The Garden
This is the first account of the resurrection of Jesus, in the garden by the tomb.
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Horsham: 7th April 2026
In a recent post in this Resurrection Encounters series, we saw Mary Magdalene running from the tomb of Jesus back into the town, seeking the disciples who are taking refuge in fear after the arrest and death of Jesus. As with our own culture, the testimony of a single witness can present us with challenges. The story carries more weight if supported by the testimony of other witnesses.
Luke tells us that when she visited the tomb Mary Magdalene was accompanied by Joanna, Mary, mother of James and some other women (Luke 24:10). Matthew tells us that they were running in both fear and joy (Matthew 28:8-10). Mark tells us that the women were trembling and bewildered (Mark 16:8).
Unfortunately, this was a culture where the testimony of a woman carried little weight, even if her evidence is corroborated by other women. The fact that the experience of these women is even recorded is in itself extraordinary.
We can’t be surprised that Mary cannot grasp the idea of resurrection. All she knows is that she saw the body placed in the tomb, and it is no longer there.
Disciples at the tomb
John tells us that Mary ran to Peter, probably regarded as the leader of the group, who was in hiding with the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ (this phrase appears only in John’s Gospel, and is generally taken to be a reference to John, the son of Zebedee and brother of James (John 20:2).
In John’s account, Peter and John run to the tomb, and discover the grave clothes in which Christ had been wrapped, folded on the bench where the body would have been laid. The detail is important. The cloth which would have been used to wrap the head of Jesus is separately rolled. These grave clothes are the only thing of any value which had been buried with Jesus. Why would robbers take the body and leave them? They are utterly confounded by the empty tomb. They wander off, heading home in consternation, leaving the women weeping close to the tomb.
Mary at the Tomb
Mary Magdalene, possibly with some of the other women, had followed Peter and John back to the tomb. Understandably in despair because of the events of the last few days, it’s again perfectly natural that Mary stays by the tomb after the men have left.
She is distraught. Inconsolable. In her brokenness she becomes aware of two angels in the tomb. ‘Woman. Why are you weeping?’ Again, her response feels like an entirely natural. ‘They have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they have laid him.’ There is no fear in her response. In her desperation does she recognise these as angels. Does she then become aware that someone is standing close to her?
The Gardener
The text says simply that she then turned and found a man in front of her who she did not recognise. It is a feature of the first resurrection encounters that people don’t recognise the risen Jesus. Of course, Mary isn’t expecting to see Jesus, but surely she would recognise him? The fact that she doesn’t adds weight to her story.
‘If you were making this story up now, to convince people in 50 years time that the story was true, you would surely have people recognise the person who had appeared at their side.’ CS Lewis: Miracles
The tomb is in a garden, close to Golgotha, so it is not unreasonable for her first thought to be that this is the gardener. The tomb belongs to Simon of Arimathea, a wealthy member of the Jewish community. It’s not unreasonable for her to question whether Simon had offered his tomb as a temporary resting place over the sabbath, intending to move it to a permanent resting place somewhere else. ‘if you have carried him away, show me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’
Resurrection
At this moment in the story, I sense a pause. A silence. Mary bowed at the feet of the gardener – the gardener silent before Mary. One word breaks the silence. ‘Mary.’
Mary looks up in surprise, first because the gardener has used her name. She still kneels at the feet of the gardener as she lifts her tear stained face, perhaps expecting to find someone who works in the garden who she has met before. What she sees is breathtaking. The enormity of this moment is indescribable. Here before her is Jesus. The one she had seen crucified. The one she had seen laid in that tomb, standing before her, looking very much alive. She reaches out to touch his feet. ‘Do not touch me, because I have not yet returned to the Father.’ Every Christian teacher longs to know exactly what else was said during this encounter. Jesus sends her, Mary Magdalene, to the disciples with the message of the resurrection.
At the end of the last post we saw Mary running back to the disciples in fear. This time, the second time she has made this journey, surely she is overwhelmed with joy.
Rational response of the Disciples
The Jewish leaders have just arranged the brutal execution of Jesus. It stands to reason that they will next look for his followers, the eleven disciples, to arrest and dispose of them. Without doubt, this band of brothers are hiding in one or more safe houses in Jerusalem. I imagine Peter, John, and perhaps the other nine, huddled together trying to work out the conundrum of the empty tomb. Their responses would almost certainly be rational. The body has been moved. The body has been stolen. Resurrection would be discounted. Such things don’t happen.
And then in bursts Mary Magdalene. ‘I have seen the Lord.’
The response of the disciples is not recorded. Mary is a woman. One woman. One very distressed, visibly emotional woman. She was part of the group, and loved by Jesus, but her testimony would not be admissible in court – it is not valid. Did they believe her? In their place, would you have believed her?
Probably not.
‘[the words of the women] seemed an idle tale, and they did not believe them.’ (Luke 24:11)
End Piece
In the culture of first century Palestine, the testimony of a woman was regarded as being of little value. In a sense, it is perhaps surprising that the accounts of the women are even included in the Gospels. The fact that we have this record tells us that by the time they came to be written, this testimony was absolutely believed by the Gospel writers.
There is something incredibly special that the first fully recorded appearance of the risen Christ was not to the disciples. It was to women who followed Jesus.