An Angel Speaks To Mary

May 19th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

John 20:10-15 So the disciples went away again to their own homes. 11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

When the four Gospels are read as a single narrative, each writer’s perspective paints the following story: Early on Sunday morning the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and a violent earthquake shook Jesus’ tomb. Though Jesus had already risen, the angel rolled the stone away from the tomb and sat on it while the Roman soldiers became so afraid that they fainted and became like dead men (Matt. 28:1-4). Meanwhile, while it was still dark, the women who had followed Jesus so faithfully throughout His ministry departed their homes for Jesus’ tomb to anoint His body, wondering how they would move the stone and having no idea that Jesus had already risen. Arriving as the sun appeared, they discovered the empty tomb, and while the other women stayed to investigate, Mary Magdalene ran immediately to tell Peter and John that Jesus had been taken away. During the time Mary was gone, the other women were told by two angels that Jesus had risen from the dead (Luke 24:4-5), and they invited the women to look into the tomb (Matt. 28:6). When they looked, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting to the right of where Jesus once laid, and he too told the women that Jesus had risen (Mark 16:5). As the women hastily ran to tell the disciples what they had seen, in great fear (Mark 16:8), Jesus appeared to them, and they fell at His feet and worshipped Him (Matt. 28:8-9).

Now as the women departed to tell the disciples, knowing that Mary Magdalene had already departed to do so, Peter and John arrived to survey the scene without seeing the other women, oblivious to the previous events. Once they investigated and left the scene, Mary Magdalene returned to the site, and she stood outside Jesus’ tomb weeping (John 20:15). As she wept, she looked into the tomb of Jesus, and two angels were sitting on either side of where Jesus once laid. Confused as to why anyone would be crying on the single greatest day the world has ever known, the angels asked Mary why she wept. Her answer reveals a woman who was so distraught that even heavenly beings were of no comfort to her, and she probably did not initially recognize them as such. She thought they, along with the man outside the tomb she perceived to be a gardener, were the culprits who had taken her Lord away. So, coming back out of the tomb and not recognizing the man she thought was a gardener as Jesus, she pleaded with him to tell her where Jesus was after He too asked her why she was weeping and whom she was seeking.

Food for Thought
The writer of Hebrews wrote that holy angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (1:14), and “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (13:2). These beings announced the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:11-20, 26-38). They also comforted Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43) and even announced His resurrection (24:4, 23). Appearing at will and at lightning speed (Dan. 9:20-21), they preach truth. Likewise Christians, for we too have the task of announcing the truth of Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and His second coming.