John 20:11-18 meaning

The parallel Gospel account of John 20:11-18 is Mark 16:9-11.

In John 20:11-18, Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Jesus outside the tomb, recognizes Him when He calls her by name, and is sent to announce His resurrection to the disciples.

This is Jesus's first resurrection appearance.

Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9).

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus's most devoted followers. Jesus had delivered her from the oppression of seven demons (Luke 8:2, Mark 16:9). She became one of the women who faithfully accompanied Him throughout His ministry. Along with Joanna, Susanna, and many other women, Mary helped support Jesus and His disciples out of her own financial resources (Luke 8:1-3).

She remained loyal to Jesus when many others abandoned Him. Mary witnessed His crucifixion (Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41, John 19:25), observed where His body was buried (Matthew 27:61, Mark 15:47, Luke 23:55-56), came to His tomb before dawn on the first day of the week (John 20:1), and she would soon became the first person to whom the risen Lord appeared (John 20:11-18).

Mary was called "Magdalene" because she came from the city of Magdala, a prosperous town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Archaeological excavations have discovered that first-century Magdala had two-synagogues which indicate its material prosperity. While the Bible does not describe Mary's personal financial status, it does identify her as one of the women who materially supported Jesus's ministry (Luke 8:1-3). Her hometown and her ability to contribute financially suggest that she likely possessed meaningful resources which she willingly devoted to the Lord's work.

Jesus honored Mary by appearing to her first. He honored a woman who devoted her time and resources to His work. The fact that she appears first in the listing of His financial supporters in Luke 8:1-3 might indicate that she was His largest financial donor. God promises to honor anything that is done in His name (Colossians 3:23-24). But there are specific promises for those who honor God with their financial resources.

• Luke 6:38: Jesus promises He will return benefit for those who serve Him by giving.
• Matthew 19:21 and 19:29 promise that those who sacrifice for Jesus's work will gain a hundredfold in return.
• 1 Timothy 6:18-19 promises that those who are "rich in good works" and "generous and ready to share" will be "storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed."
• 2 Corinthians 9:6:11 Paul exhorts the believers to whom he writes to be generous in sharing their resources with those who minister the gospel to them and says that if they sow bountifully in this manner they will also reap bountifully.

It could be that in honoring Mary Magdalene by appearing to her first, Jesus was underscoring this principle. It is clear from Mary's devotion that her support of Jesus was a manifestation of her faith.

In John 20:1-2, John described the events surrounding the discovery of Jesus's empty tomb on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb alone while it was still dark (John 20:1). Seeing that the stone had already been taken away, she assumed that Jesus's body had been removed. Without entering the tomb, she immediately ran to report her discovery to Peter and John (John 20:2).

Meanwhile, the other women arrived at the tomb after sunrise, entered it, encountered angels who announced that Jesus had risen from the dead, and then hurried away to report the resurrection to the disciples (Matthew 28:5-8, Mark 16:2-8, Luke 24:1-9).

After hearing Mary's report that Jesus's body was missing and then hearing the other women's report about the empty tomb and angels (Luke 24:10-11), Peter and John ran to the tomb to investigate for themselves (John 20:3, Luke 24:12a). John arrived first and looked inside but waited outside until Peter entered the tomb (John 20:4-6). They examined the empty tomb and found the linen wrappings and the facecloth that had covered Jesus's body lying there, but Jesus Himself was gone (John 20:6-7).

The evidence inside the tomb convinced John that Jesus had risen from the dead, even though neither he nor Peter yet understood the Old Testament Scriptures that foretold the Messiah's resurrection (John 20:8-9).

Having completed their investigation of the empty tomb, Peter and John returned to the place where they were staying in Jerusalem (John 20:10, Luke 24:12b). They had not yet seen the risen Jesus, nor had they encountered the angels who had appeared to the other women earlier that morning (Mark 16:5-8, Luke 24:4-7).

Mary Magdalene, however, had apparently returned to the tomb after she reported to Peter and John. She may have gone with them or followed them there. After the two disciples departed, she either remained or re-arrived at the tomb. It is at this point that John resumes his account of what happened at the tomb that morning.

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping (v 11a).

The Mary is Mary Magdalene, who first visited the tomb by herself that morning (John 20:1).

The conjunction But contrasts Mary's actions with the actions of Peter and John. They "went away again to their own homes" (John 20:10) once they saw that the tomb was empty. But Mary remained at the tomb, standing outside of it.

John says that she was weeping.

The Greek word translated weeping is κλαίω (G2799—pronounced: "klai-ō"). "Klaiō" describes crying aloud, lamenting, or expressing deep sorrow with tears. The word is used in the New Testament for intense grief, mourning over death, or bitter emotional anguish (Matthew 2:18, Luke 7:13, Acts 9:39).

