Why are you weeping? (John 20:11-18) 230907
Empty tomb.
Broken hope.
Weeping Mary.
I can almost feel the sense of lost Mary was going through. She had put her faith, her hope and her whole being in Jesus. And then He was gone, left behind only an empty tomb, a broken hope and a weeping Mary (v11). Perhaps that was the only thing she could do at that moment. But she might not know why was she weeping.
When the two angels asked her why was she weeping, Mary thought that someone had taken away her Lord and she did not know where they had laid Him (v13). She didn’t even know who might have taken Jesus away. She was at a lost, all she knew was to weep. Therefore, Jesus asked her again Himself, why was she weeping (v15)? And obviously, she cannot recognize the Lord until Jesus called her name (v16).
What puzzled me for years was the words of Jesus here: Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God." (v17)
Mary was weeping because she lost her Lord, but why Jesus replied her about His ascend? And wasn’t it confusing when Jesus said He has not yet ascended and then asked Mary to tell His brethren that He ascended? I am confused. Perhaps the original Greek gives a better explanation here. The first ‘ascend’ is in perfect tense which speak of the state of the verb till the point of speech and the second ‘ascend’ is in present tense which means that action is in a state of continuing to happen from the point of speech. Therefore, a better translation in our modern English for the second ‘ascend’ could be ‘am ascending’.
Again I am not showing off my Greek, I am just taking the opportunity to understand sometime that I have been confused about. Anyway, the words of Jesus turned weeping Mary to an announcer of Jesus resurrection (v18). The word of the Lord turned an empty tomb to a glorious place, a broken hope to a complete joy and a weeping Mary to a happy messenger.
Why are you weeping? Turn to the word of God. You can find hope, joy and strength there. Recently, I am walking through a crisis with one of my family member. Discouragement led to disillusion led to depression led to weeping. No words of man can wipe away those tears, only the Word of God. No amount of counseling skill I possess comfort me, only the Word of God can strengthen me to go on with her.
Why are you weeping? There are tears and words. I choose the Word as I tear, how about you? Are you weeping? Why are you weeping?
HHS…
Abel…
