Mary and Her Risen Lord

John 20:1‑16  •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 12
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After the reverent interment of the body of the Lord, Mary Magdalene with her companions who had come with Him from Galilee, who had seen how His body was laid (compare Luke 23:55-5655And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 56And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. (Luke 23:55‑56) with Mark 15:47,16:1), “returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Three things are thereby most clearly indicated: first, their affection for Christ; secondly, that they entertained no expectation of the resurrection; and, finally, their devout piety, as seen in their subjection to the Word of God. They longed to lavish the tokens of their ardent love upon the dead body of their Lord; but as the sabbath followed immediately, these holy women, among whom the Magdalene was the most prominent, quietly waited and rested in obedience to the commandment before carrying out their intention of anointing the sacred body of our blessed Lord. (It must be remembered that our blessed Lord was crucified on the Friday, and that the sabbath commenced at sunset the same evening. If then the ninth hour were three o’clock in the afternoon, Joseph must have acted with great promptitude in obtaining Pilate’s permission to take down the body of Jesus from the cross, and in preparing it for burial so as to accomplish the burial before the sabbath began. Luke indeed marks this by the statement, “and the sabbath drew on.”) But “when the sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun,” or, as Matthew says, “in the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” or, as John records, “when it was yet dark.”