John 20:11-18
But Mary was standing outside the tomb crying; and so, as she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you seeking?” Thinking Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.
Introduction
Have you ever found yourself in prayer, asking whether God would really answer you? Have you softened the expectation of that prayer either verbally or internally by rationalizing that God has little interest in answering?
Perhaps for some issues God does not speak to like a new job or a bigger house, this might be appropriate. But for issues where God has promised to be faithful like in giving you the words to say during persecution (Luke 12:12), growing you in holiness (Romans 8:28-30), saving your eternal soul (John 3:16), or returning to raise the dead in Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16), such language is tantamount to faithlessness.
For Mary Magdalene, coming to the tomb after witnessing the horrific and brutal execution of her Lord and savior, the One who delivered her from the oppression of seven demons (Luke 8:2), she weeps. She is crying because she believes that not only have the men of this city killed Him, but they have stolen away His body for defilement. For Mary, this was like rubbing salt in an open wound.
Why are you crying?
But her response came from a certain expectation. Right or wrong, our expectations color our experiences. Just recently, an incident occurred between two of my daughters. The girls were quietly working on coloring sheets side by side when the younger mouthed some words to her big sister. Used to some level of picking on one another, the older girl interpreted these words as “your picture is stupid.”
Running to her mother, deeply offended and upset, she begged for retribution at these unkind words. The only problem is that her sister did not say, “your picture is stupid.” Instead, she whispered, “George Newton and Beethoven,” a reference to two characters from the 1992 John Hughes film Beethoven about a lovable St. Bernard and his family. At this clarification, both girls laughed and went back to their coloring
A moment that should have been a sweet exchange between sisters almost turned ugly because of a pre-packaged expectation of how one might treat the other. If we bring this into our relationship with God, it can be the catalyst for a catastrophic loss of faith. Mary in this scene was on the precipice, called back only by the intervention of an angel of God, saying, “Woman, why are you crying?”
And even then, she did not understand.
But He is the gardener
Turning around, unable to speak to the angels any longer, Mary sees a man tending a garden. The text says she was, “thinking Him to be the gardener” when she begs Him to tell her where the body of Jesus was taken. But when He speaks to her, she immediately recognizes He is the risen Lord.
In Genesis 2:8, we read, “And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.” A garden represents nature perfected. It is under strict dominion and control, producing only beauty and joy. A wild banana tree produces a fruit that is small, tough, and filled with inedible oversized seeds. But placed in a garden, carefully cultivated over time by mankind, and it now brings forth a sweet and soft fruit that is both delicious and easy to eat.
It was this sort of ordering of chaos that God designed for man to do when He commanded us to, “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). And it is this sort of ordering of chaos Jesus completed in His ministry on earth. When He arrived, the nations followed after false gods, demons oppressed His people, and sin was the expectation.
After His victory on the cross, sin has no hold over those to whom He has laid claim, the Church is filled with gentile believers, and demons have no claim over them whatsoever. To this day, He continues to work in His Church, causing glory to shine where before there was only contempt and unbelief.
He gave Mary back the hope which she had lost in despair upon finding the empty tomb. And He also gave her the directive: “go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” She was to tell people of the resurrection. And so are you. Because the resurrection of Christ is the promise of your own resurrection on the final day (1 Corinthians 15:20).
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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