Mary - Matt 27:52-53,28:9-10; Mark 16:9-11; Luke 24:12; John 20:3-18

The women heed the angels’ counsel and run from the tomb into the city to tell the other disciples that Jesus is not where they left him. The reaction that they receive from the disciples are mixed and most “believed them not,” but Peter and John “ran both together: and the other disciples (John) did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.” Both Peter and John “stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying.” Jesus was not there. But what is interesting about this account is that while the linen clothes that Jesus’ body was wrapped in were laying, probably haphazardly, on the stone slab where his body laid, “the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.” I always thought that the mention of the face cloth was weird because, who cares, right?

I recently came across an article that provided some interesting insight into ancient Hebrew culture and it had to do with a master/servant relationship. When eating, if the master stood up and wadded up his napkin, then the servant could clear the table, but if he master folded his napkin then he indicated that he would return and the servant left the table alone. Several articles that I read dispute the authenticity of this, but it’s a good story nonetheless. One insight that I really liked about why the face cloth was mentioned separately from the rest of the grave clothes comes from the “Courageous Christian Father” website on the article entitled, “Why did Jesus Fold the Napkin?” The author says, “John didn’t explain the meaning of the folded napkin in his gospel. Personally I believe the Lord folded the napkin to show that his departure was an orderly and voluntary act. It was proof that the tomb had not been robbed and His body had not been stolen, as some later claimed.”  
If someone were to steal Christ’s body, especially if it’s been several days, the surely they wouldn’t take the burial shrouds off and carry the decomposing bag of bones naked, by hand. If someone was going to carry a dead body away, they would definitely leave the linen clothes on the body so that it would be easier to carry and certainly less messy. But the linen clothes were left behind and the face piece was placed neatly away from the rest of the clothes. Let’s think about the process of resurrection for a second. When buried, the hands and feet are tied tightly together probably for easy of carrying but also dead bodies can still have electrical impulses and muscle spasms causing their arms and legs to jerk wildly for hour after death. Then the body is wrapped tightly in these sheets of cloth, so basically Jesus’ body would have been walking out of his tomb the same way  that Lazarus did, bound hand and foot, hobbling out. The napkin is also noted to be tied around the deceased’s jaw tightly so that it would remain in place as rigor mortis set in.
If Jesus was resurrected, I would imagine that he would try to open his eyes and see, but his face would be tightly bound with this face cloth, but he couldn’t loosen it because his hands were tied up as well. So he would have been close to being a human inch worm coming out of the tomb, unless there was someone else there to untie him. This of course is “gospel by Amy,” so take it with a grain of salt. I had a friend once send me a list of 13 things entitled, “What the Prophets Have Taught About Resurrection.” The first points are that the resurrection is “a priesthood ordinance (and) someone else must perform the ordinance for you.” That would make sense as far as someone else being there to untie Jesus as he “woke” back up again.
The burial clothes that Jesus had been tied up in were now laying empty on the stone slab and the cloth that was tying his face shut was neatly placed away from all the other clothes, and this is what Peter and John saw when they looked into the empty tomb. Maybe I am wrong about Jesus being untied and all that because the IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “Together they view the grave-clothes-linen strips that have not been unwrapped, but through which a resurrected body has passed.” The IM continues, “These details about the position of the grave clothes rule out the possibility that Jesus’s body had been taken by grave robbers or Jewish leaders conspiring to prevent claims of a resurrection. Anyone interesting in stealing Jesus’s body would have either unwrapped it, leaving the linens behind in a heap, or taken the body while it was still wrapped. Up to the moment when Peter and John looked into the empty tomb, they had not fully comprehended the scriptural witnesses declaring that the Messiah would rise from the dead as an immortal Being. But in that moment they came to know by the power of revelation and personal experience that Jesus was resurrected.”