Mary's weeping was the overflow of her grief over Jesus's death and what she believed was the disappearance of His body. Three days earlier, she had watched Him brutally die on the cross and she witnessed His burial. Now she believed that even His corpse had been taken away. Overwhelmed by sorrow, confusion, and disappointment, Mary stood outside the tomb weeping because she believed she had lost every remaining opportunity to honor her Lord whom she loved by anointing His corpse with spices. Now she was robbed of even that final moment with Him.

It is ironic that Mary was weeping outside the tomb because Jesus's body was not inside the tomb (v 13). This is ironic because Mary loved Jesus and wished that He were alive—and indeed He was alive even though she did not know it. She was standing outside the tomb weeping because His body was not where she thought it was supposed to be. Apparently, Mary also did not yet understand that Jesus must rise from death (John 20:9). Mary seems to have misassumed that Jesus's enemies had secretly stolen His corpse which prevented her from honoring Him by preparing it for burial.

and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb (v 11b).

The expression and so is a transition from what Mary started out doing at the tomb—standing and weeping outside it—to what she did next. She then stooped and looked into the tomb (v 11).

To stoop means to duck or lower one's head, or even to bend down. John says that as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb (v 11). Just as John stooped to look inside the tomb (John 20:5) and Peter stooped to look inside it (Luke 24:12) so also did Mary. The fact that the Bible specifies that at least three people stooped as they looked into the tomb may indicate that its entrance was cut low and was shorter than a typical doorway. This is consistent with the first-century tombs discovered near the traditional location of the tomb where Jesus was buried.

Mary looked into the tomb (v 11).

It seems that up to this point, Mary had not yet looked inside the tomb. Mary Magdalene did not look into or enter the tomb when she first came when it was dark (John 20:1-2). She does not seem to have been with the women when they arrived and entered the tomb after the sun had risen (Mark 16:2-7, Luke 24:1-7). And she did not seem to have looked into or enter the tomb when John and Peter did (John 20:3-10). But now as she wept, Mary looked into the tomb.

Perhaps Mary looked into the tomb to see for herself what the other followers of Jesus had seen. Perhaps, hoping against hope, she was double-checking to make certain that Jesus’s body really was not gone and that her friends had somehow overlooked it.

But she did not see the body of Jesus when she looked into the tomb. John tells us what Mary saw, instead:

And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying (v 12).

Mary saw two angels who were dressed in white and sitting inside the tomb.

Angels are spiritual beings. These two angels were spiritual beings who served God. (Demons are spiritual beings who rebelled with Satan against God).

These angels were not present (or at least not visible) when Peter and John entered the tomb earlier that morning. They only saw the discarded linen and rolled up face-cloth lying there (John 20:6-7). But now Mary saw the two angels as she now looked inside the tomb.

Even though this is John's first mentioning of angels, it is possible (if not likely) that the two angels whom Mary saw were also the same two angels whom the women saw when they entered the tomb before Peter and John ran to the tomb (Luke 24:1-10, John 20:3-4).

The first detail John describes about these angels is that they were in white. This description could mean that the angels' clothing or appearance was the color white. That they were in white could be John's way of describing the brilliant radiance of the two angels' appearance. Or the expression in white could mean both the color white and radiating light.

When Mark described the young man's (the angel's) appearance when the group of women entered the tomb earlier, he wrote the angel was "sitting at the right, wearing a white robe" (Mark 16:5).

Similarly, when Luke described the appearance of the two men (angels) who greeted the group of women inside Jesus's tomb, he said they "suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing" (Luke 24:4).

As will become apparent in her response, though Mary saw these two angels in white, she did not seem to immediately notice that they were angels. The fact that Mary did not instantly notice that they were angels—as people often did when they encountered them (Daniel 8:15-17, 10:5-9 Luke 1:11-13, Luke 2:9-10, Revelation 22:8-9)—might indicate that the angels were not shining or radiant or it might indicate that she was so distraught in her moment of despair and weeping that their apparent angelic identity was unnoticed by her.

In either case it seems as though it was only after the fact that it registered that the two people Mary saw inside the tomb were angels. The two angels were sitting, which might suggest that they were relaxed and patiently waiting.

The place that the two angels were sitting inside the tomb was where the body of Jesus had been lying (v 12). Three days earlier, Mary Magdalene had seen exactly where Jesus's body had been laid to rest, because she was present and likely helped with His hasty burial before the Sabbath began (Matthew 27:61, Mark 15:47, Luke 23:55-56).

Mary saw that one angel was sitting at the place where Jesus's head was when His body was lying in the tomb, and one angel was sitting at the place where Jesus's feet were at when He was in the tomb.

And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" (v 13a).

One or both angels addressed Mary as: "Woman." In Mary's ancient Jewish culture, addressing a female as "Woman" was a term of respect, similar to "ma'am." The angels also may have addressed Mary as woman because she was a human and they were angelic beings.

The angels asked Mary why she was weeping. Mary answered the angels' question.

