Thoughts on the Way: “The Stone Had Been Moved”

Mary Magdalene, forgiven by Jesus and deeply devoted to him, teaches us about unwavering faith, redemption, and the power of resurrection to bring hope and new beginnings.

Mary was eager to get to the garden tomb. As the Proverbs observe: “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” (Proverbs 8:17).1 And she did!

Mary Magdalene was a woman with a questionable past. But whatever it might have been, Jesus had forgiven her sins and had taken her into his family of disciples. For that, she loved him with all her heart.

It is not certain, but in my opinion, Mary Magdalene was quite likely the woman who interrupted a meal to anoint Jesus’ feet.

We read of this incident in Luke 7:36-50. It should be no surprise that in a few verses further along, in Luke 8:1- 3, Jesus is said to have cured Mary Magdalene of “seven demons” (along with some other women who were also cured).

In the New Testament, the word “demon” may refer to either mind or body disease. When so many “demons” are mentioned, this also suggests both mind and body, with the demons of the mind being her life of promiscuity and the demons of the body being the results of her lifestyle. So it must have been with the greatest of gratitude that Mary Magdalene came to the house where Jesus was visiting, fell down at his feet, and anointed his feet while she cried. He had saved her life, both then and in the world to come.

Now, back to the beginning: “the first day of the week”:

“The first day of the week” is, literally, “day one of the seven.” This refers to the “In the beginning” of God’s first creation week (Genesis 1; cp. John 1:1). In God’s literal creation, on day one, God had said, “Let there be light.” Now, once again, in the spiritual beginning, there was “light” again (see John 1:4). To the disciples, this day (when they understood it later) would mark the beginning of their new lives. This new rising of the “sun,” as well as the rising of Jesus, the “Son” would drive away the dark shadows of lost hope and create a new spirit within the disciples:

Mary Saw That The Stone Had Been Moved From The Entrance

Was there ever a mountain so “large” as the great stone which sealed Christ’s tomb? Truly, as miracles go, no miracle has been or could be so great as the one that caused this “very large” stone to be removed, and thus proclaimed Christ’s tomb to be open and be forever empty.

Jesus had told his followers:

Of course, people who work in construction have difficulty moving literal mountains and must resort to bulldozers and explosives to move these impediments. But seen from a spiritual perspective, isn’t the greatest mountain of difficulty, which no builders can ever move, the great mountain of death and the grave?

Even Jesus’s disciples could not move such a stone from the mouth of his sepulcher. They were weeping in sorrow and hiding in fear. It was by the faith of Jesus alone, even though he was dead and unconscious in the tomb, which brought his Father to send the angels to roll back the stone.

It may be said that the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performed was that the blood of this absolutely righteous man cried out from the depths of the earth (Revelation 6:9,10), and the Father heard him!

Do we have faith today to move mountains? The answer, I believe, is really another question. Do we have faith that the greatest “mountain” has already been moved?’

Our faith may be not just a faith in the future but also a faith in the past. We look backward and ask if we really believe that the “mountain” has been moved?’ If we truly believe that, then it is absolutely sure and certain that all things are possible for us, because our Lord Jesus Christ lives, and makes intercession in heaven on behalf of all who believe in him.

Now, back to John 20:2

Mary Magdalene, seeing the empty tomb, assumed his dead body had been stolen away, and she ran to tell Peter and John. (The position of the stone, moved some distance away from the door, may have convinced Mary that the tomb had been abandoned.) She seems to have had no thought of a resurrection.

At about the same time, some of the other women who were going to the tomb met the angel of glory (Mark 16:1-7), and they also returned to the other disciples, bringing a message of Christ’s resurrection.

Matthew 28:2-3 adds some detail:

It appears that the great stone was rolled some distance away, a task one man could not do.

Hearing Mary’s report, Peter and the other disciple (very likely the Apostle John) ran hurriedly to the tomb. The two were running together, and John ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb, and he saw the linen wrappings lying there. The facecloth that had been on his head was not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. (John 20:3-10).

The head wrappings were separated from the body wrappings. Also, the whole scene in the tomb was not disorderly but orderly. There had been no hasty action; rather, it looked as if someone had awakened from a night’s sleep and laid his bedclothes aside to be dressed in other garments.

How did John believe if he did not understand the Scriptures? John believed in the resurrection of Jesus based simply on what he saw, not on a full understanding of the Scriptures concerning the resurrection. This insight would only come later.

What did he see that convinced him? He saw the linen burial clothes lying in the tomb. He understood that no man in his right mind would first unwrap a corpse and then carry it away. The presence of the wrappings was the plainest proof that no one had carried away a dead body. Instead, Christ had risen, leaving behind the old grave clothes and putting on new clothes.

The disciples returned home, but Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb. (v. 11) The two disciples had gone their way. But Mary, following behind the men, returned the second time to the tomb, still unaware of the angel’s appearance to the other women. (Mark 16:2-7) There was no reason she should linger there, except that this was the spot where she had last looked from afar at the body of her teacher and friend.

