Who is it you are looking for?

Greetings in the name of the risen Lord who said “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” Luke 6:21

Let us read John 20:15 - 18 together
15"Woman," he (Jesus) said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she (Mary) said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18Mary 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.

Context :
Mary had come early the day after the Sabbath to anoint the crucified body of her Teacher – Jesus of Nazareth. But the tomb was empty and she could not find Him. So she began to weep.

She wept bitterly. She had lost all her hope. For Mary, Jesus was her Rabbi, and her Savior.

However, the Romans and Jewish priests had conspired and crucified him. Now even his body seemed to be stolen. It seemed to her that everything she held precious had been stolen from her life. Life held no meaning. It was at such a crucial moment that the risen Lord appears and asks her two questions.

Here, in verse 15, we read the questions – 2 significant questions asked by the resurrected Jesus to Mary Magdalene who was weeping beside his empty tomb

1. Woman, why are you crying?
2. Who is it you are looking for?

Jesus, the omniscient God made flesh, knew all the reasons behind her crying. He also knew that she was looking for his body. Yet he asks these questions that force her to :

a. Identify to herself the exact reason for her crying
b. He wanted her to identify exactly who she was looking/searching for.

Let us briefly consider each question.

1. Woman, why are you crying?

Jesus wanted Mary to identify to herself the exact reason for her crying.

Why do we cry? When do we cry? We often cry when we are hurt either physically, emotionally, or mentally. We also cry when we are angry, frustrated etc. Ask any woman and she will give you a long list of why she cries. (Modern women have trained themselves not to cry even privately.)

Every time a child or an adult cries, there is the immediate reason and a hidden reason. Often when you see anyone cry bitterly for a long period, you can easily assume that there is more than the present situation which is contributing to the tears.

Here, Jesus knew Mary’s past and her current situation and he had compassion on her. He was determined to wipe away her tears once and for all. So he asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” Pour out all your pain before the One who alone can wipe your tears away.

To help her, Jesus had to encourage her to have a revelation as to the person she was looking for. She had to stop looking for her dead teacher and look for the risen Lord. So he asked her the second question.

2. Who is it you are looking for?

(Before this, Jesus had asked a similar question to Peter “Who do you say I am?” Lk 16:15 which allowed Peter to confess the Sonship and Messianic title of Jesus.)

Initially, Mary does not directly answer Jesus’ questions.

She continues to speak without knowing who was speaking to her. At that point Jesus replies/calls out with a single word.- “Mary”– He calls her by her name.

He who has engraved her in his palm[1] and knew her and called her by name[2] before she was knit within her mother’s womb called her now by her given name.

At that precise moment, the blindness left her and she spontaneously addresses him as 'Teacher-Rabboni ."

It is at this point she is entrusted with the Gospel news (This is a similar experience for all believers. At the outset of accepting him as our Savior, we recognize one or two aspects of Jesus. It is later in our fellowship with him we receive a wider perspective of who He is.)

By the time she conveys Jesus’ message to the disciples, she is saying “ I HAVE SEEN THE LORD”. Finally, she identifies/answers Jesus’ question as to who she is looking for.

Today, the same questions Jesus asked Mary are repeatedly being asked to millions.
"Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"

The entire world is searching for someone to heal its hurts. Many go searching in all the wrong places. But Jesus gently encourages us to seek Him. He alone can deliver us.

Won’t you seek Him today? The Bible says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found…[3]”

Those that have been predestined before the creation of the world[4] seek and find Jesus. Jesus reassures and commissions them just as he did Mary 2000 years ago and they in turn carry the torch crying, “I have seen the Lord”.

Have you seen the Lord? If not, I encourage you to invite him today into your heart and he will come and wipe your tears away.

Footnote:
1. Isa 49:16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
2. Isa 49:1 Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.
3. Isa 55:6
4. Eph 1: 4 -5 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—