In these verses (Fohn xx. iff.) we have the first step towards (continued)
first Christian sabbath, and she begins it accordingly, with inquiries after Christ. She had spent the day before in commemorating the work of creation, and therefore rested. Now she is upon a search into the work of redemption, and therefore makes a visit to Christ and Him crucified.
(c) She came early, while it was yet dark. Those who would seek Christ so as to find Him must seek Him early. First, seek Him solicitously, with such a care as even breaks the sleep: be up early for fear of missing Him. Secondly, seek Him industriously. We must deny ourselves and our own repose in pursuit of Christ. Thirdly, seek Him betimes, early in our days, early every day, "' My voice shalt thou hear in the morning;"' that day is in a fair way to be well ended that is thus begun. They that diligently inquire after Christ while it is yet dark shall have such light given them concerning Himas shall shine moreand more.
(d) She found the stone taken away which she had seen rolled to the door of the sepulchre. Now this was a surprise to her.
For she little expected it. Christ crucified is the fountain of life, his grave one of the wells of salvation. If we come to it in faith, though to a carnal heart it be a spring shut up, we shall find the stone rolled away, and free access to the comforts of it.
Surprising comforts are the frequent encouragements of early seekers.
3. THE GLorious DISCOVERY
It was the beginning of a glorious discovery; the Lord was risen, though she did not at first apprehend it so. They that are most constant in their adherence to Christ, and most diligent in their inquiries after him, have commonly the first and sweetest notices of the divine grace. Mary Magdalene, that followed Christ to the last in His humiliation, met Him with the first in his exaltation. God ordinarily reveals himself and his comforts to us by degrees, to raise our expectations, and quicken our inquiries.
Finding the stone taken away, she hastens back to Peter and John, who probably lodged together at that end of the town, not far off, and acquaints them with it. "They have taken the Lord out of the sepulchre'', envying him the honour of such a decent burying-place, '"'and we know not where they have laid him"', nor where to find Him, that we may pay Him the remainder of our last respects. Observe here:
Resurrection 201
(a) What a notion Mary had of the thing as it now appeared. She found the stone gone, looked into the grave and saw it empty. Now one would expect that the first thought that offered itself should have been, "'Surely the Lord is risen"; for whenever He had told them that He should be crucified, which she had now lately seen accomplished, He always added in the same breath, that "the third day he should rise again''. Could she feel the great earthquake that happened as she was coming to the sepulchre, or getting ready to come, and now see the grave empty, and yet have no thought of the resurrection enter into her mind? What, no conjecture, no suspicion of it!
So it seems by the odd construction she puts upon the removing of the stone, which was very far-fetched. When we come to reflect upon our own conduct in a cloudy and dark day we shall stand amazed at our dullness and forgetfulness, that we could miss such thoughts as afterwards appear obvious, and how they could be so far out of the way when we had occasion for them. She suggested, '' They have taken away the Lord"'; either the chief priests have taken Him away, to put Him in a worse place, or Joseph and Nicodemus have, upon second thoughts, taken Him away, to avoid the ill-will of the Jews. Whatever was her suspicion, it seems it was a great vexation and disturbance to her that the body was gone, whereas, if she had understood it rightly, nothing could be more happy.
Weak believers often make that the matter of their complaint, which is really just ground of hope and matter of joy. We cry out that this and the other creature comfort is taken away, and we know not how to retrieve it, when indeed the removal of our temporal comforts, which we lament, is for the resurrection of our spiritual comforts, which we should rejoice in, too.
(b) What a narrative she made of it to Peter and Fohn! She did not stand poring upon the grief herself, but acquaints her friends with it. The communication of sorrows is one good improvement of the communion of saints. Peter, though he had denied his Master, had not deserted his Master's friends. By this appears the sincerity of his repentance, that he associated with the disciple whom Jesus loved. And the disciples' keeping up their intimacy with him as formerly, notwithstanding his fall, teaches us to restore those with a spirit of meekness that have been faulty. If God has received them upon their repentance, why should not we?