John 20:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

So they went home, but Mary stood by the tomb. Truly, as I have already said, the very sight of the tomb brings us great consolation. Do you see, then, how she bends her gaze into the tomb for greater consolation? She wishes to see the place "where the body of Jesus had lain".

Even this Mary, despite all that she had seen and heard, they brought into doubt. In great confusion she reasoned thus: Until now I was fully convinced that the apostles had not seen the tomb and therefore did not believe the Resurrection.

But now, even after seeing that the body is not here, they remain in the same conviction. Clearly I, as a woman, am imagining things and see or hear nothing certain. They, enlightened from above, are not subject to deception.

They are not deceived as easily as we women are. Shaken by this thought, Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb and wept.

Notice again how a tear shed for Christ does not remain without reward, and how the fruit of love for Him is not far away. Grace and abundant recompense follow beside and together with the labors. Behold Mary, remaining at the tomb, bearing strong love for God in her heart and preserving sincere devotion to the Master. Through the voice of the holy Angels the Savior gave her knowledge of His mystery.

"As she wept, she stooped into the tomb." See the commentary on Jn 20:12.

And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. I do not know why she did this. She knew that He whom she sought was no longer there, since she herself had reported it to the disciples.

They came to the tomb and sought the Lord's body. They not only looked around the tomb, but also entered it, and did not find Him.

What, then, is meant by her stooping down while weeping and looking once more into the tomb? Perhaps her grief was so great that she decided neither her own eyes nor the disciples' eyes could be trusted.

Or perhaps, by some divine prompting, her spirit was inclined to look within. For she looked, "and saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain" (Jn 20:12).

In this action we must consider what power of love inflamed this woman's soul. She did not depart from the Lord's tomb even when the disciples had gone away. She seeks Him Whom she did not find.

While seeking, she wept. Inflamed by the fire of her love, she burned with desire for Him Whom she believed had been taken away. Therefore it happened that she alone then saw Him, because she remained to seek Him.

For the strength of a good work consists precisely in perseverance. By the voice of the Truth it is declared: "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Mt 10:22; 24:13).

By the commandment of the Law, the tail of the sacrifice is ordered to be offered (Lev 3:9). The tail is the end of the body. He offers sacrifice well who brings the sacrifice of a good work to the end of proper action.

Therefore Joseph is described among his brothers as having a garment reaching to the heels (Gen 37:3, Vulgate). A garment reaching to the heels is a good work brought to completion.

But Mary, while she was weeping, stooped and looked into the tomb. It is known that she had already seen the tomb empty. She had already announced that the Lord had been taken away.

What then does it mean that she stoops again and again desires to see? For one who loves, it is not enough to look once. The power of love increases the effort of seeking.

Therefore she sought before and did not find. She continued seeking and found. It happened that unsatisfied desires increased, and having increased, they received what they found.

For this reason the Church speaks of the same Bridegroom in the Song of Songs: "On my bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but found Him not. I will rise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek Him Whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but found Him not" (Song 3:1-2).

She doubles the unsuccessful seeking when she says, "I sought Him, but found Him not." Yet because finding is not far away if seeking is not interrupted, she adds: "The watchmen who go about the city found me. Have you seen Him Whom my soul loves? Scarcely had I passed from them when I found Him Whom my soul loves. I held Him and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her who conceived me" (Song 3:3-4).

We seek the Beloved on the bed when, in a certain rest of this present life, we are drawn by desire toward our Savior. We seek Him at night because, although the mind keeps vigil in Him, the eye has darkness.

But one who does not find his Beloved must rise and go about the city. That is, he must run through the holy Church with his mind, seeking the elect.

He must be sought in the streets and squares. That is, attention must be given to those walking both the narrow and the broad way, in order to seek His traces, if they can be found.

For there are some, even in worldly life, who possess something worthy of imitation in the practice of virtue.

