AGONY TO ECSTASY!
“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. They 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.’ At this she turned around and saw Jesus there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.” John 20:11-14.
Poor Mary! Her eyes were so swollen with weeping and her mind so dulled with grief that she seemed almost to have lost her senses. Two angels were sitting in the tomb where the body of Jesus had lain but they didn’t even startle her. She did not react in fear or wonder. They asked her a question and she replied as though she were talking to her next-door neighbour.
She did not appear to be surprised at the sight of unearthly beings or wonder who they were or what they were doing there. To her at that moment it might have been an everyday occurrence to see angels sitting in a tomb guarding empty burial cloths!
Her reply was exactly what she was thinking. Someone had stolen her Lord’s body and she was distraught because she no longer had free access to the place where she could go to mourn and remember. She had nothing left of Him but memories, and now those memories were stained by more loss, not only the loss of His presence but now also the loss of His earthly remains.
What could she do now but go away and nurse her terrible grief? The pain in her gut was unbearable. She felt as though she would die of sorrow and disappointment. Great sobs wracked her body as she turned to walk away, dismissing the unusual event as though it were of no consequence.
Through the blur of tears she saw someone standing outside the tomb, but she did not recognise Him because tears and grief had blinded her.
“He 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.”’ John 20:15 NIV.
Really, Mary! Did you think that you, a frail woman, could carry away a heavy, dead weight corpse? And where would you put Him? In your house, in the front room? She was not only blinded but irrational at that moment. She did not even recognise her beloved Master’s voice. She expected nothing but to mourn at the tomb of the one she loved more than life.
I try to imagine how Jesus felt at that moment. Mary was broken with grief. She had watched Him die. She had seen where He had been buried and had come to mourn for Him…He was ecstatic with joy. He had endured the cross, conquered death and was on the point of revealing Himself to the first person who would ever see Him alive in His resurrection body.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned towards Him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means “Teacher”).” John 20:16.
What a moment! Disclosure! Revelation! Understanding! Unparalleled delight! Mary exploded with joy! In an instant, her sorrow vanished and was replaced with ecstasy. Jesus was alive and that was all that mattered. Her name, uttered by her Lord, changed everything. All the tender love of the Son of God for a daughter He had rescued and given new life, was packed into that one word.
He had done it! He had taken the devil on and won. Mary represented the whole human race and especially those who would, like her, now be able to embrace Jesus as the Son of God and their Lord, entrust their lives to Him and submit to His loving authority over them for the rest of their lives. She had seen Him, heard Him and she was content.
Have you seen Him with the eyes of faith? Have you heard Him call your name? Do you know that He is alive? Forever? And so are you?
Acknowledgement
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.