John 20:11-13

Mary Magdalene and the two angels: V. 11. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher, weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, V. 12. and seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

V. 13. And 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 laid Him.

When Peter and John had run to the tomb in such great haste, Mary had followed more slowly, arriving in the garden only after Peter and John had again left. Her mind was still filled with her first conclusion, namely, that the removal of her Lord's body was due to grave robbery. And she had given way to a fit of unrestrained weeping. She still remained outside the tomb in helpless and hopeless despair.

Incidentally, however, she is prompted to look whether the body of the Lord is really gone from the sepulcher, or whether the whole matter is only a kind of bad dream. So she stoops forward to look at the place where the men had laid the Lord in her own presence, with her tears still flowing freely.

The love which Mary Magdalene had for the Master is a fitting example for the believers of all times. “This Mary is a fine, beautiful type and an excellent example of all those that cling to Christ, that their hearts should burn in pure and true love toward Christ. For she forgets everything, both her feminine modesty and person, is not bothered by the fact that she sees the two angels before her, does not remember that Hannas and Caiaphas are filled with hostile wrath. In brief, she sees nothing, she hears nothing but Christ only. If she could only find the dead Christ; then she would be perfectly satisfied. And the evangelist for that reason has described it so diligently in order that we, who preach and hear it, may also, according to this example, gain desire, love, and eagerness toward Christ the Lord” (Luther, 8, 985).

When Mary stooped forward to look into the grave, she saw two angels in white garments sitting there, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of the Lord had been lying. They were sitting there with a purpose; they were ready to give information concerning the truth of the resurrection to all that sought it. They may have been the same angels that had been present at the earlier hour, or they may have been new messengers of the Lord, become visible for the occasion. It seems that there must have been almost a friendly rivalry in heaven for the privilege of being the guardians of the grave of the Lord, just as at the birth of Christ the multitude of the heavenly host came down to the fields of Bethlehem to sing their anthem of praise.

Sympathetically the angels asked Mary: Woman, why weepest thou? Their purpose was to open her eyes that she might see and hear the truth.

But Mary's grief is too deep to notice the presence of glorious comfort. She was surrounded with evidences of her Lord's resurrection which should have caused her to leap and shout with joy, and here she gives the angels the hopeless answer: Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have placed Him.

The case of Mary is repeated in the experience of Christians the world over. If they are visited with any real or supposed trouble, they are immediately so engrossed with their grief that they fail to see the multitude of evidences all about them that Jesus lives, and that therefore nothing can really matter. To trust unfailingly in the resurrected Savior, that must be the aim and the steady endeavor of the believers in the Lord.