John 20:11-18

IIHOW THE RISEN ONE CHANGES MARY MAGDALENE’S DESOLATION INTO BLESSED PEACE AND MAKES HER HIS EASTER-MESSENGER

John 20:11-18

(Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12)

11     But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping [But Mary was standing (εἱστήκει) without by the tomb weeping]6 : and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre [she stooped down into the tomb, παρέκυψεν εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον], 12And seeth [beholdeth, θεωρεῖ, not βλέπει, see John 20:5-6] two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had Lamentations 1:0; Lamentations 1:03And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid14 him. And7 when she had thus said [Having said this, ταῦτα εἰποῦσα], she turned herself back, and saw [beholdeth, θεωρεῖ] Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener [that it was the gardener, ὅτι ὁ κηπουρός ἐστισ], saith unto him, Sir, if thou have [hast] borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. [!] She turned herself, and saith unto him [in Hebrew] 8 Rabboni; which is to say, Master [Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher!)] 17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not ;9 for I am [have] not yet ascended to my10 [the] Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, [omit (,)] and your Father; [,] and to [omit to] my God, [omit (,)] and your God. 18Mary [the] Magdalene came [cometh, ἔρχεται] and told the disciples [bringing tidings, ὰγγέλουσα, to the disciples] that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken [said] these things unto her.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Continuation of the history of the Magdalene. First manifestation of the Risen One.

John 20:11. But Mary was standing by the tomb. [Μαριὰμ δὲ εἱστήκει (al. ἱστήκει πρὸς τῷ μνημείῳ ἔξω κλαίουσα]—Εἱστήκει: she was standing as if rooted to the spot. The Evangelist has omitted to mention that she immediately followed the two disciples. Whether she met them at the grave, the narrative says not. She comes, and again finds the empty tomb. She now stations herself in front of it, as though, all too late, she would become its guardian. It is the plastic expression of her thought, her grief.

Now as she wept [ὡς οὖν ἔκλαιεν].—Her weeping is in reference to her idea that the body of Jesus has been stolen; hence she glances ever and anon down toward the empty place where He has lain.

John 20:12. And she beholdeth two angels. [καὶ θεωρεῖ δύο ].—The angelic appearances in the resurrection history, a sign of the thoroughly new, wonderful epoch of this event. The truth and objectivity of her vision are supported by the slender impression which these appearances seem to make upon her in her present mood; the internal, subjective conditions, by the circumstance that the two apostles saw no angel, and the other women only one.

[Alford adopts the rather fanciful remark of Luthardt: The angels were in white because from the world of light; they sit, as not defending, but peacefully watching the Body; at the head and the feet, for the Body of the Lord was from head to foot in the charge of His Father and of His servants—P. S.]

John 20:14. She turned back. [ἐστράφη εἰς τἀ ὀπίσω], i. e., to look towards the garden, and to see if some one would not appear and give her information.

And knew not that it was Jesus. [οὐκ ἤδει ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστίν.—There is foundation on both sides for her non-recognition. On the one hand, Jesus has altered: He is the Risen, the Transformed One. The external feature which, in addition to the one already mentioned, some assume, is less certain. “She thinks the gardener (John 19:41) of Joseph of Arimathea is before her, and that he has assigned the body another place. The circumstance that the Risen One was clothed with the subligaculum, or loin-strip, which crucified persons wore, and the same also that field and garden laborers were in, the habit of wearing, might incline her the more to this opinion.” Tholuck (following Hug). Kuinoel, Paulus, and others have even clothed Him in the dress of the gardener. On the other hand, Magdalene’s faculties were concentrated within; she was in a visionary mood rather than in one favorable to acute observation; irrespective of the fact that her mind was not in the slightest degree predisposed to expect the appearance of the Lord. In a similar manner, the eyes of the disciples journeying to Emmaus were holden. Meyer denies the holdenness of the eyes in the present case (Grotius); perhaps because he imagines it to be the fruit of some magical working. [Dräseke assigns as a reason because her tears wove a veil, and because the seeking after the dead prevents us from seeing the living. She was wholly absorbed in the thought of the absent Lord.—P. S.]

John 20:15. If thou hast borne Him hence [εἰ σὺ ἐβάστασας αὐτόν].—She does no name Him. She takes it for granted that every one is thinking of Him only. Of course if the supposed gardener had carried away the Lord, he would understand her saying (Meyer); otherwise it were necessarily unintelligible to him She will go, she will bring the body. Her as suming a posture with a view to hurrying away in a certain direction, is evident from the following: “she turned herself.” We cannot infer from these words that she turned directly to the grave again. She gives herself credit for sufficient strength to enable her to carry the corpse and deposit it in the tomb again. For at this very time it should be receiving anointment at the hands of the women.

