Sight and Sound

John 20:1-31

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where they body of Jesus had been lying. Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

Do you remember many other places in Scripture where angels in white robes appear to people without inspiring fear? I don't. Zechariah, Mary the mother of Jesus, the shepherds – they were all afraid when the angels visited them. But here, in the empty tomb, suddenly two angels appear in the place where Jesus’ body had been. They ask a question, and Mary responds. No fear. No surprise.

Mary is single-minded, focused. She needs to find her Lord. He befriended her when no one else did. She loved him, too. He gave her hope, and she trusted him. She was devastated by his execution, and the fact that his body was missing seemed especially unfair.

I am struck by this experience of Mary’s in a couple ways. First, her overwhelming grief is clear evidence of how real her friendship with Jesus was. They knew each other. She was more than a person in the crowd; they were friends. She missed him. Jesus reaches out to us with his mercy and grace, inviting us into a deepening relationship with him, just as he broke through the barrier of Mary’s sins. He invites us to be his friends. He offers us hope and new life. Our relationship with Jesus, our relationship with God, can be as real as Mary’s was.

Second, as Mary responds to the angels’ question, she turns and sees someone else whom she’s convinced is the gardener. But this gardener is Jesus. He repeats the angels’ question and asks why she’s crying. “Sir, if you’ve taken his body, please tell me where you put it, so I can go and get him.” She didn’t recognize Jesus. In the midst of her grief and desperation, she was looking for Jesus body, and couldn’t recognize him alive. Are you feeling desperate? Has it been difficult to see God in the midst of life’s struggles? Rest assured Jesus is with us, anxious to reveal himself to us.

Still, despite the fact that Mary was looking at Jesus, she didn’t see him. She didn’t recognize him until he called her by name. Not so many chapters ago, Jesus told us that his sheep hear his voice and recognize him. Our circumstances might blind us to our Savior or hinder us from discerning God’s call or plan for us. But he is our risen Lord, our Great Shepherd, and he knows our name. Is he calling out to you today?