John 20:10-18 · Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" 14 "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

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John 20:1-18
Sermon
by John Smylie
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The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! As we review the gospel text, we discover that it's much easier for us to say that than it was for those first disciples who encountered the empty tomb. We have been given the rest of the story while they are still discovering the joy and wonder of the events that are unfolding right before them. The first Easter didn't start off clear and wonderful. Mary Magdalene didn't rush off to the tomb dressed in her finest outfit with a corsage attached to her blouse, wearing shoes that matched her handbag and her Easter bonnet. No, the first Easter is likely nothing like this Easter for us and yet perhaps there are more similarities than we may be aware of at first glance.

Mary Magdalene's first response to the empty tomb was not jubilation but, rather…

CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays in Lent and Easter: We Wish to See Jesus, by John Smylie