"But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stopped down, and looked into the sepulchre" ~ John 20:11This Mary is Mary of Magdala, the courtesan whom Jesus touched and turned into a saint. This is Mary, who loved Him much because she had been forgiven much. Mary, who did not have a religious heritage behind her.
She was a woman in great need, who had met the Son of God and had found to her everlasting joy that the Son of God could meet her every need. And here she stands weeping outside the grave where thy had buried Him.
Without a "good background," Mary was forced to lean only upon the Person of Jesus. Her own moral life was no stay to her. Her immoral life forced her to His feet. She had only Jesus to depend upon. "Nothing in my hands I bring ... simply to Thy cross I cling." Mary had nothing to bring. She had to cling.
And here she stood weeping beside His grave. She didn't understand the theology of what He had just done for her. Somehow her joy was all in His Person and they had crucified Him and her very soul cried out in protest and agony! But, loving Him as she did, she stood by everything she knew of Him. "Mary stood without at the sepulchre" where all she knew of Him had been buried.
If you are a new Christian, stand by all you know of Him. Soon you, like Mary, will be prompted to "stoop down and look into the sepulchre." And when you do, you will find that He, your Lord, is exactly who He claims to be. The living Son of God. He is not dead. Stand patiently by all you know of Him now, remembering that He showed Himself first, not to an "advanced Christian." Jesus showed Himself first to Mary.
"... Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? I am he that liveth, and was dead; and ... am alive forevermore."
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