John 20:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Rather, with full certainty and resolve she announces to them that she has seen the Lord, and what He said to her.

Here is the description of the third visit of the women to the tomb, after Matthew and Luke. This visit took place in the morning, while it was still dark.

This description belongs to the Evangelist John the Theologian, who rightly and in a manner worthy of God enjoyed Jesus' love for many reasons.

There remains the fourth journey of the women to the tomb, which by the ordering of the Holy Spirit the Evangelist Mark described (Mk 16).

Jesus not only removes guilt from women. He multiplies her merits. She who first pushed one man toward sin now moves many toward faith.

So also the man, who first credulously yielded to sin, had to receive a far greater gift. He who first stumbled through credulity is prepared for preaching to others.

Let no one think that my words are empty chatter. No illusion visited me, but divine inspiration. I was filled with contemplation and conversation with Christ.

Learn how and when. When Peter and the one with him left me, I stood weeping beside the tomb. I thought that the divine body of the Immortal One had been taken from the tomb.

But at once, taking pity on my tears, the Giver of resurrection to the fallen appeared to me."

Ikos 14. At once sorrow was changed into rapture, and everything became gladness and joy for me. I shall not hesitate to say: "Like Moses I was glorified, for I saw Him.

I saw, not on the mountains, but in the tomb; not under a cloud, but in the body, the Master of the bodiless powers and of the clouds. He is before, and now, and always.

He said to me: 'Mary, hasten and announce to My beloved ones that I have risen. Take Me in your mouth like an olive branch and proclaim good tidings to those descended from Noah.

Declare how I destroyed death and rose, the Giver of resurrection to the fallen.'"

Ikos 15. Hearing this, the choir of pious virgins answered Mary Magdalene with one voice: "You have spoken the truth, and we all agree with you. We do not doubt. On the contrary, we marvel at this one thing.

Until this moment He was in the tomb, and He, Life Himself, allowed Himself to be numbered with the dead for three days. That He intended to come forth from beneath the earth was our hope.

Therefore we said: 'Once He brought out the inhabitant from the belly of the whale. How then is He overcome by death? If He swiftly carried the beast onto dry land, then He will rise from the tomb, the Giver of resurrection to the fallen.'"

Ikos 16. So now, honorable one, do not think that what you say is unclear. Truly you have spoken to us, and there is nothing unclear in these words. The word is true, and the manner of your telling is pleasing.

Yet, Mary, we decide to share in it with you. Let not one alone from our company remain in gladness while the rest remain in deadness, not having tasted the life you have enjoyed.

Let many mouths together with you confirm your testimony. Let us all go together to the tomb and confirm the appearance. O companion in converse, let the glory given to you by the Giver of resurrection to the fallen be common to all."

See further Mt 28:1, after the journey of the other myrrh-bearing women.

Ikos 23. Having heard this message clearly and rejoiced, they were at once amazed and said to the women: "Where, O women, did you learn what you say? Did an angel say it?"

"Yes," they say, "he both spoke and appeared. And God, the Creator of angels, appeared to Mary and said: 'Tell My disciples: The Lord has risen.'

Therefore let us all leap here like lambs and young sheep, saying: 'Come here, our Shepherd, gather us who have been scattered by fear. O You Who trampled down death, appear to those who long for You, the Giver of resurrection to the fallen.'"

Let us consider, brethren, how much Mary Magdalene was inferior in dignity to Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and to John, the Theologian beloved by Christ. Yet how much more than they was she then deemed worthy to receive.

For they ran to the tomb and saw only the linen cloth and the napkin. But because of her inward and steadfast endurance, since she remained and stayed to the end at the entrance of the cave, she saw before the Apostles not only angels.

She saw the very Lord of angels, risen in the flesh from the dead. She became His personal hearer, and by His divine mouth was appointed to fulfill His commands.

This temple is an image of His tomb. Better to say, it is more than an image; perhaps it not only represents it. For it too has a place where the Master's Body lies, in the inner chamber behind the veil, where the all-holy Table is.

Therefore whoever inwardly hastens to this divine and truly God-containing tomb, sits beside it, and remains to the end, gathering and stretching his thoughts toward God, will know in it the God-inspired words of Scripture.

These are like certain angels proclaiming the Godhead and the humanity of the Word of God incarnate for our sake. He will also clearly behold the Lord Himself with the eyes of the mind.

I will even say, with bodily eyes. For one who looks with faith upon the mystical Table, and upon the Bread of Life resting on it, sees the very enhypostatic Word of God, Who became flesh and dwelt among us.

