Jesus, My Jesus
Meanwhile Mary remained standing near the tomb, weeping aloud. She did not enter the tomb, but as she wept she stooped and looked in, and saw two angels clothed in white raiment, sitting one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. They spoke to her.
“Why are you weeping?” they asked.
“Because,” she replied, “they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put Him.”
While she was speaking, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but did not recognize Him.
“Why are you weeping?” He asked; “who are you looking for?”
She, supposing that He was the gardener, replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will remove him.”
“Mary,” said Jesus. “Rabboni,” she cried.
John 20:11-15 (Weymouth)
Here we have one of the most endearing scenes in all the Bible. The Word identifies Him in His preincarnate glory as the Creator of all things, seen and unseen. From Hubble we are breathless by the surreal beauty of just the natural universe. We sit gape-mouthed at pictures of gas clouds that extend for trillions of miles. We stand amazed at the variety of celestial objects, from stars to planets to black holes to supernovas and how they all dance in a symphony of scientific laws of physics, gravity, light, and speed. The properties of quantum physics continue to baffle the best of minds. From so much that we do know about the natural universe, we understand that there is so much that we don’t know. And it is from this incomprehensible glory as Creator that He agreed to completely empty Himself to become a man for us.
In becoming man, He was born as a anonymous babe in a hay-filled manger. He committed Himself to live a life of faith to the mission of the Plan of Redemption in order to save us. Throughout His life Satan continually tempted Him to live unto Himself and shirk back from redeeming us. But he endured. He lived under the Law as no man could so that He could be found blameless in the end. In the Garden, He confronted the utter terror of becoming sin for mankind, a terror so awful that He sweat blood. He again consecrated Himself and willingly and obediently offered Himself as a Lamb on the Cross. His beard was plucked. He was slapped. He was spit on and crowned as a fake king with a crown of thorns. He was scourged to no end.
On the Cross He became a curse for us. Isaiah says that His spiritual visage was so marred that He didn’t even resemble a man. He was mocked by the very ones that He was seeking to save. He was cut off from God and laid in the deep, in the lowest pit. Through it all He continually trusted in the Father and the mission. After enduring the torture of the damned, on the third day He was resurrected back into His body.
The Bible doesn’t tell us what Jesus was doing outside of the tomb on the third day when Mary appeared. I imagine that He walked out to see the world that He was about to redeem and to take in what He actually had done. I suppose that He also mulled over His coming ascension where He would present His own blood on the Mercy Seat before God, His Father, and be glorified by all as the first-fruits of redemption.
This is what overwhelms the heart. He walks back to the tomb and sees Mary, whom He cast out seven devils earlier. She doesn’t recognize Him. She thinks He’s the gardener. He doesn’t say, “Don’t you understand what I’ve done?” He doesn’t belittle her. He doesn’t even get angry. He looks into her eyes and says in the most tender voice, “Mary.”