John 20:16. Mary [Μαριάμ].—His voice had the same unique sound as before (see Luke 24:35; comp. 30, 31); especially the call by name (Isaiah 43:1). Since the voice of every human being in a healthy condition is the expression of the man within him, we can infer the impressiveness of Jesus’ voice without having a more definite conception of it. Recollections of things that address themselves to the ear are the most enduring, observes Strauss11 in his Glockentöne. The manifestation of God begins with the hearing-wonder, and dies away in it. The expression of the voice is concentrated in the naming of a beloved name.

Rabboni [Ῥαββουνεί].—With the infinite expression of the salutation—Mary—with which Christ makes Himself known to her, the word of recognition corresponds—Rabboni, my Teacher. The Evangelist cannot help reproducing the original Hebrew word in its sonorousness; therefore the interpretation. The solemnity of the passage is not contained in the explanatory supplement, but in the Rabboni. We can infer from that which follows that she meantime has fallen at His feet and embraced them, “like those women in Matthew 28:9, and the woman that was a sinner, Luke 7:39.” I. e., her own self at the time.

John 20:17. Hold (Touch) Me not [Μή μου ἅπτου.12 Noli me tangere.—In explaining this, reference should be had to John 20:22, where Thomas is directed by the Lord: φέρε τὴν χεῖρά σου καὶ βάλε εἰς τὴν πλευράν μου, and Luke 24:39, where He calls upon the disciples: ψηλαφήσατέ με. It is therefore not the act of touching, as such, which the Lord reproves, but the animus or motive of Mary. The scene has often been represented in pictures called Noli me tangere.—P. S.] Interpretations of the enigmatical μή μου ἅπτου:

1. “Handle (Touch) Me not” [in the literal sense]:

a. Strictly supernaturalistic: Jesus demands a greater reverence for His body now that it has become divine (Chrysostom, Erasmus and many others). Unseasonable devoutness and insufficient explanation of γάρ (“for I have not yet ascended”).

b. Decidedly natural, in various apprehensions. Ammon: Jesus desired to spare her the touching of One levitically unclean; Paulus: His wounds still pained Him, therefore touching Him would have hurt Him!

c. Spiritualistic: Weisse: He was still bodiless, a mere spiritual apparition (a ghost).

d. Gnostic: Hilgenfeld: He as yet appeared only as a mere Man, being not yet reunited to the Logos, and therefore adoration was unseasonable. [Yet immediately afterwards He allows Himself to be called by Thomas: “My Lord and My God;” comp. also Matthew 28:9.—P. S.]

e. Physiological. Because the new, glorified corporeality of Jesus was still so tender as to shun every vigorous grasp (Schleiermacher [and Olshausen, edd. 1 and 3]).

f. Psychological: Handle Me not for the purpose of examining whether it be really Myself in the body, or My glorified spirit. Meyer (following J. Fred. von Meyer13), Lücke. [In this case the following words οὔπω γὰρ , κ. τ. λ., express the assurance of the Lord that He is still corporeally present with her, having not yet been translated to the Father in heaven.—P. S.]

2. “Hold Me not fast.”

a. Supernaturalistic: Seek not thy comfort in My present appearance by terrestrial contact, but by spiritual communion (Aret., Grot., Neand. and others).

[Also Augustine (Tract, cxxi. c. 3). “ ‘Noli Me tangere:’ id est, Noli in Me sic credere, quemadmodum adhuc sapis; noli tuum sensum huc usque pertendere quod pro te factus sum, nec transire ad illud per quod facta es. Quomodo enim non carnaliter adhuc in eum credebat, quem sicut hominem flebat?” Leo the Great, Serm. 74 (al. 72), c. John 4:0 : “Nolo ut ad Me corporaliter venias, net ut me sensu carnis agnoscas: ad sublimiora te differo, majora tibi præparo: cum ad Patrem ascendero, tunc Me perfectius veriusgue palpabis, apprehensura quod non tangis, et creditura quod non cernis.” Calvin, Melancthon, De Wette, Tholuck, Luthardt, Hengstenberg, Godet hold substantially this same view. Alford: “She believed she had now gotten Him again, never to be parted from Him. This gesture He reproves as unsuited to the time, and the nature of His present appearance. ‘Do not thus—for I am not yet restored fully to you in body—I have yet to ascend to the Father.’ This implies in the background another and truer touching when He should have ascended to the Father.” Wordsworth (who has a long note here): “Cleave not to Me in My bodily appearance; do not touch Me carnally, but learn to touch Me spiritually. When the power of the bodily touch ends, then the spiritual touch begins, and that touch most honors Christ and profits us.” Wordsworth then applies the passage to Christ’s presence in the eucharist which is spiritual, not carnal.—Hengstenberg (III. p. 303) conjectures that Mary, in the mistaken notion that the partition wall between Christ and her had now fallen, desired to embrace Him; this the Lord withstood, because the process of glorification was not yet completed, and the separation still continued in part. Godet: “ἅπτεσθαι is to touch in order to enjoy, to attach one’s self to some one: This is not the moment to attach yourself to Me as I am before you in My human individuality.” Comp. below sub d.—P. S.]

