Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre alone. —Mary Magdalene, who had fetched the Apostles, re mained at the sepulchre after their return home. Overcome with the idea that the sacred body had been rudely molested, she wept as she stood with. out. Then, varying the signs of her grief, she stooped down and gazed at the spot where her Lord had lain. It was guarded by two angels, who add; essed the weeping mourner in tones of kindly concern : Woman, why weepest thou ?' Her answer proves in what an ecstasy of grief her loving soul was wrapped. She seemed hardly conscious of the dignity of the holy beings before her, as she poured out her complaint in impassioned words : Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.' But although her sorrow bedims her sight, it does not becloud her faith. This seems rather to increase in clearness. To the Apostles she called her beloved lost one, the Lord.' She now appropri ates him as her own, My Lord.' As the penitent of Calvary was not checked by the sight of His dying agony from acknowledging the ` Lordship' of Jesus, so our Mary's faith amidst the lowliness of the grave dwells loyally on the self-same attribute of g-reatness, which she will not believe to have been lost in death ! Such allegiance cannot fail of its reward, nor be long kept waiting. To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise '—was not a prompter requital to the repentant malefactor, than what is at this moment in store for the loving penitent of Magclala. She had no sooner opened her grief to the angels than she v;as destined to hear the echo of their consolation from the lips of her Lord himself ! She turned herself back [from the tomb] and saw Jesus standing . . . and he saith unto her : Woman, why weepest thou ; whom seekest thou ?' The Lord, whom she did not at once recognise, recalled her from the stupor of her grief, by the simple salutation Mary!' The word was, no doubt, accompanied with a voice and mariner which reminded hcr of his former love and grace. Thus every evidence which is fiernz:rhed us of the resurrection connects him, who is the sub ject of it, with old associations. It was the indelible memory of her Lord, impressed on her mind by many a characteristic feature of speech and action, which roused Mary to the instantaneous conviction that none but her beloved could have pronounced her name in that inimitable tone. Her prompt recognition of Jesus was accompanied with an attempt, an excited one no doubt, to embrace him. But embraces henceforth must be spiritual ! So Christ puts a double honour upon his disciple, whose simple and ardent love lie knows to be equal to the occasion : Touch me not,' he says in effect, your faith needs not, like that of a weaker conviction, to be helped by a corporeal embrace.' To 113 the Lord's bearing to his devoted follower of Magdala is an encomium rather than a repulse. He can count upon her faith without the contact which was needful for theisatisfaction of Thomas ; so be at once entrusts to her the message which should announce to his followers not his return to life merely, but his approaching ascension to his Father. Such an announcement was necessary ; without it his disciples might conclude from the tenor of his long discourse to them before his death, that his present return to life was his final appointment, and that this world accordingly was the 'piece' of their ultimate glory and rest with himself (John xiv. 3 ; xvi. 16; xvii. 24). Though, therefore, they were about to see him after the little while' of his absence from them through death, yet that sight would be itself but a brief one, for he was not yet ascended to his Father, but was on the way to Him (comp. John xvi. 16 with xx. 17). We therefore discover in Mary Magdalene's case, not only the distinction which SL Mark assigns to her of being the first to behold the risen Jesus (xvi. 9), but the yet higher privilege of receiving from him the sublimest of his messages to his disciples. In it he announces his approach ing ascension to heaven, and indicates the spiritual relation which he would have them realise as his brethren'—children of his Father and their Father, his God and their God' (John x.x. zy) In this rernarkable message the apostles would, on due reflection, find the best possible voucher of their Lord's resurrection. It contained two plain references to his former teaching. He had in Galilee in a pointed manner declared the principle of their regenerate relation to him (Matt. xii. 46 so ; Mark iii. 31-35) ; and, as late as Thursday evening, he had profoundly discoursed to them of his departure from the world to the Father, and his dis course had at the time deeply impressed them (John xvi. 29, 30). How could Mary Magdalene have had any idea of so profound a truth, unless from the mouth of the Lord himself? When, however, she reported to his late companions the startling fact that she had actually seen the Lord alive, they were incredulous. Prostrated with grief (Mark xvi. zo), they reflected not on the probability of the story which their earnest friend avouched ; but if they believed not,' as St. Mark informs us, the silence of St. John may justify the supposition that Mary's statement would at least produce some im pression on their minds which might contribute somewhat to ultimate belief (comp. John xx. 18). But other influences strangely tending to the same result are at hand. The other Mary and Salome were on their way to the disciples to relate what they had seen and heard at the sepulchre, since their companion of Magdala had left them, when they were met by the risen Saviour (Matt. xxviii. 9).
