John 20:1

John 20:1. But on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth that the stone had been taken away from the sepulchre. Few parts of the Fourth Gospel illustrate better than these words the principle of selection upon which it is composed. They mention Mary Magdalene alone; and yet we learn from her own words in John 20:2, ‘ we know,' that she could not have been alone, that she formed (as indeed we are expressly told by the other Evangelists) one of a group of women who came on the morning of the first day of the week to finish the embalming of the body of Jesus. Again, we here read of ‘the stone taken away from the sepulchre,' though no mention had been made of this stone in the previous narrative. It is obvious that here, as elsewhere, we have to deal not so much with events of full historical detail as with events selected on account of their bearing upon the idea which the Evangelist wishes to illustrate. In the present instance that idea is not the mere fact of the Resurrection of Jesus, but the nature of His post-resurrection state. With this His appearance to Mary Magdalene is closely associated; and hence the Evangelist, omitting all mention of the other women, concerns himself with her alone.

Of Mary, then, we are told that she came to the sepulcher on the first day of the week ‘early,' and ‘when it was yet dark.' Similar expressions are found in the other Gospels: thus Luke speaks of ‘early' (literally ‘deep') ‘dawn,' and Mark (Mark 16:2) records that the women came to the sepulchre ‘very early.' The only difficulty that presents itself here is occasioned by words which follow in the same verse of Mark's Gospel, which state that the sun had risen. The discussion of this difficulty does not belong to this place, and we must content ourselves with mentioning three solutions which have been proposed. (1) That the words of Mark 16:2 are intended only as a general indication of time, at or about sunrise, the rays of dawn being in the sky, but the measure of light still small. (2) That, though the sun had risen, yet haze or cloud obscured its light. (3) That John's reference to the darkness strictly belongs to the time when Mary set forth, not to the time of her arrival, as indeed the words might be rendered ‘Mary is coming to the sepulchre:' compare John 20:3, where we read that Peter and John ‘were coming to,' i.e. they came towards the tomb. It is easy to understand that the writer of the last words in chap. John 13:30 would in thought naturally dwell upon the outward darkness as symbolical of the mental state of Mary and her fellow-disciples.

The stone which had been fitted into the door of the sepulchre had been taken away; and, with-cut observing the particulars which are recorded below (John 20:6-7), Mary hastens to tell what she has seen.