b. Historical: Tarry not with Me, but make haste and discharge the message; time enough later for handling, greeting, holding (Beza, Calovius, Bengel).

c. Spiritualistic-mythical: Jesus was on the point of ascending, and did not desire to be detained by Mary (Baur, Kinkel: One of the numerous ascensions occurring in the period of the forty days was about to be performed).

d. Christologico-psychological: Hold Me not as though we were in the perfection of the existence of that world beyond us, for I am not yet ascended, etc., to say nothing of thyself. (Leben Jesu II., 1661; III., 74414 Hofmann, Luthardt, Tholuck. As regards the sense, similarly Luther and others at an earlier period.)15 [Similar to explanation 2 a, above.—P. S.].

On the fact that the term ἅπτεσθαι does not barely mean to touch, to handle, but that it also particularly denotes a hanging upon, a holding fast, see Tholuck, p. 434 [Krauth’s transl. p. 411]. Tholuck divides the interpretations into two classes, one of which discovers the reason for the repulse in the not yet glorified condition of Christ; while the other maintains that it lies in the glorified state of the Lord. According to the distribution into ἄπτεσθαι to lay hold of, and to hold fast, the former is by preference interpreted as signifying the catching hold of the knees, worshipping. Yet not exclusively. The design of Jesus’ speech was undoubtedly to limit the exuberance of Magdalene’s rapture, to deprive her of the new illusion which is persuading her that every difficulty and danger of her life is laid behind her, that external intercourse with Jesus is now to continue and that it is the supreme thing,—and so to guide her feeling into a practical channel. Hence the commission.

To my brethren [πορεύου δὲ πρὸς τοὺς .]—So He calls the disciples by a new name of familiar co-ordination. Meyer: He means her to gather from this that His appearance is not as yet a super-terrestrial and glorified one. Glorification, however, does not put an end to the brotherly feeling. Bengel: The word is designed to speak peace to the disciples concerning their flight. Right, but too narrow. Christ breathes in the paradisaic peace of the new reconciliation. God is become the Father of the disciples; He greets them in the dignity of their new life—in which He will soon make them glad through the Spirit of adoption, as co-brothers in the new kingdom that is now founded, and as co-heirs. The relation of humanity to God is changed, the new Paradise is opened, together with the new Man there are born into the world His brethren in spe, He nevertheless remaining the Lord and King of them. Tholuck. It is the intimation of the relationship of reconciliation (Apollinaris, Luther, Bucer).

I ascend [Ἀναβαίνω].—The imminent ascension spoken of as already present, since He even now finds Himself in the new heavenly state, or transition state, which is the condition of ascension. To My Father and your Father [πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ πατέρα ὐμῶν].—He does not say to our (as also elsewhere your Father, My Father, Matthew 6:9 : after this manner pray ye: Our Father), for the relation in which He stands to the Father is, in its character of an eternal, immediate, principial relation, specifically different from their mediate relation to the Father. Still this positive assurance is herein contained: My Father is also your Father now; ye shall be glorified along with Me.—To my God [θεόν μου καὶ θεὸν ὑμῶν].—There; is the same contrast again on both sides in His generalizations. His consciousness of God is specifically unique and the source of theirs (Ephesians 1:3). But as in the resurrection, the Father has demonstrated Himself to be His almighty God, so in future, in their course of life and victory, He will prove Himself to be their God also.—Thus is Magdalene made the first Evangelist of the resurrection to the apostolic circle itself, the Lord having also first appeared to her.

John 20:18. Magdalene cometh [Ἔρχεται Μαριὰμ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ ].—She is obedient to the commission. She first announces her joy that she has seen Him, then discharges His commission. According to Meyer, there is a difference between this commission and the passage Matthew 28:10. Progress, however, from the most general disclosure to a more special one never constitutes a difference. Otherwise, the announcement of His imminent ascension would also present a difference from the directly following revelations of Jesus in the circle of disciples, as recorded by John himself.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Mary Magdalene, the first guardian of the Holy Sepulchre. The later and present guardians of it.

