And she went and told them.
A sad interior and a cheery messenger
Mark is graphic: he paints an interior like a Dutch artist. We see a choice company-“Them that had been with Him.” We know many of the individuals, and are interested to note what they are doing, and how they bear their bereavement. We see-
I. A sorrowing assembly. “As they mourned and wept.” What a scene I We behold a common mourning, abundantly expressed by tears and lamentations. They mourned-
1. Because they had believed in Jesus, and loved Him; and therefore they were concerned at what had happened.
2. Because they felt their great loss in losing Him.
3. Because they had seen His sufferings and death.
4. Because they remembered their ill-conduct towards Him.
5. Because their hopes concerning Him were disappointed.
6. Because they were utterly bewildered as to what was now to be done, seeing their Leader was gone.
II. A consoling messenger.
1. Mary Magdalene was one of themselves.
2. She came with the best of news. The resurrection of Christ
(a) removes the cause of sorrow;
(b) assures of the help of a living Redeemer;”
(c) secures personal resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:23);
(d) brings personal justification (Romans 4:25).
3. She was not believed.
(a) Unbelief is apt to become chronic: they had not believed the Lord when He foretold His own resurrection, and so they do not believe an eyewitness who reported it.
(b) Unbelief is cruelly unjust: they made Mary Magdalene a liar, and yet all of them esteemed her.
III. A reassuring reflection.
1. We are not the only persons who have mourned an absent Lord.
2. We are not the only messengers who have been rejected.
3. We are sure beyond all doubt of the resurrection of Christ.
(a) The evidence is more abundant than that which testifies to any other great historical event.
(b) The apostles so believed it as to die as witnesses of it.
(c) They were very slow to be convinced, and therefore that which forced them to believe should have the same effect on us.
4. Great reason, then, for us to rejoice. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Unnecessary grief
A sorrow is none the less sharp because it is founded upon a mistake. Jacob mourned very bitterly for Joseph, though his darling was not torn in pieces, but on the way to be lord over all Egypt. Yet while there is of necessity so much well-founded sorrow in the world, it is a pity that one unnecessary pang should be endured, and endured by those who have the best possible grounds for joy. The case in the text before us is a typical one. Thousands are at this day mourning and weeping who ought to be rejoicing. Oh, the mass of needless grief! Unbelief works for the father of lies in this matter, and works misery out of falsehood among those who are not in truth children of sadness but heirs of light and joy. Rise, faith, and with thy light chase away this darkness! And if ever thou must have thy lamp trimmed by a humble Mary, do not despise her kindly aid.
Transient unbelief
“Is it always foggy here?” inquired a lady passenger of a Cunard steamer’s captain, when they were groping their way across the Banks of Newfoundland. “How should I know?” replied the captain, gruffly; “I do not live here.” But there are some of Christ’s professed followers who do manage to live in the chilling regions of spiritual fog for a great part of their unhappy lives. (Cuyler.)