the two ends of the mercy-seat, over the ark, with their faces toward each other. (Exo 25:20; 2Ch 3:13.)

Bengel thinks that this “sitting” was meant to intimate that their work was done. This seems to me doubtful, because angels need no rest.

Cyril thinks that the attitude of the two angels was meant to show Mary, that our Lord’s body had been safely guarded by them, and that no one could have stolen it away against their consent. If one angel could slay 180,000 of Sennacherib’s army, what could two do?

Andrews observes, “We learn that between the angels there was no striving for places. He that sat at the feet was as well content with his place, as he that sat at the head. We should learn from their example. With us both angels would have been at the head, and never a one at the feet. With us none would be at the feet by his good will: we must be head-angels all!”

v13.-[And they say unto her, Woman, why, etc.] The address of the angels to Mary is that of gentle and kind inquiry. We cannot doubt that they knew well why she wept. They ask the question in order to stir up in her mind self-inquiry, as to whether she had cause to weep or not. “What is the reason of this excessive lamentation? Search your own heart. Are you quite sure that this empty tomb does not show that you ought to be rejoicing?”

Mary’s reply to the angels is almost word for word what she had told Peter and John, only in the singular number. It shows plainly that the one thing that weighed on her mind was the disappearance of our Lord’s body, and her ignorance what had become of it. Of His resurrection she evidently had no idea at present. Her only thought was that His body was dead, that it had been taken away, and that she wanted to know where it was. To this one notion she sticks, and not even the appearance of angels can make her give it up. And yet the good woman must have often heard our Lord foretell His death and resurrection. How slow we are to give up long-standing prejudices! How backward to receive truths which contradict our little private systems of religion!

It should be observed that Mary told Peter and John that “the Lord” was taken away. When she speaks to the angels here, she says, “My Lord.” In both cases she speaks indefinitely of “they,” without indicating whom she means.

The calmness of manner with which Mary speaks to these two angels can hardly fail to strike us. She cannot have supposed they were two men only, whether enemies or friends. The mere fact that Peter and John had not seen them in the grave, must surely have shown her that they were angels. Yet she answers their question without hesitation, like one who feared nothing in her anxiety about her Lord. May we not however consider that a belief in the reality and ministry of angels was far more common among Jews than it is among Christians? They perhaps believed too much about them. It may be feared that we go into the opposite extreme, and believe too little.

Andrews remarks on Mary’s needless weeping,-“All was in error: tears of grief,-but false grief, imagining that to be which was not, and Him to be dead which was alive. She weeps, because she finds the grave empty, which, God forbid she should have found full, for then Christ must have been dead still, and there would be no resurrection. And this case of Mary Magdalene is our case oftentimes. It is the error of our conceit to weep when we have no cause, and to joy when we have as little. False joys and false sorrows, false hopes and false fears, this life of ours is full of. God help us!”

v14.-[And when…turned…back…saw Jesus standing.] Why Mary turned back at this moment we are not told. I feel no doubt there was some reason. The Greek words are very emphatical: “She turned to the things or places behind her.” (a) It maybe that she turned away from the questioners, as not caring to continue conversation with them. (b) It may be that she heard a footstep behind her, and turned to see who it was. (c) It may be that the shadow of some one behind her fell on the entrance to the tomb. The sun would be in the east, and if the tomb faced that way, its horizontal rays would throw the shadow of any person behind her on the tomb. (d) It may be that she observed some gesture or motion on the part of the angels with whom she was talking, which told her that some one was behind her. Who can tell but these holy spirits, who doubtless recognized the Lord, rose respectfully from their sitting position, as soon as they saw Jesus appear. I like this last solution best, for my own part. I cannot for a moment suppose that the angels would remain sitting motionless, when Jesus appeared. And I believe that Mary, as she talked with them, detected at once by their altered manner, that there was some one behind her. This it was that made her “turn herself back.” Such little touches give a wonderful life and reality to the whole narrative, in my judgment.

Chrysostom observes, “While Mary was speaking, Christ suddenly appearing behind her, struck the angels with awe; and they, beholding their Ruler, showed immediately by their bearing, their look, their movements, that they saw the Lord. This drew the woman’s attention, and caused her to turn.”

The same view is taken by Athanasius, Theophylact, Brentius, Gerhard, and Andrews.

[And knew not that it was Jesus.] There are but three ways in which we can explain Mary not recognizing Christ at once. (a) She was weeping bitterly, and her eyes were dim with tears. This, however, seems very improbable. (b) It was not broad day-light yet, and it was too dusky to distinguish any one. This is Cyril’s view; but it can hardly be correct, considering all that had already occurred this Sunday morning. (c) Her eyes were holden supernaturally, like those of the disciples walking to Emmaus, so that she did not distinguish the figure before her to be that of our Lord. This appears to me by far the most likely solution, miraculous as the circumstance certainly was. But the condition of our Lord’s risen body was altogether different from that of His body before crucifixion. We cannot pretend to explain in the least where He was, and what He was doing in the intervals between His various appearances, during the forty days before His ascension. We need not therefore hesitate to believe that He could assume such an appearance, that even a disciple like Mary did not recognize Him at first, or that He could cause her eyes to be unable to distinguish Him, even when close to her.

