(JOHN 20:11-29.)
WE see here the effects of the cross. The one who had reviled Him had gone to paradise with the Saviour. The death of the Son of God had given courage to Joseph of Arimathea. Mary stood at the sepulcher regardless of what others might think: she rose above all the circumstances. And so are we, notwithstanding all the ruin of the Church, together this morning “with all saints.” Not only in the chapter, but where we are this morning, we stand in the effects of the cross, and not only that, but of the resurrection. She was a lonely one there, and the Lord showed Himself to her. As we go on, and get nearer to Christ, we shall be more and more lonely. We are lonely because we are taken out of the world, and still more so because we are separated from ourselves.
There are two currents, one of nature and the things of the world, and the other of the Spirit. One is decreasing, and the other increasing and rising up into all the Fullness of God. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The Lord said to Mary, “Touch Me not.” He did not say it unkindly; He never spoke unkindly. The weak hand of man could not hold the blessing in nature. We get the two currents in the sixty-third and eighty-fourth Psalms. “O God, Thou art my God: early will I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” This was “in the wilderness of Judah.” But in the eighty-fourth, “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” it is the scene of God’s interests. We are introduced into a scene of joys and consolations, and love and fellowship. We are brought into relationship “My Father and your Father, my God and your God;” we are no more orphans. He says, “Peace be unto you,” when we are together, and for power in our service.
(Recollections of the late Rochfort Hunt.)