Woman, Why Are You Weeping?

“As she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’” (John 20:11b-13)

What a strange question! Of course, she was weeping! For Mary Magdalene, the last three days had been the saddest and most terrifying of her life. “When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him” (Mark 16:1). She had followed Jesus for months, filled with hope and expectation, but now she was coming to anoint His body for burial.

Mary of Magdala is first mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus was teaching throughout Galilee. “Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, …and many others who provided for them out of their resources.” (Luke 8:1-3) Seven demons! How Mary must have laughed and danced with gratitude on the day she met Jesus.

Then the awful day came when Jesus walked the rocky path to Calvary, stumbling under the weight of the cross, and Mary Magdalene was among the few who stood by Him while so many others fled. “Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” (John 19:25) They remained into the evening, keeping watch until Joseph of Arimathea laid the Lord’s body in a tomb. “Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb.” Weeping, surely, they were weeping.

“Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb” (Mk 16:2). With sadness, the women retraced the steps of Jesus as they left the city carrying the pungent spices to the place where His body had been lovingly laid to rest. Finding the stone rolled away and the tomb empty, Mary ran back to get Peter and John. They examined the tomb and the burial cloths. “Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb” (John 20:10-11). When Mary looked up, she saw Jesus standing nearby; but in her grief, she didn’t recognize Him. “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’” (John 20:16) In that moment everything changed. Jesus spoke her name, and her weeping ended. Jesus spoke her name, and she remembered that He had said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live” (John 11:25). He spoke her name, and she believed.

Jesus still calls us by name; and in that moment, when we hear Him calling, everything changes. He dries our tears, revives our hope and restores our faith. In that moment, we find the courage to echo boldly Mary Magdalene’s joyful proclamation on that first Easter morning, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18).