Those forty days were filled with fantastic significance, in the same way the forty days at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry began when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.   When you look carefully at these two periods you will not only see that they each covered a 40-day period, but that they also reveal that they have a lot to do with—full testing.

The 40 days after Christ’s resurrection contain many works and words of the risen Savior.  Since believers have died with Christ as the Bible teaches us in Romans 6:8;

            “If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him”

And are risen with Him as it states in Colossians 3:1;

            “Since then, you have been raised with Christ…”

His every act and word during that time must be filled with meaning for us.  Those 40 days not only gave full proof of the resurrection, but also gave full proof of the truths that the resurrected One had been teaching His followers as well as you and me today. 

There are 10 appearances of the Lord during this period and they are recorded in the gospels.  The first is to be found in John 20:1-18.  This appearance announced to the world, although they didn’t understand it at first that a new relationship had been formed.  A new family had begun!  Let’s read that for a moment.

The Person!

The open, and I might add, empty tomb, was discovered by Mary Magdalene early on the first day of the week.  After taking the news to Peter and John, who also saw the empty tomb, Mary returned there and stood outside crying.

Why is all this important?   It was to this faithful woman that Christ made His first resurrection appearance.  The very choice of Mary Magdalene is an evidence of the truthfulness of the resurrection story.   Had you or I made up this story, we probably wouldn’t have had Jesus seen first by a lonely woman in a cemetery.  We’d probably have Him appear at the bedside of Pontius Pilate, the one who had so miserably failed in the administration of justice by allowing Christ’s death in the first place.  

And if not Pilate, how spectacular it would have been for the Lord Jesus to have burst into a secret session of the Sanhedrin, with all those phony holy men!   What dramatic scenes could have been written about such an appearance!   Even Caesar in far off Rome would have been a more likely subject—that is if you or I wrote this story of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Wouldn’t you want it to be spectacular?   I certainly would Well let me share with you just how spectacular it was.  Again, if He were to appear to a woman, who would it be?  

No doubt, man’s first choice would have been His grieving mother.   Think of the drama of such a meeting!   If not Mary the mother of Jesus, then surely it would have Mary of Bethany, the one who had sensed His coming death and had anointed Him in advance. 

How much more sense does that make for her to have seen Him first!  But instead, it was Mary Magdalene.  She probably came from a village on the coast of Galilee called Magdala.  If so, she was a long way from home.  Little is said of this woman except that the Lord Jesus had cast seven demons out of her.  

Unlike the popular versions and myths, nothing in Scripture supports the idea that she had been a fallen woman or as some had stated previously, a prostitute.   In fact, after out Lord had cast the demons out of her, she was only associated with choice women who ministered to Jesus as He was engaged in strenuous preaching tours around the countryside.  She had given to Him her hearts devotion through life, for she was one of those the Scriptures say;

“Who were helping to support Him out of their own means” (Luke 8:3),

And at His crucifixion

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene”

(John 19:25),

And after His death,

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb…” (John 20:1).

The Place!

Not only was this person significant, but the place Christ first appeared was equally unusual.   It was near the open tomb as we read in verse 11 of John 20.   Mary had come early the first day of the week, while it was still dark, to the quiet of a secluded garden outside Jerusalem.  It was not normal for a woman of that time to be hanging out in such a place at such a time.  Yet the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation has a wonderful, harmonious blending.   You see, in another garden, at the dawn of human history, Satan had appeared to a woman, also in a garden, and through that meeting brought the whole human race into sin and depravity.   In fact the very graves among which this meeting of our Lord with Mary Magdalene took place bore witness to the effects of that first encounter in another garden many years earlier.

This last Adam, as Jesus has become known, had brought victory over the one who had caused the first Adam to fall through Eve’s temptation.  Read with me from Hebrews 2:14-18;

“Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  For surely, it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants.  For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.  Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” 

There could be no more fitting climax than that the first appearance of Christ following His resurrection should be to a woman in a garden!

A Simple Phrase!

That little insignificant word—“but”—that starts out verse 11 of John 20 shows that Mary’s act is contrasted with something which had gone before.   Early in the morning, while it was still dark, she had made the astonishing discovery that the tomb was open and empty.   She had quickly run to Peter and John to tell them the news, but their investigation of the tomb was followed by a puzzled return home by these great apostles.

You see, it was all too much for them. There was no question that the body was gone—but where?   Certainly they were very slow to believe in their hearts that He had actually risen.  Why else would they have been so puzzled?

The Question!

But Mary returned to the tomb, and this time she came face to face with two angels, perhaps the two heavenly visitors who will appear 40 days later at the ascension.    Mary was so concerned about the missing body that the angels had to begin the conversation. 

To their question, “Woman, why are you crying?”  She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put Him.”    Those two words, “my Lord,” give the key to the whole scene.    You see, her love for Him had overcome everything else, and she remained faithfully by the tomb.

What stands out to me in this exchange is that Mary wasn’t too interested in the angels, because after answering their question, it is written that “she turned around.”   The curiosity seeker would have stayed.  Most people even today, maybe even more today, are more interested in seeing signs and visions, than in finding the Lord.   They will flock to hear a little boy tell about a supposed trip he took to Heaven, or will crowd an auditorium to see wildly advertised signs and wonders.    The spectacular will always draw more people than the plain teaching of the Bible, which reveals the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Can you just imagine being confronted by angels?  Well we see here that this event, regardless of how magnificent and wonderful it might have been to be in the presence of angels—did not satisfy Mary.   They couldn’t fill the longing in her heart.    But when she turned from the angels, she saw another person, and she assumed that He was the gardener.    And just like before, the conversation was opened by the other party, this time though the other party was the risen Lord.  Notice, He says “Whom are you seeking?” 