2. The angelic apparitions at the Birth, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of the Lord mark these moments as the great epochs in the life of Jesus. For the angelic world does, in general, emerge into view in the grand epochs of the Kingdom of God. Therefore particularly in the life of Abraham and in that of Moses; at the founding of the covenant-religion, and at the establishment of the Old Testament theocracy. For this reason, after the establishment of the New Covenant in the life of Jesus, there is a withdrawal of angelic apparitions in all the period through which the Church’s history extends; their return, however, is promised for the end of the world. The psychological reason is contained in the fact that in all those moments the human world is brought into closest proximity to the spirit-world; that the whole form of the visible world vanishes, to a greater or less degree, from the deeply moved elect on this side the gulf, and in the deep twilight of this world there uncloses within them a ghostly vision for the spirit-world See the author’s Positive Dogmatik, p. 578 ff.

3. That the perception of the angels in their objective manifestation was still conditioned by the liberation of a visionary faculty on the part of those who beheld them, results from the history of the resurrection. Peter and John see no angel here, the other-women see but one angel, Magdalene sees two angels. Similar relative degrees of visionary perception are announced John 12:28-29; likewise Acts 9:7; Acts 22:9. Comp. Daniel 10:7.

4. Christ’s superiority to the angels a doctrine taught by Scripture, Matthew 4:0; Matthew 26:63; Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:10; Hebrews 2:5 ff., Mary Magdalene, who was scarcely dogmatically instructed therein, here scenically sets forth, in accordance with the instinct of Christian vital feeling.

5. The fact of Mary’s recognizing the Lord by her ear rather than by her eye is entirely in agreement with the laws of manifestation; according to these laws, wonders which address themselves to the hearing are of earlier and more frequent occurrence and of later with drawal than such as appeal to the sight. Here, however, it is at the same time a testimony to the spiritual and divine character of Magdalene’s attachment to the Lord. She knows Him by the tone in which Christ calls her name. Through the human call she becomes aware of the divine call, the perception of which constitutes the most blissful experience of the elect. See Isaiah 43:1.

6. A dialogue most brief and yet most pregnant: Mary; Rabboni.

7. Hold me not. In no moment of blissful ecstasy may we forget that we are still on earth and still have a mission here. Even Mary must attain to a consciousness of the situation. The fact that Mary had not yet arrived at the goal was gently expressed by the Lord in the saying that He Himself had not yet reached it. At the same time there is here intimated the truth that spiritual communion with the Lord constitutes the essential part of a beatifying communion with Him, and is the condition of the bliss of beholding Him [face to face].

8. The message entrusted to Mary. It is addressed to the brethren. It is a message concerning the imminent perfecting of Christ. He does not speak of His resurrection; He speaks of His imminent ascension. His eye glances forward to the supreme goal. He designates His glorification as an ascension to His Father, in His character as the Son of God; to His God, in His character as the glorified Son of Man. This His ascension is, however, to redound to the advantage of His brethren as well as His own good. Hence the saying runs: “and to your Father,” etc. It is to be observed that Christ connects His relation to God with that of His brethren, and also makes a distinction between the two.

9. The first Easter-message addressed by Christ to the apostolic circle itself, was discharged by a woman, a female disciple, who, without doubt, was formerly the great sinner. The first manifestation of Christ was apportioned to Magdalene, as was the first manifestation of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament to the Egyptian maid Hagar—doubtless for the reason that both, being in a condition most sorely needing consolation, first had need of the manifestation, and were moreover mentally disposed to receive it. [Hagar the bondmaid of Sarah, Magdalene once the bondmaid of sin.] “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein.”16 (“When in the hour of utmost need.”) At such a time is evolved the ability of perceiving the most wonderful help.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See the Doct. Notes.

Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre of the Lord: 1. How disconsolate: a. she standeth chained to the spot, as the guardian of the sepulchre; b. she weepeth; c. she stoopeth down. 2. How comforted: a. she seeth the angels; b. she seeth the Lord; c. she is made a messenger of joy to the flock of disciples.—The spiritual unity in the great change experienced by Mary: 1. In all her desolation, love for the Lord remained the light of her life (her faith and her hope). 2. In all her bliss there remained the painful pressure of her longing after the consummation.—How the Lord crowneth love for Him: 1. She sought the Body of the Lord to anoint it and received the anointing of the Spirit from the Living One. 2. In her grief for the Body, she hoped in the Living One, and became a messenger of life to the whole Church of Christ in all ages.—The blessing of true mourning at the grave.—The saying, “Blessed are they that mourn”—most conspicuously fulfilled.—The angels at the feet and head of the dead and risen Lord.—While pious men weep, there is already prepared for them supreme consolation.—The threefold conversation of Mary indicative of three degrees of her Easter-joy: 1. With the angels, 2. with the Lord, 3. with the disciples.—The great school of the Spirit of Christ: 1. At first she thought it impossible to part from the body of Christ; 2. and soon she learns to let the Risen One Himself externally go home.—The mood of Mary when desirous of detaining the Lord, compared with the mood of Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.—The message of the Risen One to His disciples: 1. Addressed to His brethren, 2. a message concerning His ascension on their behalf also, 3. the preparation for His appearing in the midst of them.—The first sermon about the Risen One: 1. Delivered by a soul that was nigh unto despair; 2. by a woman; 3. by a pardoned sinner.—How she discharges the message: 1. She speaks of her blessedness (I have seen the Lord). Then 2. she faithfully delivers the saying. Application: Thus in the true preaching of Christ, the testimony of experience and the commanded word must accompany each other.—The Christian life, until the consummation, an eternal alternation of beholding and renouncing (or of receiving and sacrificing; making holiday and working).—The mission to the brethren ever the precious heavenly fruit of the beholding of Christ’s glory.

Starke: Even pious souls do often err when they yield too much to those emotions which are good in themselves, Luke 24:17 f.—O how many peek and pine without cause!—Hall: Holy desires always prosper, Proverbs 8:17.—To speak comfortably to the afflicted is praiseworthy, and in accordance with the custom of the angels, yea, of the great God Himself, Luke 7:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:14.—I bid.: Many a tender and humbled soul mourns over the loss of its Saviour and yet He, the while, is beside it, Song of Solomon 3:1-4.—Hedinger: The greater and more intense the misery of a distressed soul, the nearer Christ is; but He is not immediately recognized in the darkness.—Canstein: It stands to reason that believers, Jesus being risen, should not weep nor be sorrowful, but put in practice the words of St. Paul: “Rejoice in the Lord away,” etc., Philippians 4:4.—Hall: Jesus knoweth His sheep by name, John 10:3. Whoso is a true sheep of Jesus, knoweth also the voice of his Shepherd, John 10:4.—Canstein: Christ’s voice still presses upon our ears and pierces into our hearts when He calls us by name.—Hedinger: Unto faithful hearts there suddenly ariseth a light of joy, Psalms 97:11; yet must they moderate their longing and be satisfied with the brief glimpse granted them. The Lord will not have them hang upon His gifts and friendliness, but upon Himself and His love.—Zeisius: Eve, the first woman, brought transgression into the world; Mary, on the other hand, was the first preacher of restored, eternal righteousness.—Bibl. Wirt.: Through Christ’s resurrection we are become His brethren and God’s children. Now if we be children of God, we are also His heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, our Brother, to eternal blessedness, Romans 8:17.—Cramer: As woman was the first to serve the devil, so she must be the first to serve Christ, 1 Timothy 2:14.—Hall: Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness, from the Gracious, Compassionate and Righteous One, Psa 112:4. 17—Gerlach: The inquiry of the angels concerning a thing which they know, is to be understood similarly with Christ’s question to the blind men: what will ye that I should do unto you? Grief when uttered makes a man susceptible of consolation.—Before this speech of Jesus one manuscript inserts the words: “And she ran toward Him to lay hold of Him,” which, even if John did not write it, we of course are to supply mentally.—Father has particular reference to His divinity, God to His humanity. Here, for the first time, He significantly calls them brethren (comp. Matthew 28:10).

Gossner: Angels ministered unto the Lord after His temptation: they likewise ministered unto Him in His death and at His resurrection, as well as at His birth and His ascension. They were present everywhere—upon every occasion—And behold, as Mary turneth away from every creature, even from the angels, she findeth and seeth Jesus standing!—We might at times become disconcerted at the greatness of the Lord and at our own amazing littleness and distance from Him, the while He is desiring to draw so near unto us and behaveth Himself so brotherly toward us. For the prevention of such feeling on our part there was no better means than His own positive declaration: I am your Brother, I am one of you, and I go, as such, unto our Father; for, I have one God and Father with you; My Father is your Father; My God is your God; I indeed claim the pre-eminence, yet do pretend, not with standing, to be one of you.—Our Brother is the Supreme Good; the Supreme Good is our Brother!

