Day 45 – Why are you crying?

John 20:1-18

Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple went out to go to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and got to the tomb first. Stooping down and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and entered the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. So then the other disciple who had got to the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. They had not yet understood from Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.

Then the disciples went back to their own homes. But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she cried, she stooped down and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she didn’t know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Thinking that he must be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him off, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” which means, “Teacher!”

Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold onto me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples bringing the news, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them what he had said to her.

For reflection

Imagine Jesus appearing to you. How do you feel?