Second Appearance of Christ.—According to St. Matthew (xxviii. 8) and St. Mark (xvi. 8), these holy women had quitted the tomb with fear and amazement, though not unmixed with joy, at the apparition and words of the angel. They were, no doubt, still under the influence of these emotions when Jesus approached them (observe the 6.7r0 rixrcv abrais, and contrast it with the mode of Christ's approach to Mary Magdalene, evidently fronz behind ; &-rpciqyz1 els ra. 6710-co, Kai S-ccopei .rbv izrre7zra, John xx. 14); for, after a gracious salutation (xcapere), in which he seemed to sym pathise with their joy, as before he had soothed the tears of the Magdalene (70vat, etalEts), he bids them dismiss their fears (lit q5oficia5c, without the emphatic 4/2cis of the angel ; for the Lord draws no contrast and makes no allusion to the terrified guard). And now the Lord strikingly demonstrates his intuition of human character, and so proves himself to be the same Jesus whom the beloved disciple (ii. 24. 25) described as knowing all men, and needing not that any should testify of man ; for he knew what was in man.' This Mary and
Salome were of far different mould from their friend of Magdala. Equal, no doubt, in love and duty, they were yet inferior to her in firmness of character and grasp of faith. So the Lord having calmed their timid hearts and addressed himself to their joy, at once permits their reverential embrace (expdrwrav . . . . Kal irpoo-exennicrav ati$9, whereby tbey might increase their faltering faith to a strong conviction. This touch ' he had, as we have seen, forbiaVen to the intrepid and unshrinking Magda lene, as unneeded and superfluous ; while on a later occasion we shall find him actually command ing a contact of his sacred body, to satisfy the un reasonable doubts of the tardiest of his followers. Having graciously accepted the homage and strengthened the faith of these timorous but faith ful women, Jesus gives them an embassy to his apostles, whom he again salutes with the endear ing name of brethren : Go, tell my brethren that they go before me into Galilee ; there shall they see me.' The wisdom of these words is apparent. Christ will not oppress them, with the expectation of a sudden appearance among them, then and there. To retire to Galilee, from the scene of their present sorrow, would allow time for reflec tion and recovery ; it would also, like the angel's message, put the minds of the apostles into a train of recollecting how that Jesus had himself pro mised, while he was with them, that after his death and resurrection he would see them again in Galilee (Matt. xxvi. 32) ; nor would the kindliness of his salutation be without its influence—it was so much like their loving master's benevolent heart to for give their cowardly desertion of hint in his hour of need ! We are not told, however, what reception was given to this message ; possibly a more re spectful one than to Mary Magdalene's. Four of the eleven apostles were sons of these pious messengers. One of them had, by a personal inspection of the sepulchre, raised himself out of the desponding incredulity of his associates into a frame of mind whir.h would induce him at least to give a serious attention to the statement of his mother and her friend. Added to which the testimony of these women was a weightier one than that of the Magdalene, for they could tell of what their hands had handled,' as well as of what their eyes had seen and their ears had heard.
Other Women at the Sepulchre. —it cannot, however, be denied, that the incredulity of the apostolic company was in general extremely obstinate. Unpersuaded by the mouth of the three witnesses, who have thus far laboured to convince them of the glorious truth, which they had discovered that Easter morning, they reject the testimony of a still more numerous body of informants, who now bring similar tidings to them, but with varied vouchers. The Galilean women mentioned by St. Luke (xxiv. 1-9) have been, as it appears to us, conclusively shewn by some care ful writers* to be a different set of women from those whose movements we have been describing. The central member of this larger group is Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. Though probably they acted in concert with their pious neighbours, they seem to have moved independ ently of them. They on Friday, after the burial, probably made that inspection of the tomb, as the preliminary step in their pious offices to the dead (Luke xxiii. 55), which Mary Magdalene and the other Mary seem to have postponed until Sunday morning (Matt. xxviii. r). They were apparently beforehand with them also in their provision of materials for embalming the sacred body ; for St. Luke informs us that they had prepared their spices and unguents beftre the Sabbath-day (xxiii. 56), while it is clear from St. Mark, that the two Marys and Salome only procured their sweet spices, and that by purchase, when the Sabbath was past (xvi. 1). This diversity of circumstances continues throughout the narrative. On the arrival of Joanna and her party at the tomb, after the departure of the other women, they enter the opened sepulchre, not invited by an angel, as their predecessors had been, to behold the evidence of Jesus being alive PEOTE, raETE 1-61Y To7r0V 67rou eKELTO, Matt. xxviii. 6), but intent only on their sad mission of embalming him dead. They found not the Lord's body, and (full proof that they had not seen their friends of Salome's group) were thrown into extreme per plexity. While they were indulging, as was natural, in painful surmises, behold, two angels in human shape stood by them in shining garments. The apparition filled them with fear, and they fell prostrate to the ground. The three first visitors to the sacred vault had been met with comfortable words ; these were accosted by the celestial gards in tones of apparent censure : Why seek ye the living among the dead ?' as if in gentle reproof of their coming to seek for Christ in the tomb, at a time when he had already shewed, or was now shewing himself to some of their companions con queror of the grave. Not to depress them, how ever, with over much sorrow, the angels added the glorious tidings : He is not here, but is risen.' This grand announcement is not received by these faithful women with the strong passion of grief, which the Magdalene had displayed ; nor with the conflicting feelings of fear and joy which had ex cited the timorous hearts of her companions ; but with a sedate and solemn attention which en couraged their heavenly monitors to appeal to their recollection of the past : Remember how he spake unto you, when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' Of all the angelic announcements this most clearly connects the Christ of the resurrection with the Christ of the preceding period. The pious listeners were collected enough to remember the Lord's prediction, and now to comprehend its meaning. We are apt to think that greater dis tinction was put on the other women by Christ in vouchsafing to them his gracious appearances. But may we not discover some compensation for the want of that honour in the case of Joanna and her friends, in the benediction which Christ pro nounced aftenvards to Thomas : Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed ?' Though not expressly sent on the errand like their prede cessors, these excellent persons, having found their Saviour, in the promptitude of their faith returned from the sepulchre, and made apparently (as vvas easy for them in their larger number) a much wider circulation of the wonderful intelligence than the others had the opportunity of doing (Luke xxiv. 9).