On that morning, Mary didn't recognize Jesus standing there. Like the others who loved him, she was numb with grief. She'd come to perform traditional burial rites and to mourn. Finding the tomb empty and the body gone, she was shaken. She begged a man who she thought must be the gardener to tell her where the body had been put. It was only when Jesus spoke her name that she saw him and realized who he was.
Soon after, there was a similar occurrence. Two travelers suddenly realized that a stranger who'd journeyed along with them, explaining spiritual truth to them, was actually Jesus.
Why hadn't these people recognized Jesus immediately—particularly Mary, who knew Jesus well? When a dark, material view of existence is enveloping the mental atmosphere like a heavy cloud, real identity can't be seen. The crucifixion had brought such dense spiritual darkness that Jesus' followers couldn't, at first, see through it at all. The physical senses weren't able to show them what was going on.