I imagine that Peter and John were pretty overwhelmed at this point. They finally understood the meaning of Christ’s words that he would be resurrected from the dead. The angels had told the women that Jesus would be meeting his disciples in Galilee and for the women to tell them that. Not needing anything further from the tomb, Peter and John “went away again unto their own home.” Mary Magdalene had either come back to the tomb with Peter and John or never left with the other women, but somehow, she’s the only one there at the tomb and she’s very upset and crying. I think it must have been that Mary Magdalene stayed behind when all the other women left because as she’s crying, “two angels in white” were sitting in the tomb and ask her “woman, why weepest thou?” She answers “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” She hasn’t had the full epiphany about Jesus rising from the dead yet. Another man is standing behind her and asks her the same question, “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?” She looks at the man, and not recognizing him, says basically, “if you’ve taken the body of the man laying in this tomb, just tell me where it is so I can go and get it.”
It makes sense that Mary didn’t recognize Jesus right away because she wasn’t expecting to see him, she wasn’t looking for him. In her mind, Jesus’ body had been stolen, so it wouldn’t have made sense for her to see him standing right behind her. But when “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” The IM comments, “The Aramaic word Rabboni used by Mary to address the resurrected Savior, is used only twice in the New Testament… The titled Rabbi was used for respected teachers among first-century Jews. Rabboni, a more lofty form of the title Rabbi, was a title that was rarely used and was usually reserved for highly esteemed teachers who had both divine knowledge and authority to teach others.” So not just a run of the mill smart guy, but someone who had obtained knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and permission from God to teach the people.
Once Mary recognizes Jesus he tells her, from the JST, “Hold me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” The IM quotes Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “some give the meaning as ‘Do not cling to me any longer,’ or ‘Do not hold me any longer.’ Some speak of ceasing to hold him or cling to him, leaving the inference that Mary was already holding him.” I always wondered why Jesus told Mary not to touch him because he hadn’t gone to his father yet, that never made any sense to me because once he’s resurrected, he should be good to go. But the idea that he means “don’t cling to me” doesn’t make any sense either because we are told to follow him, to love and serve him, the very essence of “clinging.” I think it’s possible that this statement was meant for Mary specifically because she had a very intense and personal relationship with Jesus and his statement to her might mean something like, “don’t cling to the good times we had in the past when I was alive. It’s time to move on with faith because I’m not going to be here anymore.” It almost seems like he’s telling her that it’s time to move forward and to not live in the past.
But Jesus’ statement isn’t all about Mary either. Elder McConkie continues, “But the great message that was preserved for us is that Jesus’ eternal relationship to his Father. ‘My’ Father and ‘your’ Father- Elohim is the Father of all men in the spirit, and of the Lord Jesus in an added and special sense. He is the Father of both Jesus’ spirit and his body. ‘My’ god and ‘your’ God- and again Elohim is the God of all men, but in Jesus’ case, though he himself is a God and has all power, though he is a member of the very Godhead itself, yet is he everlastingly in subjection to the same God who is our Father.” It seems like Jesus is trying to make a personal connection between what has happened to him and what is in store for us commoners. It’s like he’s saying, “I have to go to God in my perfect body, just like you will go before God in your own perfect body.” Because before the atonement was completed, there was no way that any of us could have returned to God, because we were unclean and unable to repent and therefore could not have entered into God’s presence. And before the atonement was completed, we would never have been able to have our bodies back after death.
The IM continues, “Jesus Christ’s appearance to Mary Magdalene makes clear that after His Resurrection, there would be a respectful separation between the mortal disciple and the immortal Christ. Jesus’s appearance also clarifies that He did not go directly into the presence of God the Father after His death. In the same way, after we die, our own spirits will go to the world of spirits and await the time when they will be reunited with our physical bodies.” He was trying to show her that their relationship was going to have to be different from then on. And I really like that he indicates that he hasn’t seen His Father yet, meaning that yes, he was in the spirit world.
While Mary lingered at the tomb, the other women ran back to tell the disciples what the angel had said, “and as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.” I wonder if “All hail” is similar to our “hi guys!” I really love that Jesus appeared to women first. Of course the women were the ones who believed the angels, most of the men did not believe what the women told them. He’s providing closure and insight for them. But that’s not all, now that Jesus is resurrected “the grave were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Imagine the testimonies that these newly resurrected people. Coming directly from the spirit world, and surely being righteous, I wondered what they testified of Christ, what they said, who they talked to, what the reaction was of the people who saw them.