They've taken him...

He is risen indeed!

As a Bible nerd, I often find myself getting distracted by the little details. In this regard, I can often ignore an entire sermon and fixate on just a few words.

Like today...

It might've been the greatest easter sermon ever delivered, but I'm sitting by the back pillar of the church trying to reconcile the pronoun-antecedent pairings.

What am I talking about?

John 20:2 "Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him."

Matching the pronoun SHE to Mary Magdalene is easy. John clarifies it in 20:1. The pronoun that causes such a confusion is the line that the Beloved Disciple John heard from the lips of Mary Magdalene. THEY...

If you read ONLY the Gospel of John, the context of the message has LOTS of wiggle room for interpretation.

A. The Pharisees?

B. The Romans?

C. Herod's guys?

D. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea?

All four of those possibilities could work, and each interpretation would terrify and confuse poor MM. The vindictive Pharisees could steal the miracle if they steal the body. The Romans could just be cruel. Herod's guys could have been spiteful and dumped the body in a ditch. Or what if some "new" Christians like Nicodemus and Joseph took the body for themselves to be first in line at the resurrection.

In the context of John, there are all sorts of ways to portray Mary Magdalene since we don't have a pronoun-antecedent match. But do we have an absolute answer?

Not according to John.

John and Peter were in hiding with the other disciples when Mary burst into the room to shout out "THEY..."

Now, John and Peter had reason to think A, B, C, and D, but for Mary, the meaning of her THEY can be found in the other Gospels.

All four Gospels are in harmony with the fact that THE WOMEN went back to the tomb on the day after the Sabbath (our Saturday). They all agree it was pretty early, too. Remember that a Jewish Day ends at dusk and begins with the first hour of evening. So this Sunday was already about 10-12 hours old. If they saw Jesus die at our 3 PM, then they were getting front row seats for the return, weren't they?

Remember that Mary was with Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea when they prepared Christ's body for burial, They laid the body in the tomb (with permission). If you were expecting Jesus to rise from the dead, would you stay at the tomb for three days? Perhaps.

However, in Matt 27:62=66, it describes how the Pharisees asked the Romans to place a guard over the tomb (since the Jewish guards couldn't work on a Sabbath?). It seems very likely that Mary saw the Romans show up to the tomb before she left to sleep for the Sabbath (Luke 23:56). When she returned, 10-12 hours following the end of the Sabbath, it might have worried her.

Did the Romans steal the body?

The Pharisees? Others? However, the explanation can be found in another Gospel.

While Mark proves my point about Mary "seeing" the Romans arrive the prior day (her worry about he "sealing stone" described in Matt 27:66), it is Matthew's Gospel that adds the needed details:

Matt 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

Just as Mary arrives, she sees the sealed tomb and the same Romans...relief!

But then...

Earthquake!

Angel #1

Stone rolled!

A conversation with the angel!

A command to go to Galilee!

Now, combine this arrival at the tomb with Mark's Luke's account, which adds:

A peak into the tomb.

Angel #2 (right side according to Mark)

Angel #3 (added by Luke)

So the Roman guards just sat there like "dead men" while all this was happening. Mary Magadlene and the other women arrived at a closed tomb, saw it opened by Angel #1, peaked inside, saw Angels #2 and #3, and then they ALL RAN BACK.

John? He's back in hiding.

So's Peter.

None of them saw any of this.

So when Mary Magdalen bursts through the door, she's supposed to tell them to go find Jesus in Galilee.

Oops!

Instead, she says the words John remembered (and wrote) in his Gospel:

" They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him."

True. Mary saw it was empty.

Yet, she saw it was guarded and sealed.

So not the Pharisees or Herod.

The Romans didn't do it either, they were still standing there when the angel opened it.

THEY=ANGELS.

Yep, both Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us the context of what Mary saw. She saw numerous angels arrive on the scene, show authority over the Romans, clarify that Jesus was gone, and then told the women that they should look for Jesus in Galilee.

Mary certainly wanted front row seats for the resurrection. She didn't know who these angels were or what they'd done with Jesus. They claimed he'd risen, but according to her watch, it was still too early. (On the traditional timeline, Jesus had only been dead for 39 hours. 3 nights and days=72 hours). The same woman who wrapped his body in approximately 100 lbs of incense had brought oil on Sunday morning. Why? Isn't there plenty of perfume? Oh, she expected to anoint a king, didn't she?!?! She wanted to be there, and dang it all, those meddling angels stole Jesus away from her!

"They (the Angels) have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they (the angels) have laid him."

Literal Mary doesn't believe the angels. She knew Jesus said: and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

She put Jesus in the tomb (night 1), she slept during night 2 (the Sabbath), and she arrived pre-dawn for the shortest interpretation (if you count those 2-3 hours prior to burial) of Day 3. But night 3? He's not going to rise until after 3 NIGHTS!

So even after getting John and Peter (who verified the tomb was indeed empty) she hung around while John and Peter went to their home (Not Jerusalem! Galilee! Taking the Road to Emmaus?) She was so convinced that THEY were wrong that she lingered so long that 2 more angels (angels #4/#5) tried nudging her north to Galilee. Who does Mary blame? Those other angels took him!

John 20:13 She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

She really wanted to be front row, didn't she? 5 angels don't even phase her.

To wrap things up, putting the sealed tomb, and the angel who unseals it, into the story creates for a much more purposeful Mary, who was finally given her wish when Jesus changes the whole "Galilee Plan" and makes a specially appearance for Mary.

Amen!