While seeking, we find the watchmen who guard the city. The holy Fathers, who preserve the condition of the Church, assist our good desires, since they teach us either by word or by writing.

When we have passed a little beyond them, then we find Him Whom we love. For our Redeemer, though according to His humanity He was a man among men, according to His Godhead is above men.

Thus, when the watchmen are passed, the Beloved is found. When we perceive that the Prophets and Apostles were beneath Him, then we understand that He Who by nature is God is above men.

Therefore the Unfound is first sought, so that, once found, He may afterward be held more carefully. Holy desires grow through delay. But if they weaken through delay, they were not desires.

He who could belong to the Truth is inflamed by this love. Therefore David says: "My soul thirsts for the mighty, living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Ps 41:3).

Therefore he exhorts us, saying: "Seek His face always" (Ps 104:4). Therefore the Prophet says: "With my soul I have desired You in the night, and with my spirit within me I will seek You early. For when Your judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isa 26:9).

Therefore the Church again says in the Song of Songs: "I am faint with love" (Song 5:8). It is fitting that she who bears in her breast the wound of love from the flame of desire for Him should pass from seeing the Physician to salvation.

Therefore she says again: "My soul failed within me when He spoke" (Song 5:6). For the soul of a man who does not seek the face of his Creator is exceedingly coarse. It therefore remains cold within itself.

But if it has already begun to burn with desire to follow Him Whom it loves, it runs, being melted by the fire of love. Through desire it becomes hungry. Everything that pleased it in the world becomes slight.

Nothing pleases it except the Creator. What formerly delighted the soul afterward becomes exceedingly burdensome to it. Nothing soothes its grief until it beholds Him Whom it desires.

The spirit grieves, and light itself is hateful. By this fire the rust of guilt is consumed in the spirit, and the soul is melted like gold. Through use it had lost its beauty, but through burning it became bright.

You lie in the tomb. Oh, if only I knew where You are now buried, that, like the harlot, I might water with tears not only Your feet, but truly Your whole body and Your tomb.

I would say: "Master, as You raised the widow's son, raise Yourself. You who gave life to Jairus's daughter, why do You still remain in the tomb?

Arise, appear, stand before those who seek You, O You who grant resurrection to the fallen."

Then she comes now with Peter and John. They, from what they saw, believed and departed in amazement. Thus she had come twice to the tomb with others.

Those who came with her believed and were assured. But she, as though she had received no assurance concerning Christ's Resurrection, weeps inconsolably.

One may see something similar in the struggles for virtue. Grace at once comes to meet some who struggle. It gives them full assurance in the form of pledges, allowing them to taste the promised rewards.

It is as though Grace stretches out a man-loving hand toward them, receives them, and anoints them for further struggles. Others it awaits until the end of their struggle, preparing crowns for their patience.

As one of the God-bearing Fathers said, some receive the sacred rewards before their labors, others during their labors, and others at their departure from the body.

This happens through the all-wise divine providence, which orders all things concerning us in many ways. It distributes to each what is fitting and profitable, both in works of virtue and in the mysteries of faith.

Therefore, in wise and loving-kind order concerning Mary Magdalene, the Master judged that she should not yet receive assurance of His Resurrection. Through her example He would lead and incline those after her toward patience.

Let us hear what gifts she was deemed worthy of after this for her steadfastness and patient endurance. "As she wept," says the Evangelist, "she stooped down into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain."

Her bending down and fixing her eyes on the tomb with deep agitation was a sign of extreme tension of soul. But first this must be examined.

How was it that, while it was still dark, as the Evangelist said above, she clearly saw everything? How did she see each detail, and from outside see what was inside the cave?

They were sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Not knowing who they were, she explained to them the cause of her weeping.

"They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him," she said, and again broke into sobs.

In tears she stooped into the tomb. She bent down toward the opening from which the stone had been rolled away. As it seems, she did not dare enter the tomb alone, perhaps from the same feelings as John (Jn 20:5).