SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2017
7:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John
20:11-18
Message of the
verses: “ 11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb
weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one
at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And
they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them,
"Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have
laid Him." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her,
"Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to
be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell
me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." 16 Jesus said to
her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew,
"Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). 17
Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ’I ascend to My
Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’" 18 Mary Magdalene came,
announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had
said these things to her.”
I wanted to focus in on what Jesus said to Mary from
verse 17 where He told her to stop clinging to her. I suppose that there is somewhat of a mystery
as to why Jesus said this to her and one of the reasons that I have heard a
long time ago and so I will quote from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary: “Some students feel that Jesus did return to
the Father on that morning, and that was the ascension. He was referring to; but no other New
Testament passage corroborates this interpretation. To say that He was fulfilling the symbolism
of the Day of Atonement and presenting the blood to the Father is, I think, stretching
a type too far (Lev. 16). For that
matter, He had no blood to present;
He had presented that on the cross when He was made sin for us. In His resurrection glory Jesus was ‘flesh
and bones’ (Luke 24-39), not proof that the word of redemption had been
completed (‘raised because of our justification’ – Rom. 4:24-25 NASB). What more could He do?
What Dr. Wiersbe points out here is what I heard many
years ago, and I suppose that what he feels about this is true. Jesus wanted Mary to go and tell His
disciples that He had risen from the dead and He would see her later.
Mary, the first person to see the resurrected Lord, went
and told the disciples of Jesus that He had risen from the dead, and I suppose
that the excitement in her voice was enough to show them that she really had
just seen Jesus.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “He married Pharaoh’s daughter”
(1 Kings 3:1, 7-8).
Today’s Bible
question: “Does God treat all men alike?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/28/2017 7:27 AM
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