In the last two days, Mary had shed tears as never before, and now more than ever, they refused to be restrained. If only she might be able to express her love in some last act of devotion to his poor dead body! But even this was denied her, for apparently his body had been stolen away.

To this pathetic figure of sorrow and despair, one of the greatest privileges of all time was soon to come: the first sight of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ! Within moments, the deepest despair would give way forever to the greatest joy!

The tomb of the risen Christ must have looked like the Most Holy Place, with its mercy-seat being guarded by the “two angels” as cherubim, where the blood of Jesus Christ, the one true sacrifice, has been poured out. The angels asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” (John 20:13) Apparently, she did not realize those two “men” were actually angels.

At this point, Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there, probably in the shadows, but she did not realize that it was Jesus (v. 14). It may be that, at this early hour, the garden itself was in shadows. Or it may be that Mary was simply preoccupied with her thoughts.

Now Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out: “Rabboni,” (which means “Teacher”).  (John 20:16).

Once again, she seems to have expected no help or comfort in response to her appeal, for she is already walking away when just one spoken word— “Mary”—stops her in her tracks. The man standing there in the shadows calls her by name, and the thought must have come to her: “He knows my name!”

That voice sounded familiar. Can it be…? She turned around, stared in shock, and then, in a moment, she was at his side, perhaps falling at his feet in shock and then grasping him as if to prove to herself that the impossible had become a fact and all the while incoherent with joy. There was nothing to say except one exultant word: “Rabbi.” The wonderful man she had known for only a few years, the man who had saved her life once already, was not dead; he was alive!

When he had saved her from her sad, meaningless existence and healed her diseases, she had anointed his feet with her perfume and tears. When he had died, she had anointed his whole body. Now, once again, she anointed his feet with tears, but this time, they were tears of joy.

The silent road from which no traveler returns had yielded back the one she longed to see above all others and how blind she had been not to recognize him sooner. A wild jumble of emotions rushed through her mind, and all the while, she sought added assurance by the evidence of her senses.

My Lord, who dead
and buried lay of late
Made void this tomb
and stood before my face;
And I was first of all
his ransomed race:
At first I knew him not!
nor pondered there
By what strong means
at that unseemly hour
The gardener should
with some uncanny power
Have borne him hence
beyond my reach.
But when he spoke,
calling out my name,
And I beheld my
Savior standing there,
My heart did leap
with sheer and utter joy;
‘Twas then, O Lord,
that recognition came:
With tear-dimmed eyes
my precious Lord to greet,
I knelt in the dust
to grasp his feet.

(From an unknown author)

Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (v. 17). This should probably be read, more literally, “Do not cling to me… for now.” Jesus had other duties to perform. As the High Priest, he needed to present himself and his wounds as evidence of the completion of his perfect sacrifice on the cross. He must do this in God’s very presence, which presumably required his entering into the Most Holy Place or his ascension directly into heaven itself.

After this important task, Jesus must have appeared to his disciples and his closest friends, as described in the New Testament.

We might also suppose there were some few precious minutes for these two, the saved woman with her beloved savior. But then they had to part, for a while, but certainly not forever.

This “going to the Father” was based on the ritual of the Day of Atonement. On that special day each year, the High Priest, after finishing his sacrifice, was required to enter into the actual presence of God, to present the blood of the annual sacrifice, and then to return from the Father’s presence with the great blessing for the nation (Leviticus 16). However, this presentation was unique, a once-and-forever task for Jesus:

Now, as they parted, Jesus asked Mary to “go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” The brothers and sisters of Christ must all learn of this wonderful revelation that “Jesus is alive!”

Mary had been totally devoted to her Lord—seemingly to the exclusion of all others. This dedication was her great strength, but it was about to become something of a weakness since he was soon to be taken away from her for a long time.

And so, kindly but firmly, he turned her attention to her fellow believers. She must now learn that all her attention must be toward them and that she must spend the rest of her mortal life in their company, working toward their good. It appears as though, after this tender scene, Mary must turn and walk away, not knowing when she will ever set eyes on her Lord again.

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” (vv. 18-20).

We need more than the printed page of the Bible and a good memory to make us wise for salvation. We need a mind opened to give special attention to the message from heaven. We need eyes opened to behold the wondrous things to be found in God’s Word and in God’s world. In short, we need Christ in our hearts. And when this takes place, we step into a world of light, love, and life by faith. A world in which no shadow of gloom or fear can isolate us from God’s love, can only be found in Christ Jesus.

The story of Mary Magdalene can teach us so much. For one thing, we learn that no matter what terrible ditches we may fall into, Christ can help us find our way out of the mud. We also learn that, as individuals, we should never give up on anyone, no matter their bad deeds. Especially we learn that our Lord Jesus Christ loves us more than we can ever know and that he will be with us as we walk through this world day by day, helping us to live not by fear but by faith. As the Apostle Paul expresses it:

George Booker,
Austin Leander Ecclesia, TX