John 20:14

And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. AND WHEN SHE HAD THUS SAID, SHE TURNED HERSELF BACK, AND SAW JESUS STANDING, AND KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS JESUS....

14._And seeth Jesus standing _It may be asked, Whence arose this mistake, that Mary does not recognize Jesus, with whom she must have been intimately acquainted? Some think that he appeared in a different form, but I think that the fault lay rather in the eyes of the women, as Luke (Luke 24:16) says of the two disciples, _their eyes were withheld from knowing him _We will not say, therefore, that Christ was continually assuming new shapes, like _Proteus _(197) but that it is in the power of God, who gave eyes to men, to lessen their sharpness of vision whenever he thinks proper, that _seeing they may not see. _ In Mary we have an example of the mistakes into which the human mind frequently falls. Though Christ presents himself to our view, yet we imagine that he assumes various shapes, so that our senses conceive of any thing ra

11-18 We are likely to seek and find, when we seek with affection, and seek in tears. But many believers complain of the clouds and darkness they are under, which are methods of grace for humbling their souls, mortifying their sins, and endearing Christ to them. A sight of angels and their smiles, will not suffice, without a sight of Jesus, and God's smiles in him. None know, but those who have tasted it, the sorrows of a deserted soul, which has had comfortable evidences of the love of God in Christ, and hopes of heaven, but has now lost them, and walks in darkness; such a wounded spirit who can bear? Christ, in manifesting himself to those that seek him, often outdoes their expectations. See how Mary's heart was in earnest to find Jesus. Christ's way of making himself known to his people is by his word; his word applied to their souls, speaking to them in particular. It might be read,...

Verse John 20:14. _SHE TURNED HERSELF BACK_] Or, εστραφη εις τα οπισω, _she_ _was turned back_, i.e. to go again with the other women to Jerusalem, who had already departed; but she had not as yet gone so far as to be out of the garden. _KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS JESUS_] John has here omitted what the angels said to the women, about Christ's being risen; probably because it was so particularly related by the other evangelists: Matthew 28:5; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:5. Mary was so absorbed in grief that she paid but little attention to the person of our Lord, and therefore did not at first discern it to be him; nor

KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS JESUS - She was not expecting to see him. It was yet also twilight, and she could not see distinctly....

EXPOSITION JOHN 20:1 2. The complete glorification of Jesus in his resurrection. The record pauses for the awful day of that great sabbath, and resumes the marvelous recital when the greatest event in the history of the world is assumed and asserted to have taken place. Heathen and foes admit the fact of the death of Jesus; the evidence is overwhelming, multiform, sufficient to establish itself to the ordinary reason of mankind. It is a matter of indubitable history. The proof was given to all the world; but it is otherwise with the fact of the anastasis of Jesus. That stupendous event was revealed to the eye and mind of faith by a series of communications, which afford to different classes, groups, kinds, and states of mind specimens of the manner and quality of the resurrection-life. "Many infallible proofs" wrought (as St. Luke says,...

AND WHEN SHE HAD THUS SAID,.... As soon as the words were out of her mouth, before she could have an answer from the angels: SHE TURNED HERSELF BACK; perceiving, either by the looks and gesture of one of the angels, or by hearing a noise, that somebody was behind her: AND SAW JESUS STANDING, AND KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS JESUS; she saw a person, but did not know who he was, by reason of the form of his appearance, the difference of his clothes, and not expecting to see him alive; or through modesty, she might not look wistfully at him; and besides, her eyes were filled with tears, and swollen with weeping; so that she could not see clearly; and her eyes might be holden also, as the disciples were, that as yet she might not know him: so sometimes, in a spiritual sense, Christ is with, and near his people, and they know it not: Christ, as God, is omnipresent; he is every where, and in all pla...

John 20:1. _The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher._ Her love for her Lord made her rise early, and helped her to overcome the fear which would have prevented many from going out "when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher." There are fears which some cannot shake off in the dark, and those fears would be apt to become intensified in going to a sepulcher in the dark; but love wakes early to try to find Christ, and love can see in the dark when looking for Jesus. Mary little expected to find the tomb of Jesus rifled, and the stone rolled away; she was so surprised at what she saw that she hurried away to tell the story to other friends of her Lord. John 20:2. Then she runneth, and cometh t

CHAPTER 20 _ 1. The Empty Sepulchre. (John 20:1 .)_ 2. The Risen One and Mary of Magdala. (John 20:11 .) 3. The Gathered Company and He in the midst. (John 20:19 .) 4. The Second Time. (John 20:24 .) 5. The Purpose of John's Record. (John 20:30 .) “I lay down my life that I might take it up again.” The sufferings were accomplished. The Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep and now we learn how He arose from the dead. John 2:19 was fulf

JESUS AND MARY. Mary has apparently followed the two disciples back to the tomb. After their departure she looks in, and sees a vision of angels (_cf._ Luke 24:4 ff.). Her thoughts are still full of the removal of the body, as her answer to the supposed gardener also shows. As usual, there is no expectation of the event that follows. It is only the pronunciation of her own name that reveals Jesus-' identity. Her attempt to offer worship is forbidden on the ground that He has not yet entered into His glory (_cf._ Matthew 28:9). Perhaps John 20:17 means that the old relations are no longer possible, and the time for the newer and more spiritual communion is not yet. The message to the brethren is so worded as to emphasize the