If he makes himself worthy for Him to dwell in him, then he will not only see, but will become a participant in Him. He will have Him dwelling within himself and will be filled with the divine grace bestowed by Him.

As that Mary saw what the Apostles longed to see, so such a man is deemed worthy to see and enjoy what, according to the Apostle, the angels desire to look into.

Through this contemplation and communion, he becomes wholly godlike.

Therefore, brethren, again strengthen your hands that hang down for the practice of the virtues, and your feeble knees. Make straight paths for your feet, walking in the right ways of the Lord: righteousness, chastity, love, humility, and truth.

But crooked and wholly twisted paths make a man worthy of God's turning away from him. Such paths are hatred, falsehood, malice, murder, greed, pride, and things like these, not only when committed, but even when cherished in the heart.

For man looks at the face, but God looks at the heart. He Himself searches hearts and hidden things.

But you, having gathered in the temple of God, "gird up the loins of your mind," as Peter, the chief of the Apostles, says. "Be sober, and hope perfectly for the grace brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 1:13).

For it is impossible that one who stands in the holy Church of God, gathers his mind, stretches it toward God, and enters into the meaning of the sacred hymns from beginning to end, should not draw God to himself.

This happens in accordance with his thought concerning God and the divine words. For a certain warmth arises in the heart as a result of such meditation. Like flies, it drives away evil thoughts and brings spiritual peace and consolation into the soul.

It also grants sanctification to the body, according to what is said: "My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire was kindled" (Ps 38:4).

This is exactly what one of the God-bearing Fathers taught us, saying: Apply every diligence so that your inward work may be according to God, and then you will conquer the outward passions.

The great Paul also urges us, saying: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal 5:16).

Therefore, exhorting us elsewhere, he writes: "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth" (Eph 6:14). This happens when thought is turned toward divine things and abides in the divine Truth.

Then the desiring inclination of the soul is held within careful bounds, and fleshly desires are driven out. When fleshly thoughts are subdued in us, the grace of the Spirit receives the soul at rest.

It makes the soul capable of tasting those future and ineffable good things which the eye of the passionate and careless man has not seen, nor his ear heard, nor his heart conceived.

This tasting is also the pledge of those spiritual blessings. The heart that has received their pledges becomes spiritual and receives full assurance of its salvation.

Therefore whoever wishes to acquire such assurance and to know precisely such spiritual pledges of eternal blessings should live as the present word has indicated and depicted.

In this way he will be a fellow citizen of the saints of God and a partaker of the eternal and ineffable good things promised to them.

May we all obtain them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belong glory, dominion, honor, and worship, together with His Father without beginning and the Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

After answering the angels, she straightened up, turned back, and saw the Lord standing there. Mary, however, did not recognize the risen Lord. For some reason it seemed to her that the gardener stood before her. When the Lord asked her the reason for her tears, she asked Him: "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him."

Then Jesus said to her, "Mary!" This gracious call opened Mary's eyes. With the joyful cry, "Rabboni!" she was ready to fall at Jesus' feet. But the Lord said to her, "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father," and so forth.

The meaning of this saying of Jesus Christ, if μη Μου απτου is translated "Do not touch Me," will be this: "Do not touch Me in order to be convinced by handling that the One who has appeared is not a vision, a spirit without flesh and blood. For I have not yet ascended to My Father, after which I shall no longer be visible to men. I truly must soon ascend to My Father. Go to My brethren and say to them: I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God."

But if μη Μου απτου is translated "Do not hold on to Me," then the Lord's saying will have this meaning: "Do not hold on to Me. Do not detain Me, as though I were immediately going to disappear again. For I have not yet ascended to My Father, and for a time I shall still be with you."

After this, in Luke 24:13-35 and Mark 16:12, the Lord appears to two disciples from among the Seventy, who were walking to Emmaus. Recognizing the Lord in the breaking of the bread, they hasten back to Jerusalem. They become heralds of the Lord before the assembly of the Apostles, who were already gathered and preparing to receive the King and God.

Yet the Apostles' slowness to believe is in some measure counted as blameworthy by the Lord; cf. Mark 16:14 and Luke 24:25, "O slow of heart." Nevertheless, with fatherly love He assures them of His identity and instructs them; Luke 24:37-43; cf. John 20:20. Then He grants them the grace of the Holy Spirit and the authority to absolve sins; below, John 20:22-23.

The Gospels say nothing more about Mary Magdalene and the other women. Yet for us there is joined to them, and especially to the name of Mary Magdalene, an eternal remembrance. She is the first herald of the highest Christian joy, having acquired this memory and glory solely by her great love for Christ the Savior.