After all, what a striking emblem this little incident supplies of the spiritual experience of hundreds of Christ’s believing people even at this very day. How many are ever mourning and sorrowing, and have no comfort in their religion, while Christ is close to them. But they do not know it, and, like Mary, go on weeping.

v15.-[Jesus saith….Why weepest thou….seekest thou.] The first question that Jesus asked of Mary was precisely the same that the angels had asked. “Woman, why art thou weeping? Art thou quite sure that thou art right to weep over this empty grave, and oughtest not rather to rejoice?”-The second question was even more searching than the first. “Whom seekest thou? Who is this person that thou art seeking among the dead? Hast thou not forgotten that He whom thou seekest is one who has power to take life again, and who predicted that He would rise?”-I must think that in both these questions there was a gentle latent reproof intended for this holy woman. Faithful and loving as she was, she had too much forgotten her Master’s teaching about His death and resurrection. These questions were meant to rouse her to a recollection of things often said in her hearing. Of course our Lord knew perfectly well why she was weeping, and whom she was seeking. He needed not to ask her. He asked for her benefit rather than His own information. But excessive grief has an absorbing and stupefying effect on the mind and memory. Mary could think of nothing but that her Lord’s body was gone, and this swallowed up all her thoughts.

[She supposing Him, etc.] Here we see what Mary’s first thought was, when she heard a strange voice, and saw a strange figure. She catches at the idea that this person may be the keeper of the garden in which Joseph’s sepulchre was, and that, having probably been keeping watch over the garden all night, he may know what had become of her Master’s body, or may even have removed it himself. “Sir,” she says, “If thou art the person who has taken away my Lord out of the tomb, only tell me where thou hast carried His body, and I will take Him away.”-Once more we see that this holy woman could only think of her Master as one dead, and that her one absorbing idea was how she could recover His corpse and do it honour. As for His resurrection and victory over death, she seems utterly unable to get hold of it at present. Wonderful is it to see how much of Christ’s teaching was apparently thrown away on His disciples, and clean forgotten! Ministers who complain of the ignorance of their hearers, should learn patience, when they mark the imperfect knowledge of Christ’s own followers.

The Greek word rendered “Sir,” in this verse, might have been equally correctly rendered “Lord.” But it is rendered “Sir,” in like manner, in the conversation between our Lord and the Samaritan woman, in the fourth chapter of this Gospel. In both cases it is a term of respect, such as a Jewish woman would address to a man.

It is noteworthy that Mary does not name her Master to the supposed gardener. She simply says “Him,”-“if thou hast borne Him hence, I will take Him away.” It is the language of one so absorbed in the thought of her Lord, that she thinks it needless to name Him; and assumes, as a matter of course, that the gardener will understand whom she means.

It is noteworthy that Mary talks of “taking Him away.” How one weak woman like her could suppose that she was able to lift and carry away the dead body of a man, we cannot of course understand. It is clear that she either meant (a) that she would soon find friends who would remove the body, or else (b) that she spoke hurriedly, fervently, impulsively, and passionately, without reflecting on what she was saying. I incline to think the latter view is the correct one.

Luther, quoted by Besser, remarks on this verse, “Mary’s heart was so filled up with Christ and thoughts about Christ, that besides Him she neither hears nor sees anything. She stands alone by the sepulchre. She is not frightened at the sight of angels. She addresses Christ abruptly, supposing Him to be the gardener; and if he has taken Him away, she is ready to carry Him back to the sepulchre.”

Andrews observes, “Him is enough with love. Who knows not who it is, though we never tell His name, nor say a word more?”

v16.-[Jesus saith unto her, Mary, etc.] We are here told how our Lord at last revealed Himself to this faithful disciple, after her patience, love, and boldness had been fully proved. Little as she had shown herself able to understand the great truth of her Saviour’s resurrection, she had at any rate shown that none loved Him more, or clung to Him more tenaciously, than she did. And she had her reward. One single word was enough to open her eyes, to let the whole truth shine in upon her mind, and to reveal the great fact that her Saviour was not dead but alive, and that He had won a victory over the grave.-Speaking in His usual well-known voice, our Lord addressed her by her name,-the name by which, no doubt, He had often addressed her before. That single word touched a spring, as it were, and opened her eyes in a moment. Need we doubt that at once the whole world seemed turned upside down to the astonished woman; and that under the influence of such an amazing revulsion of feeling as that much-loved voice must have caused, her mind could only find expression in one passionate word-“Rabboni,” or Master.

The expression, “turned herself,” in this verse, is rather curious. We know, from Joh 20:14, that Mary had already turned once from the grave, when Jesus appeared behind her. Here again we are told that she “turned herself.” The simplest explanation seems to be, that when she did not recognize the person who spoke to her, and thought He had been the gardener, she partially turned away, as a woman naturally would from a strange man, and hardly looked at Him, while she spoke of taking the body away. But the moment the voice of Jesus sounded in her ears, she turned again directly to Him, and made some movement towards Him, as she uttered the cry, “Rabboni.”-Thus there were three movements: first, a turning round to see who was behind her; second, a partial turning away, when she heard a voice she did not recognize; and finally, a quick, passionate turning round entirely, when the well-known voice of her Master said, “Mary.” So at least it appears to me.

Chrysostom says, “It seems to me that after having said, ‘Where hast thou laid Him?’ she turned to the angels to ask why they were astonished; and that then Christ, by calling her by name, turned her back to Himself from them, and revealed Himself by His voice.”