Heubner: How brief is the season of tears; even whilst we weep, the Author of joy is at our side, ready to wipe away our tears.—Love hides itself in order that it may, on discovering itself, occasion us the more surprise and joy. What is this whole life of trial and misery—exile?—A hiding of the heavenly Father’s love.—The measure of affliction the measure of joy.—He who tendeth the heavenly plants of His Father, was in a certain sense the Gardener.—Strive that Jesus may one day call thy name too, that thou mayest not belong to those spoken of in Psalms 16:4.—Mary and Rabboni,—just two words constitute the entire heart-conversation, but they are words full of power.—(Justinus:) Moderate now thy craving for Me, for in heaven only shall our intimate, perfect connection begin,—earth is not the place of perfect union. Yonder alone shall the soul’s longing for Jesus be satisfied. Do not now accompany Me, do not now follow Me as if the old intercourse still lasted.—“St. Peter and St. John have no more than Mary Magdalene and I and thou! Take them all in a lump,—they are all brethren together.” (Luther.)—As yet we ascend not, but we shall one day ascend. Comp. Reinhard’s Himmelfahrtspred., 1809 and Theremin, Pred., 1819, III., 110–18—Hüter, Zeugnisse christlicher Wahrheit, Bielefeld, 1858; Mary Magdalene’s Easter-celebration: 1. The Easter-sorrow of Mary Magdalene; 2. her Easter-joy.—Ibid.: That none can rob us of the true Easter-joy: 1. The character or nature of Easter-joy; 2. the subject of Easter-joy, or the good whereat we rejoice on the Easter-feast.

[Craven: From Augustine: John 20:13. And I know not where they have placed Him; it was a still greater grief, that she did not know where to go to console her grief.—From Gregory: John 20:11. To have looked once is not enough for love.

John 20:12. She sought the body and found it not; she persevered in seeking; and so it came to pass that she found. For holy longings ever gain strength by delay; did they not, they would not be longings.

John 20:13. The very declarations of Scripture which excite our tears of love, wipe away those very tears, by promising us the sight of our Redeemer again.

John 20:15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? He asks the cause of her grief, to set her longing still more. For the mere mentioning His name Whom she sought would inflame her love for Him.—Perhaps, however, the woman was right in believing Jesus to be the gardener; was not He the spiritual Gardener, who by the power of His love had sown strong seeds of virtue in her heart?—But how is it that, as soon as she sees the gardener, as she supposes Him to be, she says without having told Him who it was she was seeking, Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence? It arises from her love; when one loves a person, one never thinks that any one else can be ignorant of him.

John 20:18. So the sin of mankind is buried in the very place whence it came forth. For whereas in Paradise the woman gave the man the deadly fruit, a woman from the sepulchre announced life to men; a woman delivers the message of Him who raises us from the dead, as a woman had delivered the words of the serpent who slew us.—From Bede: John 20:18. In that Mary Magdalene announced Christ’s resurrection to the disciples, all, especially those to whom the office of preaching is committed, are admonished to be zealous in setting forth to others whatever is revealed from above.

[From Burkitt: John 20:11. Note Mary’s carriage and behaviour towards her Saviour; this is discovered by her patient attendance; She stood without at the sepulcher; by her passionate mourning, weeping; by her unwearied diligence, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher.—Learn 1. True love to Christ suffers not itself to be stinted or limited, no, not by the greatest examples; the weakest woman that truly loves Christ, may piously strive with the greatest apostle in this point; 2. Strong love is valiant and undaunted, it will grapple and encounter with the strongest opposition; Mary fears nothing in seeking of her Lord, neither the darkness of the night, nor the terror of the soldiers, nor the malice of the Jews: Love is strong as death, and the flames thereof are vehement.

John 20:12. Such as sincerely seek the Lord, shall certainly find, if not the very thing which they seek, yet that which is much better for them; Mary did not find Christ’s dead body, but she finds two angels to testify that He was risen.—It is matter of comfort to the members of Christ, that angels do not wait upon the head only, but upon the feet also; and it ought to be matter of imitation also.

John 20:13. The best company in the world will not satisfy or content such as are seeking for Jesus Christ, when they find not Him whom their souls seek; Mary now enjoyed the presence and company of two angels, but this did not satisfy her in the absence of Christ Himself,

John 20:14. Christ may be present with, and very near unto, His people, and yet not be presently discerned by them; Jesus stood by Mary, but she knew not that it was Jesus; her not expecting a living Christ, was one cause why she did not discern Him.

