Do you remember when?
John: 20:1-29
Mary Magdalene – John 20:1-2, 11-18
In chapter 20 John pulls together several of the disciples’ personal accounts and experiences. He of course was one of them, almost certainly the disciple who out ran Peter and then hesitated at the tombs entrance. When reading the chapter as a whole in one go it felt to me as if I was overhearing the various participants personal stories. Perhaps told over a meal and a glass of wine, maybe even following sharing in the Lord’s supper. The honest vulnerability of Mary’s account captures perfectly the emotional spectrum she went through starting with her grief on the path to the tomb, then the distress at finding Jesus’ body gone as she rushed back to Peter and the other disciples with her news. Mary probably could not keep up with the men when they ran to the tomb. At some point she found herself alone there, standing outside weeping, her vision probably distorted by her tears and distress. Mary did not immediately grasp that Jesus had risen, she thought his body had been stolen, she answered the angel’s question with her despairing comment, ‘I do not know where they have laid him.’ v13 Turning she found herself facing Jesus but did not recognise him. Jesus repeated the question and clarified it with, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ v15 It was not until Jesus spoke her name that Mary, passionately, joyfully grasped it was Jesus who was addressing her. How much does this reflect your own journey as a seeker? When did you realise who Jesus is?