The boundless compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ to His believing people comes out wonderfully in this verse. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows how weak our bodily frame is, and how much excessive sorrow can unnerve and stupefy our minds. He can pass over much darkness of understanding, much slowness of comprehension, when He sees real, genuine, hearty, bold, persevering, thorough love to Himself and His Person. We see this prominently brought out in His dealing with Mary Magdalene, when He revealed Himself to her. He graciously pardons her forgetfulness of His oft-repeated declaration that He would rise again after His death, pities her deep sorrow, and abundantly rewards her love. These things are written for our learning. Jesus never changes. What He was, when He revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene, He is at this day.

Rabboni, according to Parkhurst, “is nearly of the same import as Rabbi. John explains both by the same word,-teacher. But Lightfoot and others say it was a term of higher respect.” Parkhurst thinks it is formed from the Chaldee, and includes the idea, “MY Master.”

v17.-[Jesus saith…Touch Me not…my Father.] This saying of our Lord is undeniably a very “deep thing,” and the real meaning of it is a point which has greatly perplexed commentators. I suspect it is one of those things which will never be fully settled until the Lord comes. In the meantime we must be content to make humble conjectures. It will clear our way to remember that our Lord could not possibly mean by saying, “Touch Me not,” that there was anything sinful or wrong in Mary touching His risen body. The mere fact that a few minutes after this interview with Mary, He allowed the other women who had been to the grave to “hold Him by the feet ” (Mat 28:9), completely settles that point. Moreover, within a week after this very day, He says to Thomas, “Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side.” (Joh 20:27.) This alone entirely contradicts the notion that our Lord’s body might not be touched before His ascension. But having cleared the way negatively, the question yet remains, “What did our Lord mean positively?”

In order to understand the meaning of “Touch Me not,” we must try to realize the state of mind in which Mary Magdalene was, when our Lord revealed Himself to her. A very slight knowledge of human nature, and especially of woman’s nature, will tell us that the sudden discovery that Jesus was alive and standing before her, would throw her into a violent state of excitement, and produce an immense revulsion of feeling, from deep despondency to extravagant joy. May we not well believe that under the influence of this excitement, this holy woman might be more demonstrative than was seemly, and might exhibit her feelings by actions and gestures that our Lord saw it absolutely needful to repress?-Can we not understand that a warm-hearted, impulsive Jewish woman, holy and pure-minded as she certainly was, would be likely to cast herself at our Lord’s feet, to say the least, in a passionate ecstasy of delight, and to hold them fast, kissing and embracing them, like the woman in Simon’s house, as if she would never let them go?-And can we not well understand that our wise Master, who knew all hearts, thought it good to check and repress her, and therefore, for her soul’s benefit, and not unkindly, said, “Touch Me not.”-Nothing would be more likely to calm the good woman’s mind, and to recall her to a reverent sense of what was due to herself and to her Lord, than this prohibition to “touch.” Such is my view of this wonderful expression. It is to my mind a very suggestive one, and deserves the especial attention of ministers, in carrying on their private pastoral work. But I forbear. Let it however never be forgotten (and I desire to speak with the utmost reverence and delicacy), that when our Lord allowed the women, mentioned by Matthew (Mat 28:9), to “hold Him by the feet,” there were several women present together, and some of them mothers and not young. When, on the contrary, He said to Mary Magdalene, “Touch Me not,” He spoke to one who in all probability was a young woman, and He and she were alone!

The Greek word we render “touch,” according to Liddell and Scott’s Lexicon, frequently means “fasten oneself to, cling to, hang on by, lay hold of, or grasp.” Homer constantly uses the word in this sense. This deserves special notice. Schleusuer and Parkhurst agree with Liddell and Scott.

The words, “for I am not yet ascended to my Father,” are even more difficult than “Touch Me not;” and the connection between the two sayings is the hardest knot of all the sentence.

(a) Some think that the sense is, “I have not yet ascended to my Father. Till I have ascended and taken my seat at His right hand, my work as your Saviour is not perfect and complete. Do not therefore touch Me and fasten upon Me, as if you would fain keep Me upon earth for ever, now that I have risen again. Remember that my ascension is as much a part of my great work of redemption as my crucifixion and resurrection. I have not yet ascended. Do not, therefore, behave as though you wished to detain Me here below, and never to part with Me again.”

(b) Some think that the sense is, “I am not yet ascending to my Father. I shall not ascend for forty days. There will, therefore, be abundant time for seeing, touching, hearing, and conferring with Me. Do not therefore now waste precious time on this eventful morning by embracing my feet, and demonstrating your affection to my person. Rather rise, and lose no time in going to my brethren, and telling them that I am risen. Think of others; and do not occupy yourself, as you are disposed to do, in touching my feet and gratifying your own feelings. Natural as it is, there is other work to do now. Go and do it, and do not linger here. Touch Me not.” This is the view of Beza, Brentius, and Bishop Hall.

(c) Some think, as Melancthon, that our Lord had in view His second advent and kingdom, when all who have known and loved Him on earth, shall at length dwell with Him in holy familiarity, and go out from His presence no more. Melancthon says, “It is as if Christ would say, Then shall you touch Me, when I have ascended to my Father: that is, when I shall bring thee and all my Church to the Father at the last day. Another kingdom and another life remains yet to be given, in which you shall enjoy fellowship with Me and my Father.”

