Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus-Mary Magdalene

April 6, 2021 (Tuesday)

“Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. “Woman, why are you crying?” they asked her. She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. “Woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who is it that you are looking for?” She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This means “Teacher.”) “Do not hold on to me,” Jesus told her, “because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.” So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her” (John 20:11-18)

It is from this awesome encounter of Mary with Jesus that Charles Austin Miles wrote “In the Garden” in 1912. The song has a popularity that exceeds all expectations. Through the years it has maintained its popularity, especially among those experiencing grief. It seems to bring comfort to saddened hearts as it relates the meeting of Mary Magdalene with Jesus. Mary was greatly comforted when she realized that the man she thought was the gardener was actually Jesus, to whom she owed her very life, because Jesus had cast out seven demons from her. It’s hard not to think of her when we read of Jesus saying, “He that is forgiven much, loves much.”