John 20:11-12
“But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.”
Why did Mary have this encounter with the angels, while Peter and John didn’t, is my question? John and Peter were already headed back home; Mary lingers at the tomb. Why was Mary crying; I mean, what was the deep reason for her crying? Was she overwhelmed by the grief of the whole crucifixion, and this experience at the tomb was just the capstone? Was she crying because Jesus’ body was missing and maybe she thought she’d never know what happened to it? Was she crying out of anger, sadness, or both? All one can do is speculate.
I wonder why Jesus reveals himself to Mary first? Could it be that Peter and John already leaving the tomb was similar to the disciples not being able to stay awake in the Garden three days earlier, and pray for Jesus in his moment of greatest need? Was Mary’s faithfulness for Jesus demonstrated in her lingering at the tomb, while Peter and John’s faithfulness had completely dissipated—they had resigned themselves that they’d never see Jesus or his body again?
Two angels are sitting in the cave when Mary looks in; “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.’” (v13) It seems as though Mary is grieved over Jesus’ missing body.
Of course the angels know what Mary doesn’t, but I wonder if there isn’t more going on here than what we see on the surface. All of heaven knew that Jesus had resurrected; it’s just that people on earth hadn’t discovered that yet. I wonder if these angels are simply being literal—like, “Mary, don’t you know what all of heaven knows?”
Jesus’ resurrection was the final piece in the puzzle for man’s redemption, I say this because in 1 Peter 1:10-12 Peter writes “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”
This redemption, this salvation, was something new in heaven and even the angels were curious about it all; especially since there is no redemption for angels. Salvation of humans is a BIG DEAL!
“Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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.’” (v14-15)
Again, there’s more to what is happening between Jesus and Mary than is on the surface. It isn’t the sudden appearance of Jesus at the tomb that is so startling; it isn’t Jesus speaking to her that is enigmatic; it isn’t even Mary mistaking Jesus for the gardener that garners my attention in this exchange; it’s that Mary doesn’t recognize Jesus physically that gets my attention. I think there are just two possibilities that are at the root of Mary not recognizing Jesus. The first possibility is that Mary was expecting Jesus to be bloodied and mangled; the way she had seen him when he was taken off the Cross by Joseph of Aramithea and Nicodemus. The second possibility is that Jesus had been so transformed during the resurrection that he changed physically. I tend to lean more toward the latter.
I lean toward the latter because Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:2-55 “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Not only that, but also because of what Jesus says next to Mary; “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher). 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.‘’ (v16-17) Something supernatural and amazing had happened with Jesus, so much so that Mary wasn’t permitted to touch him. It seems that something in the resurrection is so transforming that our physical bodies take on a new dimension, and in some ways, not all ways though, our physical appearance is changed, and I think that’s why Mary didn’t recognize Jesus at first.
Think of all that must change before we, as humans, can enter heaven; anything about us that could potentially contaminate heaven has to be eliminated, that includes our physical bodies. Any thing sinful associated with our lives has to be eliminated. Anything regarding us that would compete with God in heaven has to be eliminated. All that will result in us looking considerably different than we do right now.
When Jesus was facing his crucifixion and he prayed in John 17:5 saying “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” I can’t help but think there was something between death and ascension that didn’t allow Jesus to be either human or glorious as he was in heaven, and as such Mary couldn’t touch him because of it.
In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 Paul writes “…as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit…”
I don’t know that we can conceive of what our new bodies will be like when we’re with the Lord, just as we can’t conceive of what heaven itself will be like. Paul indicates that as humans we can’t get our minds around this without the help of the Holy Spirit. However, Paul does indicate that by his Spirit God has allowed us to understand what he’s prepared for us—but ONLY through the Spirit. That includes what John, the same John who is writing here, reveals in Revelation…”Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:1-5)
I’m excited when I read of this encounter between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, to me, it’s an image of things to come when my perishable and wasting away body will be exchanged for an imperishable, everlasting, changed and glorious body.