I honestly confess that I find it almost impossible to say which of the three opinions I have here described deserves most attention. If I must decide, I incline to prefer the second one, and I think it is more in keeping with the latter part of the verse. The weakest point of this view is the future sense which it puts on the words, “I am not ascended.” The Greek word is in the perfect tense, and the perfect is undoubtedly used sometimes in the sense of a future. (Compare Rom 14:23; Joh 17:10; and see Telf’s Greek Grammar, vol. ii., p. 65; and Winer’s Grammar, p. 288. Clark’s edition.) But it is rather awkward that “I ascend” comes immediately after in the present tense. The reader must decide for himself which view he prefers.

Chrysostom says, “Methinks Mary wished still to converse with Jesus as before, and in her joy perceived nothing great in Him, although He had become far more excellent in the flesh. To lead her therefore from this idea, and that she might speak to Him with awe (for neither with the disciples doth He henceforth appear so familiar as before), He raiseth her thoughts, that she should give more reverent heed to Him. To have said, ‘Approach Me not as you did before, for matters are not in the same state: nor shall I henceforth be with you in the same way,’ would have been harsh and high-sounding. But the saying, ‘I am not yet ascended to my Father,’ though not painful to hear, was the same thing. For by saying, ‘I am not yet ascended,’ He showeth that He hasteth and passeth thither, and that it was not meet that one about to depart thither, and no longer to converse with men, should be looked on with the same feelings as before.”

Augustine says, “There is a spiritual meaning latent here.-Either this is so spoken, ‘Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended,’ that the woman is a figure of the Church of the Gentiles, which did not believe on Christ until He was ascended unto the Father;-or else Jesus would have men so believe in Him, or touch Him spiritually, as knowing that Himself and the Father are one.-Mary might believe in such a way as if she thought Him unequal to the Father, which thought is forbidden to her. ‘Touch Me not’: i.e., ‘Do not believe in Me in such wise as thou art yet minded in thy thoughts of Me: let not thy perception reach only to the thing I was made for thee, without passing beyond to that by which thou wast made. I am not yet ascended to my Father. Then shalt thou touch Me, when thou believest Me to be God not unequal to the Father.'”

Calvin says, “The meaning of these words is, that Christ’s state of resurrection would not be full and complete, until He should sit down in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Therefore Mary did wrong in satisfying herself with having nothing more than the half of His resurrection, and desiring only to enjoy His presence in the world.”

Lightfoot says, “These words relate to what Christ had spoken formerly about sending the Comforter, and that He would not leave them comfortless, but would come to them. Christ says to Mary, ‘I must first ascend to my Father, before I can bestow those things upon you which I have promised. Do not therefore touch Me, and detain Me upon any expectation of that kind. Rather wait for my ascension, and go and tell the same things to my brethren for their encouragement.'”

Poole says, “The best opinion seems to be the opinion of those who think our Saviour saw Mary too fond, as if she thought He had been raised up to such a converse with them as He had before His death. This error is all He tasks her of, not forbidding any kind of touching, so as to satisfy herself He was truly risen, but restraining any gross conception.-He reminded Mary that He was about to ascend to His Father, though He had not yet ascended, and was therefore not to be enjoyed by them with so much freedom and familiarity as before.”

Bishop Hall says, “There may be a kind of carnality in spiritual notions. ‘If I have known Christ after the flesh, from henceforth I know Him no more.’ That Thou livedst here, my Saviour, in this shape, that colour, this stature, that habit, I should be glad to know: nothing that concerns Thee can be unuseful. Could I say, here Thou satest, here Thou layest, here Thou wast crucified, here Thou wast buried, I should with much content see and recount those ceremonials of Thy presence. But if I shall so fasten my thoughts on them, as not to look higher, to the spiritual part of these achievements, to the power and issue of Thy resurrection, I am none the better.'”

Rollock says, “The meaning in effect is this. It is not time for thee to touch Me now, till that time I be in glory, and then touch Me by the arm of faith as much as thou canst or mayest. Ye must consider that she was too much addicted to His bodily presence. She thought He should have remained and dwelt on earth as He did before. Therefore He would not let her come near Him, until He instructed her of a spiritual touching, and that He was not to stay here, but to dwell with His Father in heaven.

“Mark this lesson. Some men love the Lord entirely, and yet when they come to His service they fail: for such is the grossness of our nature that we cannot incline to that spiritual service which He chiefly requires. Popery is full of this grossness. They can do nothing if they have not His carnal presence, either in Himself, or in a stock or stone, or in a piece of bread, and therefore they draw a bodily presence of Him in the sacrament. All their religion is earthly,-no grace, no spirit in it. But did the Lord accept that gross service that Mary offered? I am certain He loved Mary better than the Pope and all his priests; yet well as He liked Mary, He liked not her service. He says to her, Touch me not! The Lord keep us from gross service, and make us touch Him by faith.”

