He Has Risen!

We are continuing our meditation on the resurrection of Jesus. After visiting the empty tomb and John believing after he saw the empty burial wrappings, Peter and John went back to the house they were staying. Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb (John 20:10) and saw two angels inside the tomb before talking to someone outside that she took to be the gardener. 

¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary” (John 20:13-16).

In talking with the One she thought was the gardener, she wanted to know where the body was taken. When Jesus spoke her name aloud, "Mary" (John 20:16), she suddenly realized Who the “Gardener” was, and she cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means teacher).When she heard His voice, she knew it was Christ. 

What could account for the fact that Mary did not recognize Him at first? Why do you think she recognized Him at the sound of His voice?

While Mary Magdalene was returning to the tomb after Peter and John left, the other women also arrived at the tomb with spices. Mark tells us that there were three: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (Mark 16:1). They brought spices with which to anoint the body. While on the way, they began talking among themselves as to whom they would ask to roll the stone away (Mark 16:2). When love is involved, difficulties such as a one-ton stone to remove were not considered until they were near. The stone was too large for the three of them to move. They proceeded to the tomb, regardless, believing that they would find a way. Their love and dedication to Christ compelled them to give Him a proper burial and put more spices over the body. It was the least they could do in this terrible situation. As they drew near, Matthew tells us what they witnessed:

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. ⁵The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay (Matthew 28:2-6).

Matthew wrote that an angel of the Lord came down, rolled the stone away right in front of the soldiers guarding the tomb, maybe before Mary Magdalene arrived. Matthew also wrote that the guards were terror-stricken, trembled, and acted like dead men not wanting to move as the angel rolled away the stone. I presume this all happened just as the women arrived, because the women themselves were overwhelmed at what happened (Matthew 28:5), and they were the witnesses to the soldiers lying on the ground. The angel showed the women the evidence of the vacant tomb while the soldiers, hardly daring to breathe, acted like dead men. Jesus didn’t roll back the stone; He had already risen. Mark indicates that, when the women arrived, the stone was rolled away and Jesus was already gone. The angel rolled the stone away to show the women that He had risen, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:6). It is as real today, as it was that day. Jesus is risen and is alive forever, and because He lives, we also shall live, even if we die (John 11:25).