John 20: Mary's tale - "I have seen the Lord"

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.

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.” Having said this, she turned round 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.”

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.’”

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

John 20:11-18

You can feel the story coming out of these verses.  Mary weeping outside the tomb - not only is Jesus dead, but someone has taken his body away.  The last remnants of him seem gone, and maybe with the disappearance of his body those last flickers of hope are gone.

And then, Jesus says: "Mary" - and she realises the truth!  He is not dead, but risen!  We can picture her relief and elation as she runs to him and clings to him - departing from decorum and convention.  Darkness turns into light, and weeping into joy.  The man that has given her hope, forgiveness and light is here again.

And then, Mary goes and tells the other disciples.  The testimony of a woman was not given legal weight at the time, but Jesus brushes aside the boundaries and judgements put up by society and sends Mary to testify.  Imagine Mary's joy at being the bringer of such good news.

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In this passage we see looking back turned into looking forward.  Firstly, Mary is seeking Jesus' dead body, not realising that he is alive and it is the living Jesus she should be seeking.  In fact, Luke records the angel saying to Mary: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5).

Later, Jesus says to Mary: “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.’” (John 20:17). It is not even the risen earthly Jesus that Mary should be seeking, but the ascended Jesus, who will one day take us their with him. (see also, John 14:2-3 and 16:7).

We still spend time looking in the wrong places.  We cling on to death because we daren't hope for life.  Traditions, history, religion, past sufferings or regrets, or simply the things of this world which are destined to perish eventually.  

But Jesus does not condemn Mary for looking in the wrong place.  He simply calls her name, and then tells her to tell others.  And that is the case for all of us.  Jesus calls our name, and then sends us to tell others.  We do not need special knowledge to tell others what we have seen - Mary had neither education nor status - we need only to tell our story, and how our story became his story, and his story became ours.

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