Andrews says, “The most we can make is that here Mary failed in somewhat. Not that she did it in any immodest or indecent manner. God forbid! Never think of that. But she was only a little too forward, it may be: not with the due respect that was meet.”-“I tell you plainly I do not like her Rabboni. It was no Easter-day salutation; it should have been some better term, expressing more reverence.”-“The touch was not the right touch, and all for want of expressing more regard; not for want of reverence at all, but of reverence enough.”-“It is no excuse to say it was all out of love. Never lay it upon that. Love, Christ loves well. But love, if it be right, doth nothing uncomely, keeps decorum, forgets not what belongs to duty and decency, carries itself accordingly.”-“A strange kind of love, when for very love to Christ we care not how we use Him, or carry ourselves toward Him. Which, being Mary’s case, she heard and heard quickly. Touch Me not,-you are not now in case till you shall have learned to touch after a more regardful manner.”

Sibbes says, “Mary was too much addicted to Christ’s bodily presence. It is this that men have laboured for from the beginning of the world,-to be too much addicted to present things and to sense. They will worship Christ; but they must have a picture before them. They will adore Christ; but they must bring His body down to a piece of bread: they must have a presence. And so instead of raising their hearts to God and Christ in a heavenly manner, they pull down God and Christ to them. And, therefore, saith Christ, ‘Touch Me not in that manner: it is not with Me as it was before.’ We must take heed of mean and base conceits of Christ.”

Sherlock, in his “Trial of the Witnesses,” says, “The natural sense of this place is this: Mary Magdalene, upon seeing Jesus, fell at His feet, and laid hold on them, and held them as if she never meant to let them go. Then Christ said to her, “Touch Me not, or hang not about Me now. You will have other opportunities of seeing Me, for I go not yet to my Father. Lose no time then, but go quickly with my message to my brethren.”

West, on the Resurrection, says, “I take Christ’s forbidding Mary to touch Him, to have been meant as a signification of His intention to see her and the disciples again; just as in ordinary life, when one friend says to another, ‘Do not take leave, for I am not going yet,’ he means to let him know that he purposes to see him again before he sets out on his journey.”

Lampe mentions a strange view of “Touch Me not” maintained by Bauldry, a German professor. He would put a full stop at “not,” and place it first in the sentence, rendering it thus, “No! I am not the gardener. Touch Me, and see that I am Thy Saviour risen.” He also mentions a view held by many, that it means, “Do not try whether I am risen by touching Me. It is I myself.” Both views, however, seem very improbable.

Paulus, the German theologian, maintains the monstrous notion that our Lord meant, “Do not lay a finger on Me, because my wounds still smart.” This is simply ridiculous, to say the least.

Hengstenberg says, “The reason of the prohibition must be sought in the personal character of Mary, and in the passionate nature of the touch which sprang from that character. She thought that the limits which had formerly existed between herself and the Lord (the old style of confidence is a very incorrect idea) were, now that the Saviour had passed into another form of existence, removed, and that she might now give free course to her feelings without fearing the admixture of anything human in her sentiment toward her Lord. But her Lord repelled her: Touch Me not.”

Wordsworth says, “The term (in the Greek) indicates not only a prohibition of a particular act, but forbids a habit: i.e., of clinging to Him with a bodily touch. And the words, ‘I have not ascended,’ contain a precept concerning the time when the habit of touching Christ may be exercised. He is to be touched after He has ascended,-that is, He is then to be truly touched, when He is beyond the reach of the bodily touch. And one of the purposes of His absence and His ascension into heaven was to elicit and exercise that touch,-the touch of faith.”

Burgon remarks what a strange thing it is, that “both the old world and the new should have begun with the same prohibition, Touch not.”

[But go…my brethren…say unto them.] This sentence is strikingly full of wisdom, tender thoughtfulness, and kindness. Wisely our Lord summons Mary Magdalene to an act of duty to others. He bids her not spend time in demonstrations of affection, but arise and be useful.-Thoughtfully our Lord’s first consideration is for His poor scattered disciples. Weak and erring as they had been, He still loved them, and at once sends them a message. He did not mean to cast them off, or forget them.-Kindly He calls them “my brethren.” All was pardoned and forgiven. He still regarded them as His dear brethren,-risen, conqueror over the grave as He was,-and would have them look on Him as an elder brother. This is the first time our Lord ever called the disciples “brethren.”

Bucer thinks that “my brethren” in this place really means “my brethren according to the flesh:” i.e., James and others, whose faith was weaker perhaps than that of the other Apostles. But the vast majority of commentators see in the expression nothing of the kind, and regard it only as a term of affection applied to all the Apostles. Calvin properly refers us to Psa 22:22 : “I will declare thy name unto my brethren.” See also Heb 2:11.

Andrews remarks that the words “my brethren” was “a word to be touched and taken hold of. It was so once when Benhadad’s servant laid hold on the word of the King of Israel, ‘He is my brother.'” (1Ki 20:32-33.) He adds that it implied identity of nature, and identity of love and affection after the resurrection, and no change.

Let us mark what a strong proof we have here of the duty of telling others the good news of the Gospel. The very first work that a risen Christ proposes to the first disciple to whom He revealed Himself, is the work of telling others. It was a deep saying of the four leprous men: “This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us.” (2Ki 7:9.)

Cyril remarks what an honour was put on women, when a woman was commissioned to be the first person to proclaim the tidings of the resurrection.