She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him" (v 13b).

The word Because indicates that what follows in Mary's reply is in direct response to the angels' question. Mary directly tells the angels that the reason she is weeping is because she thinks Jesus's enemies have taken away His body, frustrating her plans to honor His burial.

Her response was similar to what she told Peter and John after she returned from seeing the empty tomb earlier that morning. Mary told Peter and John:

"They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
(John 20:2)

As was the case in John 20:2, the pronoun they in Mary's reply is indefinite. They likely refers to Jesus's enemies—the religious leaders of the Jews (the chief priests, elders, and scribes) and/or the Roman officials.

Mary refers to Jesus as my Lord, which indicates that Mary followed Jesus as a Rabbi and/or that she believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

It would have been unusual for a Jewish rabbi in Jesus's day to have female disciples who followed him as his disciples, but Jesus disregarded these cultural norms and had several women disciples who followed Him, learned from Him, and supported His ministry (Mark 15:40-41, Luke 8:1-3).

Again, Mary's response to the angels' question demonstrates how she mistakenly assumed that Jesus's enemies have taken away the dead body of her Lord. In reality, they have not taken Him away. Something far more wonderful than what she feared had happened.

John writes what Mary did as or immediately after she said to the angels sitting inside the tomb: "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him" (v 13).

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus (v 14).

Mary turned around (and likely stood up) from stooping down and looking into the tomb after she told the angels why she was weeping. And when she turned around she saw a person standing there.

John immediately tells us that this person was Jesus—but that Mary did not recognize or know that it was Jesus. John implements dramatic irony in his narrative when he reveals that it was Jesus whom Mary saw but that she did not know that it was Jesus (v 14).

Dramatic irony is a literary device in which the reader knows something important that a figure in the narrative does not know. This difference in knowledge creates tension and anticipation as the reader watches the figure act without realizing the truth.

It is ironic that Mary has been and is looking frantically for any sign of Jesus, but she did not recognize Him even as He was now standing in front of her.

John also layers situational irony in his account of this moment.

Situational irony is a literary device in which the outcome of an event is the opposite of what would normally be expected. The contrast between expectation and reality emphasizes the significance of what has occurred and draws attention to deeper truth.

It is ironic that Mary was looking for Jesus's dead body inside the tomb (which is normally where dead people's corpses are) but instead Jesus is alive and outside the tomb.

Mary did not recognize Jesus because of her incorrect assumption that His body was stolen away. It may be that her false assumptions prevented her from recognizing the plain reality that He was now standing before her. It is also possible that Jesus in His glorified state was sufficiently different in appearance such that He was not immediately noticed. It could also be that His healed appearance was so dramatically different from what He looked like as He was crucified (after being brutally beaten and abused) that she did not recognize Him. It could be all of these things, and perhaps other factors.

John's remark that Mary did not know that it was Jesus may be an intentional callback to the larger irony John first mentioned in his prologue, when he wrote of Jesus:

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him."
(John 1:10-11)

John's description of Mary's failure to recognize her Lord is a brief but symbolic example of the larger misrecognition of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God by the Jewish leaders and those who supported them in seeking Jesus's crucifixion.

Just as Mary personally knew Jesus as one of His followers and she was frantically looking for any sign of Him and yet she did not know Him when she first saw Him, so too did the Jews who knew the Scriptures of the coming Messiah and were avidly searching for Him fail to recognize the Messiah when Jesus lived among them (John 1:10). And neither did the world recognize its Creator when He became flesh and dwelt among them (John 1:10, 1:14).

Mary's mistake is an example of how easy it is for anyone, even one His closest disciples, to see Jesus and not recognize that it is Him. John does not want his readers to make this mistake. John wants his reader to see Jesus and believe in Him and to know Him so that we can experience eternal life (John 1:12, 17:3, 20:30-31).

From Mary's perspective, as she turned around, the main thing that she recognized was that there was suddenly a person standing before her who was not there a moment earlier. This person's presence seems to have been unexpected. Mary may have been surprised to see anyone there when she turned around. From her perspective, this person must have approached her while she was looking into the tomb and talking with the two angels.

As we will soon see, Mary supposed this person was the caretaker of the garden where Jesus's tomb was located (v 15). But if Mary was surprised to see a person suddenly standing in front of her she was unfazed by His presence even as this Person began speaking with her.

The first recorded words of the risen Jesus are two questions of comfort.

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" (v 15a).

Jesus addressed Mary with the same culturally respectful address that the angels used to address her: "Woman," which is the cultural equivalent of "ma'am."

The first question asked of Mary was the same question the angels asked her: "why are you weeping?" This question is a question of consolation; it is a question designed to redirect Mary to the reality of His resurrection.

