Now the morning came, and you have to understand something of the details of the story in order not to miss the poignancy that’s here. This Mary who loved the Lord Jesus came with the other women to the sepulchre early in the morning with their spices. And as they went they said to themselves, “Now we have a problem. The stone has been placed over the mouth of the tomb and who’s going to remove that for us?” They didn’t know who could do it. And if we were to ask, “Well, why then were they coming with the spices if they knew the stone was there? Did they really have plans to have somebody move it?” No, they didn’t. They didn’t know who would do that. As a matter of fact, they had not the faintest idea how they would get the spices to the body; but they wanted to try anyway. So they were there early as the light first began to come up on that Sunday morning, and when they got to the tomb, they saw that the stone had been removed.
Now when the women arrived at the tomb with their spices, it suited their purpose to have the stone removed, but it wasn’t what they were expecting. They were confused and asked each other what they should do. And they decided that Peter and John should be told. Either they appointed Mary to the task, or Mary volunteered. So she’s the one who started off to find the disciples to give them the message.
She found Peter and John and told them that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb and that they had taken Him away. Peter and John raced to the tomb and while they were on their way, the remaining women came close to the sepulchre and there they heard the angels give the first announcement of the resurrection. Shortly after they left, Peter and John came, and they went into the tomb. John believed because of the position of the grave clothes, and then they left. After the women and the disciples had gone, Mary arrived, alone.
Do you understand what she had been through? The one she had loved most in all the world had been taken from her, brutally killed and buried. She had tried to do what she could, which was to bring spices to anoint the body. And now even the body was gone. She was standing there weeping. I don’t know how this woman found tears to weep anymore, after all that had happened the past three days. She had undoubtedly been weeping all the time, but there she was weeping, and it was through tear-filled eyes that at last she herself looked into the tomb and saw the angels.
The angels said, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
And she said, “Because they’ve taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they laid Him.”
Now can you understand the significance of that? When the women saw the angels, they were frightened; they knew they were angels. But Mary wasn’t startled by their appearance. She didn’t recognize they were angels. All she was thinking about was Jesus.
We read in John 20 that after she had explained why she was weeping, and since Jesus was not there, she had no more interest in the angels or the tomb. She turned around, and there was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. We know that later when the Lord appeared to the Emmaus disciples, they didn’t recognize Him either.
Mary had been crying. She was preoccupied, and she most certainly did not expect the resurrection. And there was Jesus, and He asked the same question that the angels had asked. “Woman, why are you weeping?” And then He added a question of His own: “Who are you seeking?” Her answer is probably one of the most touching sentences in all literature. Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
