John61 – Mary Magdalene turns into an angel

In fact the one of the sabbaths, Mary the Magdalene comes early into the tomb , being still darkness, and sees the stone having been taken from the tomb. So she runs and comes towards Simon Peter and towards the other disciple whom Jesus was befriending and states to them, “They took the Lord from the tomb and we do not discern where they have set him down!” (John 20: 1)

In John’s first-century eye-witness biography of Jesus it’s AD30. Jesus had earlier been condemned and crucified and his body embalmed and buried on the day immediately preceding the sabbath day and at Passover time. In John’s biography this is the first specific mention of Mary Magdalene. John does not specifically link Mary Magdalene with the Mary in John38 in this series That Mary, having “a pound of ointment of very valuable genuine nard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped dry his feet with her hair.” However Mary Magdalene is at the tomb before dawn. Seeing the stone taken from the tomb entrance she assumes the worst and runs back to two of the disciples. So Peter and the other disciple came out and were coming into the tomb. In fact the two were running together and the other disciple quickly ran ahead of Peter and came first into the tomb. And having bent over, he sees the linen-cloths resting. However, he did not come in. So Simon Peter also comes, following him, and he comes in into the tomb and he observes the linen-cloths rested, and the napkin that was upon his head not resting with the linen-cloths, but having been enfolded separately into one place. So then the other disciple, he having come into the tomb first, he also came inside, and he saw and he believed; because they had not as yet discerned the scripture that it is necessary for him to rise up from the dead ones.
These two disciples seem to be in competition with one another. One wins the race but waits for Simon Peter to go into the tomb first – then follows. It seems that Peter “saw and believed” but not Simon Peter. We’re not told what it was that the “other disciple” actually believed. But neither, at that stage, “believed” the key truth that the national archives of Israel had repeatedly made it clear over the previous 2,000 years that their Messiah must rise from the dead.	.
So the disciples came away again towards themselves. Mary in fact had stood outside at the tomb, weeping; so, when she was weeping, she bent down into the tomb, and she observes two announcers in white, sitting down one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been resting. And those state to her, “Woman, why do you weep?” The two disciples had seen enough. The tomb no longer contained the embalmed body of Jesus. There was nothing more they could do. Not Mary Magdalene. She was crying. What had “they” done to the body of Jesus? What more could they have done to it after crucifying it in public? In sorrow she looks inside. Two “declarers” – the Greek word is “angelos” meaning “messengers” – are there, in white. God’s declarers. She states to them that, “They took my Lord, and I have not discerned where they have set him down!” Having said these things, she was turned into the things behind and observes Jesus stood, and she had not discerned that it is Jesus. Someone else was there. She turned “into the things behind” and told him why she was crying. She wanted to find Jesus who was no longer in the tomb. She hadn’t discerned that it was Jesus speaking to her. Jesus states to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Whom do you seek?” That one, assuming that he is the gardener, states to him, “Lord, if you yourself lifted him, say to me where you set him down, and I will take him.” Jesus states to her, “Mary.” Isn’t it strange that Jesus asks her to explain those two things to him? Why weep? Whom do you seek? In today’s world, many are weeping – and seeking answers which aren’t there. When Jesus, alive from the dead, speaks to me my own name, everything, everyone turns.
That one, having been turned, states to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni” (which is stating, “Teacher”). Jesus states to her, “Do not adhere to me because not yet have I ascended towards the Father - in fact depart towards my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending towards my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene comes announcing to the disciples that, “I have discerned the Lord,” and that he said these things to her.	.
Mary Magdalene is now “declaring” – Greek “angello” – to those two disciples and others. His wonderful declaration is hers to tell out. He has indeed said, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.’

Sinner Syvret

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