As a question of comfort, why are you weeping invited Mary to express her sorrow aloud and thereby share her grief with another person. Sorrows often seem heavier and unresolvable when they are murky and unnamed. Sometimes when our troubles are rightly identified, they become less heavy because they are made specific. Furthermore, when others are willing to know our troubles, they are letting us know that we are not alone and we do not have to hold them on our own. They will help us carry them and thereby lighten the heaviness of the burden.

Jesus was consoling Mary when He asked her: "why do you weep?" Jesus was also redirecting Mary toward the truth when He asked her this question.

He knew that Mary was weeping because she thought that He was dead and His body was stolen away. But Jesus was not dead and He was right in front of her. Jesus knew that Mary did not have a true cause to weep and that her weeping would instantly melt into joy the moment she got out of her false assumptions and into reality.

In this sense, Jesus's question could be understood: "Why are you weeping, ma’am, when you should be rejoicing?"

Jesus's question why are you weeping is a consolation and a gentle redirection from what is false toward what is true.

The second question Jesus asked Mary was: "Whom are you seeking?" This question was a more concrete question with a potentially more definite answer. It was also a new question Mary had not been asked since she discovered the empty tomb.

But this second question logically followed—why do you weep? It helped Mary focus on who exactly she was looking for. She had earlier said "they have taken Jesus's body away," but who exactly were "they"?

• Was Mary seeking the religious leaders?
• Was she seeking the Roman soldiers who were charged with guarding the tomb?
• Was she seeking the Roman Governor, Pilate, or the chief priest, Caiaphas?
• Was Mary seeking Jesus's body as He was dead?
• Or was she seeking the living Lord as He was now?

Mary would have an easier time finding what she was seeking, if she knew whom she was searching for.

It is ironic that Jesus was the both the person whom Mary was seeking, and He was the person who was asking her, whom do you seek? And it was ironic that Mary did not know that it was Him who was asking her these questions.

Even after Jesus asked Mary these questions, she still did not know that it was Him.

Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away" (v 15b).

Even though Mary did not know that it was Jesus when He first approached her, she seemed to recognize that He was an authority figure. She supposed that Jesus was the gardener.

John previously told us that Jesus's tomb was located in a garden (John 19:41). A garden must have a gardener, otherwise it will be wild and untamed, and therefore not a garden. The gardener would have been the steward who managed and kept the garden.

There is a symbolic irony in Mary's assumption that Jesus was the gardener. Mary intended the term gardener in its ordinary sense—a caretaker of the garden surrounding the tomb. But her supposing was truer than she realized, because in a larger sense, Jesus was The True Gardener.

Jesus was the gardener both as the Creator of the universe and as the second Adam.

• Jesus was the Creator who made all things (John 1:2-3, 1:10a, Colossians 1:16) and who sustains all things in creation (Colossians 1:17).

• Jesus is the second or last Adam. When the Son of God became human, He assumed humanity's role as a steward over Creation that God originally gave to Adam when He placed him in the garden to cultivate and keep it (Genesis 2:15). As the new and better Adam, Jesus was the gardener who would be a faithful steward to cultivate and keep God's creation. Jesus was the new and better gardener who came to restore God’s creation from the damage of sin (Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-47).

John's inclusion of Mary's assumption that Jesus was the gardener has a double meaning.

Mary means the literal person assigned to take care of the garden, while John intends his readers to recognize that Jesus truly is the gardener who has come to restore God's creation. By including Mary's assumption that Jesus was the gardener, John connects his account of the resurrection with his theme of "new creation" that runs throughout his entire Gospel narrative (John 1:1-3, 2:1-11, 3:3-8, 4:10-14, 5:1-9, 6:32-35, 9:1-7, 11:25-44, 19:41, 20:1, 22). Paul asserts that all who believe are made new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

It is apparent from the context that Mary was not thinking of Jesus as the divine gardener or the new Adam in this moment when she supposed that Jesus was the gardener. She was supposing that Jesus was the simple gardener tasked with managing the garden property around the tomb. And Mary reasoned that this gardener's position possibly granted him knowledge of who took Jesus's body out of the tomb and/or to where His body might have been relocated.

In John 19:41, John had identified that the tomb where Jesus was laid was located in a garden. The garden was owned by Joseph of Arimathea, who was a wealthy man (Matthew 27:57-60). It was reasonable to presume that the garden of a wealthy man would be tended by a gardener.

She said to the supposed gardener: "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away" (v 17).

Mary addressed the supposed gardener with respect. She addressed him as "Sir."

The Greek word translated as Sir is κύριε (G2962—pronounced "koo-ree-eh"). "Kurie" is the vocative (direct address) form of the noun κύριος ("kurios"), which means "lord," "master," "owner," or "sir." These are all generic ways "kurios"/"kurie" was typically used.

In the New Testament, "kurios"/"kurie" is most often translated as "Lord" because it refers to God and/or Jesus as the Messiah/Son of God. As with every term, context determines how "kurios" is used and therefore should be translated.

