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Author: Stephen Weller
764 words, 4 minutes read time

Mary Magdalene Meets Jesus

Scripture: John 20:11-18

In the previous lesson the women reported to the disciples as instructed and Peter and John decide to go and check the tomb for themselves and what they saw was enough for them to believe that Jesus did rise from the dead. In this lesson, Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb and has quite an experience.

^{Jn 20:11} But Mary [went back and] stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

This text does not need much explanation, so just a few notes of interest. We know the Mary spoken of here is Mary Magdalene because she is identified in verse 1. She returns to the tomb and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb and she sees two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been. She notices that one sat where the head was and the other at the feet.

Often times in Scripture angels are seen in pairs. For example, in Acts 1:10, while the disciples were gazing into heaven as Jesus rose from them, two men stood by them in white robes and spoke to them. The ESV footnote points out that these two men were angels in human form because of their white clothing. In Matthew 28:2 – 3 the angel of the Lord was described with an appearance like lightning with clothing as white as snow. In Luke 24:4 it was two men in dazzling apparel. These two men that John speaks of are the same two men that spoke to the two women outside the tomb in lesson H745 and H746. They were angels in human form.

These two angels have conversation with Mary about the missing body of Jesus. As they talked Jesus appeared, but Mary didn’t know it was Jesus, but supposed him to be the gardener. Mary assumed that he was the one who took the body and asked where he put it. At this point Jesus said to her, “Mary” and she immediately knew it was Jesus from his voice. In John 10:3 – 4 Jesus speaks of his own sheep hearing his voice and when they do they follow him. Mary heard his voice and knew.

Mary immediately goes to him and clings to him, but Jesus told her not to do that. When Jesus died on the cross, his spirit when to heaven to be with the Father until Jesus rose from the dead before sunrise on the first day of the week. Jesus states here that his body had not yet ascended to the Father and for some reason she was not to cling to him at this time.

Mary then goes and finds the disciples and tells them that she had seen the Lord and tells them what Jesus had told her, most of which we were not told.

Conclusion

As we come to the end of this lesson and section, we saw evidence at the tomb that Jesus had risen from the dead and in fact was alive and had conversation with Mary Magdalene. In future lessons we will spend more time with Jesus before his ascension, but first we need to see what happened to the Roman guard that didn’t guard the tomb very well.