John 20:15. The soul of a sincere believer, 1. Is full of earnest and longing desires after Jesus Christ; 2. Is yet sometimes at a loss for Christ, and cannot tell where to find Him; 3. Whilst it is at a loss for Christ, its desires are often quicker and more stirring after Him.

John 20:17. Our love to Jesus Christ is best shown, not by our human passionate affection to His bodily presence, but by our spiritual communion with Him by faith here on earth, in order to an immediate communion with Him face to face in heaven.—Christ calls His disciples brethren, after His exaltation and resurrection; thereby showing that the change of His condition had wrought no change in His affection.—God for Christ’s sake has dignified believers with that near and dear relation of His being a Father to them in and through His Son.

[From M. Henry: John 20:11. Where there is a true love to Christ, there will be a constant adherence to Him, and a resolution with purpose of heart to cleave to Him.—Where there is a true desire of acquaintance with Christ, there will be a constant attendance on the means of knowledge.—They that seek Christ must seek Him sorrowing (Luke 2:48), must weep, not for Him, but for themselves.—Weeping must not hinder seeking; though she wept, she stooped down, and looked in.—Those are likely to seek and find, that seek with affection and in tears.

John 20:14. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart (Psalms 34:18), nearer than they are aware. They that seek Christ, though they do not see Him, may yet be sure He is not far from them.—Those that diligently seek the Lord, will turn every way in their inquiry after Him; Mary turned herself back, in hopes of some discoveries.

John 20:15. Whom seekest Thou? When Christ knows that His people are seeking Him, yet He will know it from themselves; they must tell Him whom they seek.—She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith, etc.; Troubled spirits, in a cloudy and dark day, are apt to misrepresent Christ to themselves, and to put wrong constructions upon the methods of His providence and grace.

John 20:16. Mary; When those whom God knew by name in the counsels of His love (Exodus 33:12), are called by name in the efficacy of His grace, then He reveals His Son in them, as in Paul (Galatians 1:16).—Rabboni; Notwithstanding the freedom of communion which Christ is pleased to admit us to with Himself, we must remember that He is our Master, and to be approached with a godly fear.—Mary turned herself from the angels whom she had in her eye, to look unto Jesus; we must take off our regards from all creatures, even the brightest and best, to fix them upon Christ.—The soul that hears Christ’s voice, and is turned to Him, calls Him, with joy and triumph, My Master.

John 20:17. Mary must not stay to talk with her Master, but must carry His message; for it was a day of good tidings, which she must not engross the comfort of, but hand it to others.—My brethren; Though Christ be high, yet He is not haughty; notwithstanding His elevation, He disdains not to own His poor relations.—My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God; There are such an advancement of Christians and such a condescension of Christ, as bring them very near together.

John 20:18. When God comforts us, it is with this design, that we may comfort others.

[From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): John 20:12. Christ’s resting-place is therefore between two Angels, like the mercy-seat, of old. Even in His death, He is found to have dwelt, as in ancient days, “between the Cherubim.”

John 20:13. Woman, why weepest thou? “This case of Mary Magdalene is our case oftentimes: in the error of our conceit, to weep where we have no cause; to joy, where we have as little. Where we have cause to joy, we weep; and whereto weep, we joy. False joys and false sorrows, false hopes and false fears, this life of ours is full of.” (Bishop Andrewes.)

John 20:15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? “Now, seeing Christ asks it again a second time, we will think there is something in it, and stay a little at it. The rather, for that it is the very opening of His mouth; the very first words that ever came from Him, and that He spoke first of all, after His rising again from death.…Thus say the Fathers; that Mary Magdalene standing by the grave’s side, and there weeping, is thus brought in to represent unto us the slate of all mankind before this Day, the Day of Christ’s rising again; weeping over the dead as do the heathens, who have no hope. But Christ comes and asks ‘Why weepest thou?’ as much as to say, ‘Weep not! There is no cause of weeping now.’ Henceforth, none shall need to stand by the grave to weep there any more.… So that this, ‘Why weepest thou?’ of Christ’s, (a question very proper for the day of the Resurrection,) wipes away tears from all eyes; puts off our mourning weeds, girds us with gladness, and robes us all in ‘white,’ with the Angels.” (Bishop Andrewes.)

John 20:17. Take notice that our Lord makes mention of ascending, twice; of rising, not at all. And it is to teach us that Resurrection is nothing, nor is any account to be made of it, if Ascension go not with it.…“Never take cave for Resurrection! That will come of itself, without any thought-taking of thine. Take thought for Ascension! set your minds there! Better lie still in our graves, better never rise, than rise, and, rising, not ascend.” (Bishop Andrewes.)