When "kurios"/"kurie" refers to God or to Jesus as the divine Messiah, it is appropriately translated "Lord" (see John 20:2, 13, 18, 20, 25, 28).

"Kurie" is correctly translated as Sir because even though Mary is using "kurie" in the generic sense to address Jesus, she mistakenly supposed Jesus was the gardener and she is not addressing Him according to His divine nature or Messianic person. Mary respectfully addressed Him as Sir, not yet realizing that she was speaking to the risen Lord.

After addressing Jesus as "Sir", Mary makes a conditional request of Him: if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him.

Mary's request all but presumes that this supposed gardener had participated in the removal of Jesus's body.

The condition of her request—if you have carried Him away—suggests that she thought that this gardener might have removed Jesus's body from the tomb or at least had knowledge of who did remove Him and where Jesus was carried away to.

Her request is operative only if in fact the premise is true, that the gardener had, in fact, removed His body. Mary then says why she wants to know where Jesus's body is and she explains what she will do if the gardener would tell her these things: and I will take Him away.

Her promise to take Jesus's body back reveals Mary's devotion to Jesus. It also reveals her intense focus on honoring Jesus's body in burial.

If the gardener really did secretly relocate Jesus's body, it would have been highly unlikely for him to reveal the secret and have his work undone. And the gardener would be less likely to reveal these things if the order to take Jesus's body away from the tomb came from the Sanhedrin and/or the Roman governor. Recognizing that pleading with the gardener was her only hope, Mary simply made her request and threw herself upon his mercy.

The "gardener" then responded to Mary in the way she least expected.

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" (v 16a).

Jesus personally revealed Himself to Mary. He did not reveal Himself to Mary with a lengthy explanation of prophecy—as He did with two of His disciples (Luke 24:13-32). Jesus revealed Himself to Mary by simply called her name: "Mary!"

At that moment, every false assumption, every fearful conclusion, every anxious thought, and every tear that had clouded her understanding instantly gave way to the joyful reality (John 16:20-22). The Lord whom she watched be killed and buried was alive! The corpse which she believed had been stolen away was now a living person, standing before her, and calling her by name.

Exactly what aspect of Jesus's calling Mary by her name triggered her recognition of Him is unclear. It may have been the fact that "the gardener" knew her name; or it may have been the familiar sound of His voice that broke through Mary's grief and opened her eyes to recognize Him. What is apparent is that it was Jesus who triggered Mary's recognition to the truth.

Jesus had previously described Himself as the Good Shepherd who "calls his own sheep by name" and whose sheep recognize and follow His voice (John 10:3-4, 27). Now, the Good Shepherd called one of His own sheep by name, and Mary immediately knew that it was her Lord.

The tension that had been building throughout John's resurrection account is released in a single word—"Mary!"—as sorrow is transformed into joy, misunderstanding into recognition, and the grief of death into the hope of resurrection life.

Jesus the Man, whom Mary watched be killed and buried, whose body she thought was missing, was standing before her, unmistakably alive!

She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher) (v 16b).

Mary's recognition of Jesus was instant. Her immediate response to hearing Jesus call her by name was to turn fully toward Him and exclaim: "Rabboni!"

John tells us that Mary spoke to Jesus in Hebrew.

Hebrew was the language of the Scriptures and the Law. It was part of the cultural identity of the Jews. Most Jews likely knew at least some Hebrew. Aramaic was the common language of Jesus's day used by Jews in their marketplaces and homes. It was brought back from their exile in Babylon. Aramaic and Hebrew are similar languages.

It is likely that all of Mary's conversations that morning with Peter and John (John 20:2), the two angels ( v 13), and "the gardener" (v 15) were also conducted in Hebrew and/or Aramaic.

John wrote His Gospel account in Greek, which was the common language used throughout the Roman Empire. Church tradition holds that John spent many of his later years teaching the church in the Greek city of Ephesus. He likely wrote in Greek to reach a wider audience. Because John wrote in Greek and Jesus and the Jews primarily spoke in Hebrew and/or Aramaic, most quotations and dialogue in his Gospel are translations from their original Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek.

To learn more about these languages, see The Bible Says article: "The Four Languages of Jesus's Judea."

Occasionally, John preserves the original Hebrew/Aramaic term when it is especially significant or memorable and/or it communicates something that a simple Greek translation cannot fully capture. Other examples of these Hebrew moments in John’s Gospel include:

• Messiah—"which translated means Christ"
  (John 1:41)

• Cephas—"which is translated Peter"
  (John 1:42)

• Siloam—"which is translated, Sent"
  (John 9:7)

• Gabbatha—"the Pavement"
  (John 19:13)

• Golgotha—"the Place of a Skull"
  (John 19:17)

These Hebrew moments convey a richer meaning than a simple translation. They also add historical authenticity to John's Gospel. By occasionally preserving the actual words and places and names that were spoken in Judea rather than translating everything into Greek, John writes like an eyewitness recalling real events.

