You know, I've commented on this before, but it's amazing to me that it was the women who demonstrated the most fearlessness in terms of their presence at this most critical phase in the life of our Lord. At the cross, and at the tomb, wanting to be near Him, even in death; and to minister to His body as He lay cold in His grave! In fact, we read in John 21.19 that..."At evening on the first day of the week, with the doors shut where the disciples were, for fear...". Mary, on that very morning had announced to them that she had not only seen their Lord, but had had a conversation with Him...the first of all, to see Him alive. Meanwhile, His most trusted disciples cowered in the dark.
Moments before that occasion, two angels, still guarding the place where Jesus had lain, had very bluntly asked her, "Why do you weep, woman?" To which she had replied... "They have taken away my Lord...". Now since her first meeting with Jesus, long before this day, Mary had heard as much of His teaching as had any other, yet she had been satisfied just to be in His presence, and to fellowhip with Him and His disciples. Together, they had travelled from town to town, meeting new people, and basking in the glory as Jesus preached the Gospel and performed His miracles of healing. And isn't that so like the church today..."Tell me the stories of Jesus! When are we getting together again for a fellowsip supper?" Hearing, but never learning, as the apostle would say. Never quite getting the point of it all...enough just to be amongst the crowd.
We see that so plainly in Mary's pleading reponse in vs. 13, "They have taken away my Lord...!" He is so patient with us! Fear and unbelief fill the hearts of Believers every day...so much so that it's often difficult to tell who is, from who isn't. In the same breath that she had acknowledged Jesus to be her Lord, she was, unwittingly of course, denying His resurrection power! And she hadn't even noticed that she had been speaking with angels...perhaps like many of us, she didn't even believe in angels, much less in the resurrection of the body! But just think of Mary's important role in the gospel account...first at the empty tomb, first to see the angels sitting, first to see the risen Lord (vs. 14) and the first to speak with Him (vs. 15). This was one blest woman, by anybody's standards!
You know, I truly believe that when you honour Christ, He will honour you; and you're talking here, to one who knows! After all, why was it that Jesus was right there as Mary turned from the empty tomb, to comfort her in her grief, and to bolster her frail faith? Recall that back in chapt. 11, in the record of His resurrection of Lazurus (think of the difference between resurrected clothes, and resurrection clothes!), Jesus had asked of Martha, "Said I not to you, that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" I'm sure that Mary had heard the story, and His teaching of it many times..."Believe Me and receive Me!" Mary, just like us on many an occasion, was stupefied by the loss that death always drops into our lives, and like us, her grief was wearing her down. I've been there, and you've been there, and we know the feeling all too well! But now, here she was, about to meet her resurrected Lord, in His glorified body, in His glorified robes!
Then as we read there in vs. 14, Jesus puts the questions to her...first, as asked by the angels, "Why are you weeping?"; but second, and more critically, "Woman, who are you looking for, out here in this graveyard all alone?" You know, I think that sometimes, Jesus wants us to see that it's really Him that we need...not just any-old-body, or a hot cuppa tea, or maybe just a kick in the pants! Those are all things that the world would offer, while Jesus offers up Himself; it's seldom that we meet someone who will go that far, for you, isn't it? And I speak from vast experience. When Jesus asks that question, you had best know that He has a life-changing response in mind...and Mary was about to experience just that, first-hand.
But at this point all she could think about was her dead Friend, while here He was, her risen Lord! Mary was only a poor sheep, after all, but once she recognized her Shepherd, she was immediately changed from a weeper to a worshipper! And Matthew reports just that...how she fell at His feet and worshipped Him. In vs. 16 of our passage, after Jesus had spoken her name, she's recorded as crying out, "...my Master!" At that moment her heart must have leapt, as she acknowledged "the Fairest of ten thousand to her soul"! In one moment she had her back turned to Him, and in the next, she had turned her back upon the empty tomb.
People, this is written for our learning. Jesus, as Paul has taught, is only "the Firstfruits, of those who sleep". And now, wherever the Gospel message is preached, this singular event is taught as the proof text for the ressurection of the body. And when our time comes...an empty grave and decomposing graveclothes notwithstanding...the miracle of our own personal resurrection will have been accomplished!
What a day that will be, when our Jesus we shall see!
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