This Mary Magdalene is the same who had been possessed with seven devils. She comes to the sepulcher very early, “while it was yet dark.” On the previous day, which was the Sabbath, the women had done nothing. Mary Magdalene was the first of them all who came to the sepulcher. She, as well as the other women and the disciples, shows that she did not at all believe the words of the Lord, seeing that she came to look for the Living One among the dead; but her heart was sincere and full of affection to Him, and when this is the case, the Lord pardons much ignorance. The disciples find everything in the sepulcher in perfect order; this was a proof of the calmness with which the Lord had triumphed over death, and it was a proof that beyond doubt it was impossible that robbers had taken away His body, the linen cloths and the napkin being folded up apart. It is said that Peter and John when they saw, believed. They knew not the Scripture that said, “He must rise again,” nor the words of God that had spoken to them of this.
Theirs was not divine faith that believes without having seen, simply because the word of God says so. They should have believed without coming to see; because the Lord had said He would rise again the third day. This faith of theirs founded upon sight had no other effect than of making them return to their own home. It was in truth a difficult thing for one to believe that a man would rise again—it was the first case of a man rising of himself. Others had been raised by Jesus, but of himself alone no man could rise again, except the Lord Jesus.
At verse 10 we have the fact that the disciples returned to their own home. They had seen and that satisfied them; they could return to their temporal affairs. There was not in them a deep need of Jesus—of having Him. Quite different was the case with Mary; for her, all the world without Jesus was an empty sepulcher. She sought Him, and she found Him; thus too, all who seek Him find Him. The great thing is that Jesus possesses the heart. The disciples loved Him, they had followed Him, but Jesus was not everything to their hearts. And consequently it is no marvel, if God chose Mary to be the instrument of revealing the highest privileges of the saints. And so it is always.
Mary Magdalene wept because she had not Christ—without Him she had nothing, she was unhappy. She was very ignorant, therefore she said: “They have taken away my Lord.” If He was the Lord, how could He be taken away? by whom? She thought she had a right to His body, and she says: “Tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away,” because she loved Him deeply.
(To be continued if the Lord will.)