Shining Faith (20:11-18) - Part 2 of 2
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Some students feel that Jesus did return to the Father that morning, and that was the ascension He was referring to. No other passage in the New Testament supports this interpretation. I think it stretches the type too far to say He was fulfilling the symbolism of the Day of Atonement and presenting the blood to the Father. (Lev. 16). He had no blood to show; He had presented it on the cross when He became sin for us. In His resurrection glory, Jesus was “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39), not “flesh and blood." The resurrection itself was proof that the work of redemption had been accomplished (raised because of our justification—Rom. 4:24-25). What more could He have done? Absolutely nothing, praise His holy name.

Our Lord never spoke of “our Father" or “our God." He rightly made a distinction between His relationship with the Father and that of the disciples. We say “our Father” and “our God” because all believers are part of one family and stand equally before God. He told Mary and the other followers that God was their Father and that He would be with the Father in Heaven after His ascension. In His Upper Room message, He had told them that He was going back to the Father and that the Spirit would come to them.

It was the same Jesus, only with a glorified body, but it wasn’t quite the same relationship. We must be careful not to relate to Christ “after the flesh” (1 Cor. 5:16), i.e., relate to Him as if He were still in His state of humiliation. He is now the glorious Son of God, and we must worship Him as such. When John was with Jesus at the table, he leant against His bosom (John 13:23), but when John saw Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, he fell at His feet as dead (Rev. 1:17)!

If Mary had kept Jesus to herself and had been selfish and disobedient, she would have lost Him. She stood up and ran to the disciples and told them the wonderful news that she had seen the Lord alive. “I have seen Him!” (see John 20:14, 18, 20, 25, 29). Mark tells us that these believers were mourning and weeping—and they would not believe her (Mark 16:9-11)! Mary had been crying too, and Jesus had turned her sorrow into joy. Their grief would have been turned to joy too, if they had believed. Unbelief is terribly deadening to a person. No wonder God warns us against "an evil heart of unbelief" (Heb. 3:12).

Mary told of His resurrection and that she had seen Him personally, but she also spoke of the words that He had spoken to her. We see once again the importance of the Word of God. Mary could not transfer her experience over to them, but she could share the Word, and it is the Word that produces faith (Rom. 10:17). The living Christ gave us His living Word (1 Peter 1:23-25).

Faith based on solid evidence is a valuable thing, but the evidence should lead us to the Word, and the Word should lead us to the Savior. It is one thing to accept a doctrine and defend it; it is quite another to have a personal relationship to the living Lord. Peter and John were convinced Jesus was alive, but it wasn’t until that evening that they met the risen Christ in person with the other disciples. Jesus appeared to Peter sometime that afternoon (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5). Proof that does not issue in experience is only dead dogma. The key is believing God’s Word.

Shining Faith (20:11-18)
​Part 1 of 2

I think of Proverbs 8:17, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me," when I see Mary Magdalene alone in the garden. The love of Mary for her Lord brought her early to the garden. When Mary went back to the tomb, Peter and John had gone home and did not tell her what conclusion they had come to based on the evidence they had seen. Mary still thought Jesus was dead. Another verse comes to mind, Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Mary's weeping was the loud lamentation characteristic of the Jews in the expression of their sorrow (John 11:31, 33). There is surely nothing wrong with honest grief, for God created us to shed our tears, and weeping is good therapy for broken hearts. But the Christian's sorrow must be different from the hopeless sorrow of the world (1 Thess. 4:13-18), for we have been born again unto “a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3). We do not cry because our believing loved ones have gone to heaven but because they have left us and we miss them.

Mary looked into the sepulchre and saw two angels in white. Their position at either end of the shelf on which the body had lain suggests the cherubim on the mercy seat (Ex. 25:17-19). It is as if God were saying, 'Now there is a new mercy seat! My Son has paid the price of sin and opened wide the way into the presence of God!' Mary was apparently not disturbed at seeing these men, and there is no evidence that she knew they were angels. The short talk didn’t dry her tears nor quiet her mind. She was going to find the body of Jesus.

Why did Mary turn round and not go on with her talk with the two strangers? Did she hear a sound behind her? Or did the angels stand and know the presence of their Lord? Either of these speculations may be true, or neither may be true. She knew the Lord’s body was not in the tomb, so why remain there any longer?

Why did she not see the One for whom she was so earnestly searching? Perhaps He hid Himself from her, as He would later do when He walked with the Emmaus disciples (Luke 24:13-32). It was still early; maybe it was dark in this part of the garden. However, her eyes were probably blinded by her tears.

Jesus asked her the same question the angels asked: “Why do you weep?” How sad that she was crying when she might have been praising had she known her Lord was living! And He said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” (He asked the mob the same question in the garden—John 18:4.) It is encouraging to us to know that “Jesus knows all about our sorrows." The Savior knew that Mary’s heart was broken and her mind confused. He did not rebuke her; He manifested Himself lovingly to her.

He had only to call her name, and Mary knew Him instantly. His sheep hear [know] His voice; and He calls His own sheep by name (John 10:3). Mary had evidently turned away from Jesus, and when He called her name, she had to turn again to look at Him. What a blessed surprise to behold! The face of her beloved Master!

She could only say, "Rabboni—My Master, My Teacher.” Elsewhere in the Gospels, the title "Rabboni" is found only once, in Mark 10:51 (in the Greek text, “Lord” is “Rabboni”). "Rabbi" and "Rabboni" were interchangeable terms of respect. The Jews in later years recognized three levels of teachers: 'rab' (the lowest), rabbi, and rabboni (the highest).

Mary talked to Him, yes, and she took hold of His feet and clung to Him. This was but natural.

Now that she had found Him, she did not want to lose Him. There was still so much for her and the other believers to learn of His new state of glory. They still wanted to relate to Him as they had in the years of His ministry before the cross.

Jesus did not forbid the other women to hold His feet (Matt. 28:9), and they did. Why did He say to Mary, “Do not touch me”? Partly it was that she would see Him again, for He had not yet ascended to the Father. After His resurrection He stayed on the earth for forty days and appeared to the believers to instruct them in spiritual truth (Acts 1:1-9). Mary did not have to panic; this was not her last and final meeting with the Lord.

Secondly, she had a job to do. To go and tell His brethren that He was alive and was going to ascend to the Father. He is not ashamed to call them brethren (Heb 2:11). "I will declare thy name unto my brethren" (Ps. 22:22). He had called His own servants (John 13:16) and friends (John 15:15), but now brethren. I believe this meant that they had shared in His resurrection power and glory.