"Woman, why weepest thou?"John 20:13, 15; Twice was Mary Magdalene thus questioned that first day of the week when, in the early morning dark, she stood outside the empty sepulcher weeping. So great was her grief, her sense of love lost, her feeling of futility and despair, that even when she saw Christ Jesus standing near, she did not know him.
What can we learn from her experience? That right where our fondest hopes seem buried, there is the risen Christ! But if we, like the Magdalen, are blind from weeping, we know it not. Yet the tender Christ identifies itself, speaks to the yearning heart and gently rebukes its effort to cling to human personality. The Master's words, "Touch me not,"v. 17; are translated by Moffatt, "Cease clinging to me." So must we all cease looking to person for what the Christ, Truth, alone can give.
As certainly as Mary's tears were needless, so our grief is without just cause. Life and health and happiness and the supply of all that is needful are present and indestructible. Good is of God. It can never be lost or buried out of sight.
