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Why Weepest Thou?

Ellet J. Waggoner

The Present Truth : April 4, 1901

John 20.11-18

 The women had been to the sepulcher very early in the morning, and had found it open, and Mary Magdalene had run to tell Peter and John, and, meeting them, had said, “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid Him.” Then the two apostles ran in haste to the grave, and went in, Peter first, and then John. In verse 8 John says of himself that he went in also, and he “saw, and believed;” but the words that immediately follow, namely, “for as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead,” plainly indicate that what he believed was what Mary had said, that they had taken the Lord away, and not that He had risen. This is also evident from the fact that the eleven had not believed the two who returned from Emmaus, and Jesus, when He came in, reproved them for their hardness of heart.

Peter and John, having looked round, “went away again into their own home; but Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher; and sees two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, whom the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.”

“And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni.”

We have in this far more than a simple story of loving loyalty and tender-hearted devotion. It is a lesson of admonition and comfort to all that mourn. All sorrow is caused by absence from the Lord, or rather, by inability on account of sin and unbelief, to recognize His presence; for “in His presence is fullness of joy;” He makes all who see Him exceeding glad with His countenance.