[I ascend…my Father…your God.] The message which our Lord desires Mary to carry to His disciples is remarkable. He does not bid her say “I have risen,” but “I ascend.” He would evidently have them understand that His resurrection was only a step towards His ascension, and that He did not rise again in order to tarry with them upon earth, but in order to go up to heaven as a conqueror, and sit down at God’s right hand as their forerunner, representative, priest, advocate, and friend. The message is clearly elliptical. It is as though our Lord said, “Say unto them that I have risen from the dead, and that I am soon about to ascend into heaven, to Him who is my Father and my God, and their Father and their God also.”

When our Lord dwells on His ascension more than His resurrection, it seems to me that He names it as the great conclusion and accomplishment of the work He came to do, and the necessary consequence of His rising again. It is as though He said, “My work is finished, my battle is won, and I shall not be much longer with you in the world. Get ready to receive my last instructions.”

Calvin says, “Christ forbids the Apostles to fix their whole attention on His resurrection viewed simply in itself, but exhorts them to proceed further, until they come to the spiritual kingdom, the heavenly glory, and God Himself.”

Andrews remarks, “We ourselves had better lie still in our graves, better never rise, than rise and rising not ascend.”

Flavel remarks, “If Christ had not ascended, He could not have interceded, as He now does in heaven, for us. And do but take away Christ’s intercession, and you starve the hope of the saints.”

When our Lord speaks of God as “My Father and my God,” He seems, as usual, to point to the close and intimate union which He always declared to exist between Himself and the First Person in the Trinity. “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Pe 1:3), is a kindred expression.-He does not, we should observe, say, I ascend unto “our Father,” etc., but “my Father and your Father.” He thus shows that there is a certain distinction between His relation to the Father and our’s. Believers are not naturally sons of God: they only become so by grace, by adoption, and by virtue of union with Christ. Christ, on the contrary, is in His nature the Son of God by an eternal generation.

When our Lord speaks of “Your Father and your God,” He seems to me to speak with a special view to the consolation of His disciples. It is as though He said, “Do not be troubled because I go away. He to whom I go is your Father and your God as well as mine. All that He is to me, the Head, He is also to you, the members.”

It may well be doubted, when we read this verse, whether Christians, as a rule, assign sufficient importance to the great truth of Christ’s ascension into heaven. Let us never forget that if our Lord had not ascended into heaven, and sat down on the right hand of God, His resurrection would have been of little value. It is His going into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us, that is the great secret of Christian comfort. It is not for nothing that Paul answers the question, “Who is he that condemneth?” by saying, “Christ hath died,-yea, rather hath risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Rom 8:34.) The death, the resurrection, the ascension, the intercession of Christ, are four great facts that should never be separated.

It ought not to be forgotten that there seems to be a close connection between the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. This, at least, seems to be the meaning of the text in the Psalms, quoted by Paul: “When He had ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.” (Psa 68:18. Eph 4:8.)

v18.-[Mary Magdalene came and told, etc.] In this verse we see the effect that our Lord’s words had on the loving disciple to whom He first appeared. She meekly accepts the reproof of her over-forward zeal to touch Him, without gainsaying or answering again. Like a good servant, she proceeds at once to do what she is told. The use of the present tense shows the promptness of her obedience. The Greek words would be more literally rendered, “Mary Magdalene cometh, telling or declaring to the disciples that she has seen the Lord, and that He has said these things to her,”-that He has given her this message to carry to them, and that He calls them His brethren. The use of the participle makes the words sound as if she went open-mouthed, telling every disciple as she went, and hardly stopping to sit down, till she had told every one whom she could find in Jerusalem. We need not doubt that the first house she went to was that where Peter and John lodged, and one of the first persons to whom she told the joyful news was the mother of our Lord. A few minutes after she departed on her joyful errand-running, we need not doubt, as she had run before,-our Lord appeared to the other women, as is recorded by Matthew. (Mat 28:9.)

Brentius remarks what honour this passage puts on women. Sin came into the world by Eve, a woman. Yet God, in mercy, ordered things so that of a woman Christ was born, to a woman Christ first appeared after He rose from the dead, and a woman was the first to carry the news of His resurrection. He quaintly says, “Jesus made Mary Magdalene an Apostle to the Apostles.”

Cecil remarks, “Singular honour is reserved for solitary faith. Mary has the first personal manifestation of Christ after His resurrection. She is the first witness of this most important and illustrious fact, and the first messenger of it to His disciples.”

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Joh 20:11. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. Peter and John had returned to their homes. Mary had followed them when they first ran to the sepulchre; but (probably in consequence of their eager haste) she had not reached it before they departed. Nothing at least is said of her having met them and been addressed by them. She stands there with no thought of a resurrection in her mind, but believing only that the body has been taken away, and therefore weeping with loud lamentation (comp. on chap. Joh 11:34-35).

As she wept therefore she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre. Nothing could be more natural than that she should desire to view the spot associated with all that was so dear to her.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Section 2. (Joh 20:11-18.)

Relationship in the new life.

