Jn. 20:11 “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping.”
Mary Magdalene was a loyal follower and servant of Jesus. She had seen and even personally known His healing touch (Luke 8:2). She also was one of the women who remained faithful and didn’t abandon the Lord as He hung on the cross (John 19:25). What an incredible example Mary is of love and self-sacrifice to Jesus but also a reminder of one who can be in relationship with the Lord yet not recognize Him as He faithfully shows Himself in her darkest hour.
As I consider all that Mary experienced in the last few days leading up to this event, I certainly understand her despair and sense of loss. She has been following the one in whom she believed was the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who would ascend to the throne of David and bring peace to Israel. Yet now, suddenly, everything has seemingly fallen apart. Nothing has turned out as she imagined and hoped for. From her viewpoint there has been nothing but complete failure. So in the devastation of all that engulfs her through these events she finds herself not in celebration of what she thought would be Christ’s victory but in despair because of what she can only comprehend as total defeat.
The word used in John 20:11 for “weeping” means “to wail,” and it is accompanied with “refusing to be comforted” in Matt. 2:18 and “bitterness” in Matt. 26:75. So this is deep heartfelt, inconsolable weeping. Warren Wiersbe addresses this when he says, “Mary’s weeping was the loud lamentation so characteristic of Jewish people when they express their sorrow (John 11:31, 33). There is certainly nothing wrong with sincere sorrow, because God made us to shed tears; and weeping is good therapy for broken hearts. The sorrow of the Christian, however, must be different from the hopeless sorrow of the world (1 Thes. 4:13–18), because we have been born again ‘unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’ (1 Pt. 1:3).”
“When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus” (Jn. 20:15). Why did she not recognize the Lord? It has been suggested that perhaps it was still dark in that part of the garden, or perhaps she was not allowed to recognize Him like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or maybe the tears prevented her from seeing clearly. While any of these suggestions make sense, I would like to suggest another option. I wonder if it could simply be due to the fact that she only knew Jesus to be dead; therefore, she was not looking for Him to be standing in front of her. In her extreme sorrow and disappointment the last person this otherwise faithful servant was looking for was the living sovereign Son of God! The one who Paul says is “the head over all rule and authority” (Col. 2:10).
How often do we do the same thing? Many of us have put our faith in Jesus, believing that He died to pay the price for our sins, but go on to face trials in life like that’s all we get from Him. Mary believed in His death, but even though He had told His followers on multiple occasions that He would rise again (Jn. 2:19–22; 10:14–18; 16:16–22) she finds herself without hope. And so we find ourselves in the same place when our belief in Jesus’ death does not take us beyond the grave.
Paul says it like this, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10). The resurrected life of Jesus in the believer brings the benefit of His death. So often I find that I chose not to live in the victory of His death and resurrection, but stay in the darkness of my sin, hurt, failure, and disappointment. This is not what Jesus came to Earth for but that He might impart to us overwhelming victory in the midst of those black moments of life: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). Through faith His death takes away our sin and failure, and His resurrection brings forth the abundance and victory of His life!
Are you stuck in some confusing storm of life, not recognizing Jesus as He faithfully shows Himself in your darkest hour? Or do you see Him as Stephen did in his moment of crisis? Alive, “standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
Friend, by faith look to Jesus and see Him for all that He is. The one who died to pay the price for your sin and the one who is resurrected and lives, bringing you the life you were created for, even in your darkest hour!
