John 20:11-20
If Mary and the disciples had only believed what Jesus had told them, they would not have been surprised to find an empty tomb that morning, and no tears would have been shed. He had told them "how that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and rise again the third day," but other plans for Him and themselves had so occupied their minds as to shut out His words. And so it is now. Many unnecessary tears are shed because the Lord's words are not believed. But so tender is the love or the Lord toward us that He has compassion upon those who weep, even though it be unnecessarily, and He sends words of comfort and help. And so two of the angels who were even then about Mary, and who are constantly watching over us, become visible to her, and inquired, "Woman, why weepest thou?" Her answer reveals an earnest desire to know where her Lord is, and so she finds at once that He was not far from her. "She turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus."
What a pity to see Jesus and not know Him! To be within the sound of His voice, and yet not to recognize Him! Jesus asks the same question of Mary, and she is still intent upon finding the body of her Lord, little thinking that an angel had rolled away the stone and that He was alive forevermore. It took but one word to reveal the truth to her, one word spoken in the familiar tone of love, and that word was her own name, "Mary." It required but one word from her to show that her heart was still true to Him who had forgiven and cleansed her, and that word was "Master." And then having made Himself known to her, He gives her a message to the disciples, and that too in words which show that He still identifies Himself with them. Although "they all forsook Him and fled," yet He speaks of them as His brethren, and His Father is their Father, and His God is their God. And we learn from the record given by Mark that it was not sufficient to mention the disciples as a company, but Peter is singled out and referred to by name. And why? Ah, because he had denied his Lord with cursing and swearing, and he would need some special assurance that the Lord thought of him still as one of the disciples.
There can be but one purpose of His ascending to His Father immediately after His resurrection. He will receive in person the assurance that His sacrifice is accepted, and that in Him, the Man Christ Jesus, the second Adam, the human family are again brought into the Father's presence. The path to glory was by way of the cross and the tomb, and the journey has been completed. During His earthly pilgrimage He had been shut away from His Father's face, not because of His own sins but on account of the sins of these same brethren, but now He has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and He, as the representative of His brethren, freed from sin, ascends to the Father.
What a meeting was that! When the prodigal son "was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him," but what a welcome shall He receive who had carried at the cost of a life or suffering and a death of shame the message of love and pardon from the Father in a prodigal world! If "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth," who can measure the joy over the triumphant completion of that work through which all sinners may have salvation? It was for the joy set before Him that He endured the cross, despising the shame. But this joy He shares with everyone who will share with Him in the travail of soul for the lost. Sufficient reason, then, had Paul the apostle to say: "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God."
The message was delivered by Mary, but "they, when they had heard that He was alive and had been seen of her, believed not." It is a typical experience, often realized by the messenger of good tidings. We too have heard His voice, and have come to know that Jesus lives, but often those who hear our message from Him to them believe not. Oh, for a testimony of greater power, which will carry a greater conviction to many hearts!
Jesus would give the fullest opportunity to all the disciples to know that no one has taken away His body, but that He has really risen from the dead, just according to His own word. That very night, when the disciples were assembled, although the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, yet Jesus came "and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." And then "He showed unto them His hands and His side." No other one bears these evidences that He is the crucified Lord. And these wounds witnessed then, as they will to all eternity, to the love that gave its all on Calvary. "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord."
The tidings of the Lord's resurrection had been brought by Mary Magdalene to the disciples "as they mourned and wept," but they did not credit her report; afterward the two disciples, to whom the Lord had made Himself known at Emmaus, "returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed," "neither believed they them." It is therefore perfectly clear that the disciples were not gathered together to celebrate His resurrection, but they had persistently refused to believe that He had risen, and Jesus Himself "upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." The Lord Himself has never placed any special honour upon the day on which He was raised. The fact of His resurrection is the foundation of every Christian's hope, and a memorial has been provided which is appropriate to the experience. "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life." Baptism when rightly administered appropriately symbolizes the death and resurrection of the Lord and our union with Him in that experience, but we have never been instructed to place any mark of distinction upon the day on which He was raised from the dead.
Gladness again filled the hearts of the disciples when they were convinced that they were looking upon the face of their Lord. It is always so with those who have become acquainted with the Lord. "They shall see His face and His name shall be in their foreheads" "In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
But it is not necessary to wait until the Lord is revealed in the clouds of heaven before we see Him and are glad. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." "I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth." This is a present experience. And this is what prepares us for that time when He shall come in power and great glory. It is those whose hearts have not been cleansed, and who have not recognized the Lord in His dealings with them, who shall be afraid: "pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them." The experience of such in that great day is described in the following scripture: "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." Not having become acquainted with, and accustomed to, "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," He is to them a consuming fire. More desirable is it to them to be covered with the mountains than that the undimmed gaze of those eyes, which are "as a name of fire," should be directed toward them. Now is the time to heed the word, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
"Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord." Do we long for the time when He will reveal Himself in our midst, and shall we be glad in that day? We are already in the dawning of that day. "Look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
--June 1, 1899