They go home, cheered though perplexed, to await what needs must follow. But there is one who cannot leave the place where she had last seen (though in what circumstances of distress) her Lord and Saviour. She has followed back to the sepulchre the quicker steps of the two men: coming too late, as it would seem, to learn from them the confidence they had gathered. Her own sight is too much dimmed with irrepressible tears, to gather it where they have done. Of resurrection, save at the far-off end-time, she has no expectation. But her heart clings, with a tenacity that nothing can divert or weaken, even to the Dead, by whose death she is desolate, but who survives in those indestructible memories which support and sadly light her through the gloom. Now she stands weeping outside the sepulchre, and, stooping down, looks into it. Was it a sight to prepare her for what would else have been too overwhelming a joy? Two angels in white are sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. They sit in peaceful contemplation of the place now vacant, and ask why she should be weeping, and whom she was seeking there. Absorbed with her one object, however, she seems scarcely to recognize the strangeness of the vision, but answers with the same story she had brought to the disciples, that men had taken away her Lord! Then she turns away again on a quest from which the presence of angels cannot distract her, to find, though she knows it not, Jesus Himself before her.

Spite of her ignorance, -spite of the unbelief which was in that ignorance, -Mary it was who was to be the first witness of His resurrection, the first evangelist of the new order of things which is established by it. A woman’s heart had anointed Him for His burial; and this He would proclaim wherever the gospel should go out. Now again a woman’s heart, more devoted than His foremost disciples, is to carry, in the energy of its new-born gladness, the message that has gladdened it to these, and to become, as it were, the apostle to apostles! How it tells us of the way in which the heart becomes the leader of the mind into the truth of God, and of the displacement of mere officialism in the Christian order.

Yet, after all, how little had Mary appreciated the One she loved with such heart-felt devotion! and her unbelief it is that, as with those upon the road to Emmaus afterward, holds her eyes when at first she sees the so eagerly desired object. He has to repeat to her the angels’ question, why she is weeping, and whom she is seeking there among the dead. Can she indeed be so dull? Can we alas, who have so much less excuse than Mary? How much of our sorrow which seems most to spring from our love of Him, is yet due in fact to our little appreciation of Him? Do we not also seek the Living One as if He were dead, and dishonor Him in our very worship of Him? Thus Mary repeats her wail to her unknown Lord Himself, and can take Him for the gardener, whose Voice had freed her once from the sevenfold power of the enemy which held her. Yet withal what a right she doubts not she has in Him, whom she seems to think the whole world must know at once: “Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away!” But the Good Shepherd calls His sheep by name, and they know His Voice. He recalls her to herself, and so to Himself: “Mary!” and her heart is at rest. “Rabboni,” she says; that is, “Teacher!” How blessed to learn, at His feet, like this!

She learns, not only that He is risen, but of a relationship that His resurrection has brought His people into. He is not ashamed to call them “brethren,” and in the recognition of that which His work has done for them, and which is theirs in the life they have in Him, He ascends to His Father and their Father, to His God and to theirs. Mary must not, therefore, think to hold Him, as her love would desire; while the purpose of God is revealing itself in fuller and higher blessing than ever known before.

He had never yet called His disciples “brethren;” although this was the fulfilment of what had been prophetically announced long since. The sin-offering psalm (Psa 22:1-31), which so fully depicts the sufferings through which Messiah was to pass, gives us from the lips of the same Sufferer, when delivered, the assurance “I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee.” We have heard, accordingly, already that declaration of the Father’s name, on which, in His final prayer before His betrayal, He so dwells. The relationship to Himself, and so to the Father, which is implied on their part, is only now for the first time explicitly made known. Himself as man the “First-born among many brethren,” yet, except the Corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Thus He is straitened till it be accomplished, and only now can the full reality be told out. As has been often noticed, He cannot, however, put them upon the same level with Himself. He does not say, “Our Father,” but “My Father and yours;” He maintains the place which of necessity belongs to Him, while giving them their own upon the basis of this.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

2. Vv. 11-18.

Mary Magdalene has just been for the two chief disciples the messenger announcing the empty sepulchre; she receives the first manifestation of the Lord, and becomes for all the messenger of the resurrection.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

CXXXV.

FIRST AND SECOND APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN CHRIST.

THE RESURRECTION REPORTED TO THE APOSTLES.

(Jerusalem. Sunday morning.)

aMATT. XXVIII. 9, 10; bMARK XVI. 9-11; cLUKE XXIV. 9-11; dJOHN XX. 11-18.

