Mary at the Tomb

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look^* into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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.’ ¹⁶Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,^* ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). – John 20: 11 - 16

I don’t remember what the sermon was, last year on Easter. I do remember the priest saying, at the 10:30 service, that one of the women at the 8:30 service had asked him after, if he knew WHY Mary didn’t recognize Jesus when she saw him. She said, “Because a woman who has been weeping will not look you in the eye.”

I do know how she recognized him – there is nothing as unmistakable as your own name coming out of the mouth of your Beloved.