John was there for these moments and he saw them with his own eyes and heard them with his own ears (John 21:24, 1 John 1:1). These preserved Hebrew expressions function much like remembered quotations in a personal testimony, allowing his readers to hear echoes of the very words that were spoken on those unforgettable occasions.

"Rabboni!" captures Mary's genuine surprise and astonishment the moment she recognized Jesus.

John then translates Rabboni for his Greek readers in a parenthetical comment: (which means, Teacher).

The Greek word ῥαββουνί (G4462—pronounced "rahb-boo-NEE"). Rabboni is a form of the word "rabbi." Rabboni expresses deep honor, affection, and respect. While rabbi means "my teacher," Rabboni carries the sense of "my great teacher" or "my honored Master."

Jesus was a Rabbi.

In first-century Israel, a rabbi was a respected teacher, especially one who instructed others in the Scriptures and the Law. John translates "Rabbi" as Teacher (John 1:38). A rabbi gathered disciples who followed him, listened to his teaching, and learned to live according to his instruction.

Jesus fit this description because He taught the Scriptures in synagogues (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 13:54, Mark 1:21-22, 39, 6:2, Luke 4:15-21, John 6:59), and He taught in the temple  (Matthew 21:23, Mark 12:35, Luke 19:47, 20:1, 21:37-38, John 7:14, 28, 8:2, 20, 18:20). Jesus had a group of followers, whom He called and trained and commissioned to proclaim His teachings to others (Matthew 4:18-22, 10:1-7). People called Jesus, "Rabbi" (John 1:49, 3:2, 6:25).

However, Jesus was unlike other Jewish rabbis because He taught with His own authority rather than merely appealing to the authority of earlier teachers (Matthew 7:28-29, Mark 1:22, John 13:13). Jesus was greater than all rabbis and prophets because He was the Messiah and Son of God.

By exclaiming "Rabboni!", Mary recognized that the supposed gardener was Jesus—her beloved and honored Master who had called her by name. Mary's response expressed not only her astonishment that Jesus was alive, but it also demonstrated the deep affection, reverence, and devotion she bore toward Jesus the great Teacher whom she followed.

"Rabboni!" was an incredibly apt expression, for in this title Mary proclaimed that the risen Jesus was still her great Teacher and her Lord.

Apparently in her sudden and unexpected joy, Mary rushed to Jesus and began to tightly embrace Him.

Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…" (v 17a).

Jesus's command for Mary to "Stop clinging to Me" indicates that Mary had taken tight hold of Jesus and was continuing to hold onto Him. Jesus was her beloved Rabboni whom she had seen be killed and buried and thought was taken away from her. Mary may have been clinging to Jesus as if to never lose Him again.

Jesus playfully recognizes Mary's joy, when He said to her: "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father." He is in effect saying, "You can let go of Me, because I am not going anywhere right now and I will be here with you a while longer. I am not ascending to My Father in heaven yet."

Jesus was telling the truth. He would remain on earth for another forty days, teaching His disciples (Acts 1:3), before He ascended to the Father (Mark 16:19, Luke 24:50-52, Acts 1:9-11). The spot where Jesus ascended into heaven is the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:12), which was not far from the Garden tomb where Mary and Jesus now were.

After letting her know that she did not need to keep clinging to Him, Mary's Rabboni then gave her an instruction:

"…but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God'" (v 17b).

Jesus commanded Mary to go to My brethren.

Jesus was telling her that He had something for Mary to go and do. She could not simply remain there. Mary had to physically leave Jesus and the garden in order to accomplish the task He was assigning her.

Jesus's task for Mary was to take a message to His disciples. The expression—My brethren—referred to Jesus's disciples. This expression is significant for two reasons.

First, My brethren assured the frightened and failing disciples that despite their abandonment and denial of Him, He had forgiven them and they were still His disciples.

And second, My brethren describes the new familial relationship that Jesus's death and resurrection established between Himself and His disciples. Just before He was crucified and killed, Jesus had previously told His disciples that He no longer called them slaves, but "friends" (John 15:15). Jesus called the disciples "friends" because He shared His Father's plans with them (John 15:15).

The message Mary was to go and tell the disciples was: "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (v 17).

Now, after rising from the dead, Jesus drew His disciples even closer by calling them My brethren. Through faith in Jesus, the disciples had been born into God's family and had become children of the same Father (John 1:12-13), making them brothers of Jesus by grace.

Jesus described the disciples according to their new identity (My brethren) which His death and resurrection had made possible. His death and resurrection made it possible for them to receive the Gift of Eternal Life and be born into God's family through faith in Him (John 1:12, 3:3, 6, 14-16). Jesus was now their Brother and the disciples were now His brethren who shared an everlasting familial relationship with God the Father.