He knew the one desire of her heart.  Her answer is filled with love and drama.   She didn’t say “Tell me where you have taken Him and I will get help to take Him away,” NO!   What she said is “I will take him away.”   

Now she may have been a strong woman, but she was certainly not equal to carrying the weight of a dead body.   But what we see in this exchange is that her love for the Lord had overcome her sense of feminine weakness, and she was ready to try the impossible. 

The risen Lord would not keep such a loving heart in suspense for very long.

This is the pivotal question of all time and especially our time.  “Whom are you seeking?”

In our world of today, where everyone is bent on getting the best there is of everything, to outdoing our neighbors and fellow workers and friends.  A World where position is everything for many and power is a drug, the question needs be asked:  

“Whom and what are you seeking?”

Perhaps the Lord is asking many today in our society this very same question.    They’ve sought His blessing; they attend the local churches .    They’ve wanted His gifts; they’ve coveted the benefits that come from His hand, but He wants you to desire Him above all else.   The Lord knew Mary’s heart.  She had once sought Him for deliverance from the demons.   But now she was seeking only Him.

The Answer!

The Lord spoke but one word, “Mary,” reminding us of John’s teaching that

“…he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:3, 4).

Try to picture this, as she had turned from the angels, Mary now turned away from the person that she thought was the gardener.  But the word “Mary,” spoken gently by the great Shepherd of the sheep, was instantly recognized, and she threw herself at His feet. 

She now realized that the one who had delivered her from the power of demons had been delivered from the grave.  She had found the living One among the dead.   This discovery of Mary’s is what differentiates Christianity from all the religions of the world.

A famous Muslim religious leader in trying to state how foolish Christian’s are, unknowingly spoke a wonderful and glorious truth when he said,   “We see the bones of the founder of our religion when we go to Mecca, but when you go to Jerusalem, all you see is an empty tomb.”    Amen to that!

The Command!

The Lord’s next words to this woman were, “Stop clinging to me,” or as the King James has it, “Touch me not!”  Why did Jesus say this?   Only a short time later, it’s recorded in Scripture in Matthew 28:9 that His disciples, “took hold of His feet and worshipped Him.”  Why did He allow that and yet commanded Mary not to touch Him?

Although there are a number of theories regarding this command. I think it is to be understood by the words of the Lord Himself in the context when He said,   “For I have not yet ascended to the Father.”   I personally believe that Jesus was intent on fulfilling the type of the feast of first fruits given in Leviticus 23.   On this first day of the week, and perhaps at the same time He was appearing to Mary, the high priest in Israel was presenting the sheaf of first fruits in the temple.   The apostle Paul certainly understood this because he states in 1st Corinthians 15:23, that Jesus is the “first fruits” of the resurrection.   To fulfill the Old Testament type, Christ presented himself to the Father. 

A short time after the encounter with Mary, He invited His disciples to,

“handle or touch me and see.”  

During this interval, I believe that the presenting work of Christ must have been accomplished.   Some serious students and teachers of the Word of God believe that Christ entered into the “Most Holy Place” for believers, His family of priests, just as Aaron did on the Day of Atonement, (Yom Kippur) with the blood of a male lamb for his household. 

Regardless of what you may personally believe, consider the possibility that our Lord was teaching Mary a new truth, one that was put into words by the apostle Paul   “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.” (2nd Corinthians 5:16)

Something better awaits us—union with Him above, because you see, we are raised with Him.

The Relationship!

The Lord then sent this message to the disciples:

“But go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and My God and your God”

(John 20:17).

As we look closely at those phrases, “my brethren,” “my Father,” “your Father.” Remember that before His crucifixion, the Lord had prayed,

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20, 21).

This prayer is so very important to understand.   It had to do with the oneness of Father, Son, and all believers.   By Jesus’ finished work on the cross and resurrection from the grave, His Father has become our Father and we have become His brethren.  A new family relationship has been established, a forever family, a union of man and God in resurrection.    Believers are positioned with Christ before God, His Father and ours.  Jesus takes us up into His place and gives us His nature, and He is not ashamed to call us “brethren.” 

There is a great poem that goes like this;

                                    So near, so very near to God

                                    I cannot nearer be;

                                    For in the person of His Son,

                                    I am as near as He.

Psalm 22 is a prophecy of the crucifixion.  After the “bulls of Bashan” had done their worst, and His garments had been divided at the hands of the gamblers, the story moves from the crucifixion to the resurrection, and we hear the Messiah cry out in verse 22,

            “I will tell of Your name to my brethren.” 

How could He do this?  The last phrase of the Psalm gives the answer. 

“He has done this” or as some translations have it, “He has performed it”.

What was it that He did or performed?   HE DIED ON THE CROSS!  For the phrase literally means, “It is finished” Or “Paid in Full.”    This is why it so important when talking to people that we find out if they have been brought into this vital relationship with Jesus Christ.   Are they a member of God’s family through faith in Him?  Are you?   If not hear these words:

“But as many as received him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)