[From Barnes: John 20:17. Nothing was better fitted to afford them consolation than this assurance, that His God was theirs.—From Jacobus: John 20:13; John 20:15. Why weepest thou? How different are these words as spoken by Jesus from the same words spoken even by His Angels. Friends often ask the same thing, in our moments of anguish; but they can give no relief, and no arguments of theirs can cure the inward wound. But our blessed Lord reveals Himself in words of grace that go to the heart’s wound, and wonderfully heal.

John 20:15. Whom seekest thou? Thus the adorable Saviour would draw her out to tell what she wants and whom she seeks for. So pleased is He to hear any poor sinner say, I seek Jesus.—Your Beloved is near you, though you have thought Him afar off. Who ever sought and did not find? But oh! instead of finding Him a corpse, you shall find Him a risen, living, glorious Redeemer.

John 20:17. Go to My brethren; “This was a far greater honor than that which was denied her.” The gracious Saviour denies us nothing but for our greater advantage.

[From Owen: John 20:15. I will take him away; She takes all the responsibility upon herself. If no one else will share her pious duty, she is ready to discharge it independent and alone. Noble woman! The Church to the end of time shall embalm thy memory, and point to thee as the most loving and faithful of that devoted band, who

“—While Apostles shrunk, could dangers brave,Last at His cross, and earliest at His grave.”—

John 20:17. “Do not stay here to embrace Me now, either to pay thy homage to Me, or to confirm thy faith, both which thou wilt have other opportunities of doing; for I am not yet withdrawn from your world, and ascended to the heavenly court of My Father, as you imagine I shall presently do, but I shall yet continue for a little while on earth, and give you further opportunities of seeing Me again; let nothing therefore detain thee any longer, but go immediately to My dear brethren and say unto them,” etc.—“Thou shalt possess Me again, but not as before, it shall be from this time and forever in the Spirit. The time of exalted and divine relationship is come.” (Stier.)]

Footnotes:

John 20:11; John 20:11.—The position of the words ἔξω κλαίουσα is in accordance with B. D. O. X., etc., Tischendorf [The rec. reads κλαίουσα before ἔξω. εἱστήκει with B.* D. etc. Tisch. Treg. Alf. ἱστήκει: א. A. B.,3 etc., Westcott. πρὸς τῷ μνη. μείῳ: A. B. D. Tisch. Alf. Westc. πρὸς τὸ μνημεῖον: text rec. ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ: א (See Tischendorf, Alford).—P. S.]

John 20:14; John 20:14.—Καί before ταῦτα [E. text, rec] should be omitted in accordance with א. A. B. D., etc. and the critical editions].

John 20:16; John 20:16.—The addition Ἑβραϊστί, in accordance with B. D. L. O. X. Δ. Sin., is received by Tischendorf [Tregelles, Alford, Westcott. Most MSS. read Ῥαββουνί (so Tischend. Alf. Treg.); some Ῥαββουνεί (so Westcott), some Ῥαββωνεί, some Ῥαβουνί.—P. S.]

John 20:17; John 20:17.—[Μή μου ἅπτου is the usual reading of the MSS. and Iren., Orig., etc., but Cod. B. and Tert. put μου after ἅπτου, and Westcott inserts this on the margin.—P. S.]

John 20:17; John 20:17.—The first μου is wanting in B. D. X., Itala, Tischendorf. It was probably supplemented in imitation of the subsequent μου. [Treg. Alf. Westcott likewise read πρὸς τὸν πατέρα. without μου.—P. S.]

[11][Late Professor of Practical Theology in the University of Berlin and Court-Chaplain and friend of Frederick IV, of Prussia. The Glockentöne were his first, the Abend Glockentöne his last work.—P. S.]

[12][ἅπτομαι occurs thirty-five times in the New Testament, and is uniformly translated to touch in the E. V. It is used of touching the hand, the garment, the body, food, etc.—P. S,]

[13][Not the better known commentator, but also an eminent Biblical scholar (though a layman. Senator of Frankfort on the Maine) and reviser of Luther’s German Bible.—P. S.]

[14]Tholuck’s classification of J. P. Lange, p. 436, rests upon a mistake.

[15]The conjunctures, in despair of the text, σύ μου ά́πτου (Gersdorf) and μἠ συ πτόου, need merely be mentioned.

[16][Beginning of a German hymn by Paul Eber (1547), see Schaff’s German Hymn Book, No, 336. English translation by Miss C. Winkworth.—P. S.]

[17][The above is a literal rendering of the passage as it stands in Luther’s Version.]