The author of Hebrews explains how Jesus brings "many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10) through His sufferings, before going on to say:

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
(Hebrews 2:11)

This passage in Hebrews applies to the future reward of reigning with Christ when He comes and restores His kingdom. In calling them, "My brethren," Jesus prophetically proclaims that the disciples who remain will live as faithful witnesses and be overcomers who will be given the reward of reigning with Him. Each of the 11 disciples were martyred for their faith, save only John, as Jesus prophesied, who was exiled for his faith (Revelation 1:9). This was a continuation of a prophecy Jesus spoke before His death, proclaiming that His disciples who had followed Him would sit on twelve thrones judging Israel (Matthew 19:28).

Jesus is "He who sanctifies" (makes holy) and "those who are sanctified" (are made Holy) (Hebrews 2:11). Both Jesus and those He makes holy are part of the same family, "from one Father" (Hebrews 2:11). Therefore, Jesus is not ashamed to call those He makes holy "brethren" (Hebrews 2:11). Incredibly, the promise of Hebrews 2 and Revelation 3:21 applies to any believer who lives as a faithful witness.

In Hebrews 2:12, the author of Hebrews associates Jesus's calling of His disciples and everyone who believes in Him "brethren" with the fulfillment of Psalm 22:22, which says:

"I will tell of Your name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You."
(Psalm 22:22)

Psalm 22 prophetically described the Messiah's feeling of being forsaken by God (Psalm 22:1-2), His ridicule and torturous death at the hands of His enemies (Psalm 22:6-18), and His triumph (Psalm 22:22-31).

Jesus's command to Mary, "Go tell My brethren…" is also a fulfillment of Psalm 22:22. In Matthew's record of Jesus's second appearance after His resurrection, Jesus also identifies His disciples as "My brethren" (Matthew 28:10).

The message Mary was to go and tell the disciples was: "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (v 17).

Before we explain the basic meaning of Jesus's message, which is about His future ascension into heaven, we will first explain the significance of how Jesus describes God to His brethren and disciples.

The expression: My Father refers to God, the Father. Jesus is God the Son, therefore God the Father is Jesus's Father and this is why Jesus refers to God as "My Father."

Throughout His ministry, Jesus had referred to God many times as My Father (John 2:16, 5:17, 43, 6:32, 8:19, 38, 10:18, 25, 29, 37, 14:2, 20-21, 23, 15:1, 8, 10, 15, 23-24). Because of this, Jesus calling God "My Father" would have been a familiar expression to Mary and the disciples.

But in His message, Jesus now adds something new to this familiar expression. He also referred to God as your Father, indicating that God is not only Jesus's Father, God is also the disciples' Father. My Father and your Father means Jesus's Father and the disciples' Father. Jesus and the disciples have the same Father.

This new expression My Father and Your Father describes how Jesus and the disciples both belonged to the same family because God is the Father of both Jesus and the disciples.

Jesus reinforces the fact that My Father and Your Father are the same Person when He concludes: and My God and your God (v 17). The expression My God and Your God is a version of an ancient idiom of unity between two or more people that indicates that they worship the same God (Ruth 1:16). By adding My God and Your God, Jesus is clarifying that My Father and Your Father are the same God.

The basic meaning of Jesus's message, "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (v 17) was that He would soon ascend from earth into heaven to return to God the Father.

It is interesting that Jesus's initial message to His disciples after His resurrection was not "I am alive!" but rather, "I will ascend into heaven." The resurrection was not the conclusion of His ministry. Jesus's resurrection was the beginning of a new phase of His ministry as the Messiah. Jesus had alluded to His ascension before (John 7:33-36, 8:21-23). Jesus had also recently explained to His disciples the necessity of His ascension, saying that unless He returned to His Father, that the Holy Spirit would not come:

"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you."
(John 16:7)

Jesus's ascension would complete His earthly mission and prepare the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would empower His disciples to continue His work in His authority (Matthew 28:18-20, John 16:7, Acts 1:8-9).

Jesus had risen from the dead, but He was not going to remain physically present with His disciples indefinitely or resume His former life with them. During the next forty days, He would appear to His disciples and teach them about the kingdom of God before ascending to heaven (Acts 1:3, 9-11).

There was work to do. Mary therefore needed to stop clinging to Jesus and go announce His resurrection and coming ascension to His brethren.

To see a listing of Jesus's post-resurrection appearances over the course of those forty days, see The Bible Says articles:

What Happened Between Jesus's Resurrection and His Ascension? Part 1

What Happened Between Jesus's Resurrection and His Ascension? Part 2

Jesus gave the women who saw Him at His second resurrection appearance a similar message to deliver to His brethren:

"Go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me."
(Matthew 28:10—see also Mark 16:7)

The women were to tell His disciples that they were to leave Jerusalem and return to Galilee, where He would appear to them. This was not a new instruction. Before His arrest, Jesus told His disciples,

"After I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee."
(Matthew 26:32, Mark 14:28).

The angel at the empty tomb also gave them this command (Matthew 28:7, Mark 16:7).

