20:15,16
So Jesus spoke to her, and as He often did He asked her questions. Why are you crying? Who are you looking for? Of course, she actually had no need to cry and the one she was looking for was right there before her. For God had done a most wonderful thing, and something He had said He would do. There are times when we are in distress but there is no need to be, for what we think is a disaster actually isn’t. God has done something more wonderful than we ever imagined.
Mary thought it was the gardener. In addition to what I said on the earlier verse we must also remember that she may well not have looked into the face of the man who was there. Mary offered to go and bring the body back to what she thought was its rightful place.
Jesus then spoke her name, and at that point she realised who He was, she recognised His voice (John 10:3). Rabboni is a strengthened form of the term Rabbi, meaning teacher. Jesus had taught them beforehand about His death and resurrection, but they failed to understand any of it. Mary now realised what a wonderful teacher Jesus was.
20:17
“Do not hold on to me.” Given the enormous relief there would have been in Mary there would have been a tremendous temptation to want to hold on to Jesus, but she must not do so. Earlier Jesus had said that He had to go to the Father so that the Holy Spirit could be sent. The resurrection did not happen just to prove Jesus was alive, it was one step along the way. There was work to be done! So Mary had to go to the disciples. Note that Jesus calls them His brothers. The cross and resurrection is not just about proving how great God is, though of course it does that. It is about involving us in His plans, about us becoming the people God intended us to be. “My Father and your Father, my God and your God”. Jesus is stressing the similarity between our relationship with the Father now and His relationship with the Father. We are to seek to live as Jesus lived on earth, walking in fellowship with the Father.
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