[The women, having received the message of the angels, and remembering that the message accorded with the words [742] of Jesus himself, made haste.] c9 and returned from the tomb, b9 Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. [Mark here agrees with John that Mary separated from the other women. As to Mary Magdalene, see Luk 24:16), lest the shock of his sudden appearance might be too much for her, as it was for even his male disciples [743] ( Luk 24:37). Conversation with him assured her that he was not a disembodied spirit.] 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. [Christ’s first question expressed kindly sympathy; the second suggested that he knew the cause of her grief, and might be able to help her find what she sought. Thus encouraged, Mary at once assumes that the gardener himself had removed the body, probably under instructions from Joseph, and hope lightens her heart. In her effort to remove the body, she doubtless counts upon the help of her fellow-disciples.] 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. [Her eyes and ears were no longer held; she knew him. It was the same way he used to speak, the same name by which he used to call her. The grave had glorified and exalted him, but had not changed his love.] She turneth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Teacher. [Seasons of greatest joy are marked by little speech. Jesus and Mary each expressed themselves in a single word.] 17 Jesus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. [This passage is one of well-known difficulty, and Meyer or Ryle may be consulted by those wishing to see how various commentators have interpreted it. We would explain it by the following paraphrase: “Do not lay hold on me and detain yourself and me; I have not yet ascended; this is no brief, passing vision; I am yet in the world, and will be for some time, and there will be other opportunities to see me; the duty of the moment is to go and tell my sorrowing disciples that I have risen, and shall ascend to my Father.” 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 [744] show us our exaltation. We have reason to believe that next to our Lord’s title as Son our title as sons of God by adoption is as high in honor as any in the universe.] 18 Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth {bwent and told} dthe disciples, bthem that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. [The poignancy of the disciples’ grief, even after the intervention of the Sabbath day, explains why the Lord and his angels were so eager to bring them word of the resurrection.] dI have seen the Lord; and that he had said these things unto her. b11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved. [It is likely that Mary brought the first word, for we shall see below that Luke places her first in the catalogue of witnesses. The narrative now turns back to take up the account of the other women.] a9 And behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. [This was a customary salutation. But the old formula took on new significance, for it means “rejoice.”] And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. [This delay, permitted to them, and denied to Mary, probably explains why she became the first messenger, though the other women were first to leave the tomb.] 10 Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me. [The repetition may be due to the reticence of the women remarked by Mark in the last section by the key words “and they said nothing to any one.” The women may have been hesitating whether they should tell the disciples. Thus Jesus reiterates the instruction already given by the angel. This is the first time the word “brethren” is applied by our Lord to his disciples.] cand [they] told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James: and the other women with them told these things unto the apostles. 11 And these words appeared in their sight as idle talk; and they disbelieved them. [Lamar well says that this very incredulity on the part of the apostles “enhances the value of their [745] testimony to the fact of the resurrection. They were not expecting it; they were no visionary enthusiasts, prepared to welcome and credit any story that might be told them; nor would they be satisfied with any proof short of palpable and ocular demonstrations.”]

[FFG 742-746]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

MARY MAGDALENE AGAIN AT THE SEPULCHER

Joh 20:11-18. And Mary stood at the sepulcher without, weeping, and while she continued to weep, she looked into the sepulcher, and saw two angels in white sitting down, the one at the head, and the one at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay. And they say to her, Woman, why do you weep? She says to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have placed Him. And saying these words, she turned back, and saw Jesus standing, and did not know that it is Jesus. And Jesus said to her, Woman, why do you weep? Whom do you seek? She, thinking that He is the gardener, says to Him, Sir, if Thou hast taken Him away, tell me where Thou hast placed Him, and I will take Him. Jesus says to her, Mary! Turning, she says to Him, Rabboni, which is called, Teacher. And Jesus says to her, Touch Me not: for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, I go up to My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God. Mary Magdalene comes, reporting to the disciples that she hath seen the Lord, and He hath spoken these things to her. As John mentions no woman going to the sepulcher at any time except Mary Magdalene, and the other three mention Mary, the mother of James the Less, and Salome, the mother of James the Greater and John, we conclude that John simply mentions Mary Magdalene as the most prominent of the sisterly band.

Why did Jesus not want her to touch Him because He had not ascended to His Father? Haptou, touch, also means tarry with, cling to, etc. The solution of the matter is about this: She thought that He had been up in heaven, and dropping down, like an angel, in a moment would suddenly be gone again. Consequently, anxious to enjoy the privilege of worshipping Him while present, she is in the act of falling at His feet, or, as Matthew says, when they first met Him in the garden, they actually embraced His feet. Hence He says: Tarry not with Me; but go, tell My disciples that I am risen.

Where had Jesus been since He died on the cross, Friday, at 3 P.M.? You see He had not been up to heaven. This corroborates quite a group of Scriptures in both Testaments, revealing His descension into Hades, and proclamation of His victory and triumph over hell; His entrance into the intermediate paradise and its abolishment; and the escort of the Old Testament saints with Him up to this world, when He received His body on the third morn.

We observe here some notable facts:

(a) The women were last at the cross and first at the sepulcher, and first to go and preach the risen Savior even to the apostles.

(b) The angels unscrupulously appeared to the women twice at the sepulcher, as we see they made two visits in quick succession the one at the dawn, hastening back to tell the disciples; and the other so quickly after delivering their message that some think they actually arrived at the sepulcher the second time before Peter and John got there.

John describes two visits by Mary Magdalene, the angels being seen in both. Hence you see that while the angels appeared twice to the women, they always retreated away before the arrival of the men; thus illustrating, at least, the hypothetical conclusion of the ethical superiority of womanhood, which is certainly corroborated by the Word of God. God made man out of the earth and woman out of man, the second blessing in creation, man symbolizing justification and woman sanctification. Her ethical superiority is abundantly vindicated in all the transactions of life, where we find her, in every age and nation, pleading for truth, righteousness, mercy, and philanthropy amid the atrocities, brutality, and diabolism of the rougher sex.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

20:11 But Mary stood {a} without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, [and looked] into the sepulchre,

(a) That is, outside of the cave which the sepulchre was cut out of.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Apparently Mary Magdalene had returned to the empty tomb after she had informed Peter and John about it. Perhaps she returned with them. The other women had evidently left by then. John presented her as lingering there after Peter and John departed. She was still grieving over the death and now the missing body of Jesus. She had not yet realized what John did. She then peered into the tomb for the second time (cf. Mar 16:5).

"I recall Pro 8:17 -’I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. . . . Another verse comes to mind-Psa 30:5, ’Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’" [Note: Ibid., 1:389.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)