By repeating the message Himself, Jesus confirmed both that He had risen as He predicted and that He would faithfully meet His disciples at the appointed place.

Mary obeyed Jesus's command to go and tell His disciples the message:

Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her (v 18).

The expression Mary Magdalene came means that Mary left the garden tomb and returned to the place where Jesus's disciples were gathered. Earlier that morning, Mary had run from the tomb to tell Peter and John that Jesus's body was missing (John 20:2). Now she returned with an entirely different message.

Mary came announcing to the disciples. The Greek word translated here as announcing is ἀγγέλλω (G312—pronounced "an-gel-lō"), which means to report, declare, or deliver a message. "Angellō" is the verbal form of "angelos," meaning "angel" or "messenger." Mary was faithfully delivering the message Jesus commissioned her to deliver to the disciples.

Mary's announcement contained two parts.

• First, she gave her personal testimony: I have seen the Lord.

• Second, she reported these things that He had said to her.

Mary began her announcement with her own eyewitness testimony: I have seen the Lord (v 18).

Mary referred to Jesus as the Lord. She was declaring that she had personally seen Jesus alive. Her testimony was not based on speculation, deduction evidence, or a secondhand report (angelic or otherwise). It was based on what she personally and directly had seen—Jesus alive.

The reason Jesus's tomb was empty and His body was gone was no longer a mystery. The tomb was empty because the Lord had risen from the dead and Mary had seen and spoken with Him.

Mary also shared the message that Jesus instructed her to go and say to the disciples.

The expression these things refers to everything Jesus had instructed Mary to tell His disciples: "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (v 17).

Mary therefore announced not only that Jesus was alive, but also that He called the disciples "My brethren" and that He would soon ascend to their shared Father and God.

Mary faithfully delivered both the truth she had witnessed and the message she had received. She had gone to the tomb grieving because she believed someone had taken away the Lord; she returned from the tomb joyfully announcing, "I have seen the Lord."

Mark states the fact that John 20:11-18 describes. Mark states the fact that Mary Magdalene became the first person to see Jesus alive after His resurrection and she was the first to proclaim His resurrection to His disciples (Mark 16:9-10).

John does not describe the disciples' reaction to Mary's message, but Mark does.

"When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it."
(Mark 16:10)

The disciples were still mourning and weeping over Jesus's death and the disappearance of His body. Mary's report seemed too extraordinary for them to accept (Mark 16:10, Luke 24:10-11). Despite Jesus's repeated predictions that He would rise from the dead, most of His disciples did not believe that He was alive until they personally saw Him later that evening (John 20:19-20).

John himself appears to have been the exception. After entering the empty tomb and seeing the linen wrappings and the facecloth lying separately, John "saw and believed" (John 20:8), even though he did not yet understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead (John 20:9). Therefore, Mark's statement that "they refused to believe it" (Mark 16:10) describes the disciples as a group and does not mean that every individual disciple disbelieved Mary's announcement.

The Gospel writers' decision to identify Mary Magdalene as the first person to see the risen Jesus and to acknowledge that women were the first people to proclaim His resurrection adds authenticity to their accounts.

In first-century Jewish culture, a woman's testimony was generally not considered reliable. According to their tradition, a woman's testimony was not valid in courts and had no legal weight (Mishnah, Shevuot 4:1).

If the disciples had invented the resurrection story, they would have strengthened its credibility in the eyes of their contemporaries by making respected men its first witnesses. Instead, the Gospels consistently report the historically inconvenient fact that Mary Magdalene and the other women were the first to discover the empty tomb, encounter the risen Christ, and announce His resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:9-10, Luke 24:1-10, John 20:1-18).

Moreover, the disciples' initial refusal to believe the women also adds credibility to the Gospel accounts.

The disciples who wrote or sponsored the Gospel accounts were the future leaders of the church. Writers have a tendency to present themselves and their actions in history in a favorable light. If they were fabricating the resurrection, they almost certainly would have presented themselves as heroes and concealed any details that made them appear foolish or faithless. But the Gospels do the opposite. They preserve the embarrassing fact that the men who would soon proclaim Jesus's resurrection throughout the world were themselves its first skeptics and had to be convinced by the evidence.

Taken together, Mary's testimony and the disciples' unbelief have the untidy character of actual history rather than a carefully manufactured legend. The accounts do not replace Mary Magdalene with a more socially credible witness, nor do they portray the disciples as immediately understanding and believing everything Jesus had predicted. Instead, they faithfully report what actually happened: a woman first announced the risen Lord and that most of the apostles refused to believe her until Jesus appeared to them personally (John 20:19-20).

For a critical evaluation of the all-important claim that Jesus rose from the dead, see The Bible Says article: "Did Jesus of Nazareth Rise from the Dead?"

In the next section (John 20:19-23), John describes Jesus's appearance to a group of His disciples.