stood outside the tomb
The phrase "stood outside the tomb" suggests a posture of waiting and expectation. The Greek word for "stood" is "ἑστῶσα" (hestōsa), indicating a firm, resolute stance. This reflects Mary's determination and courage, as she remains at the site of Jesus' burial despite the potential danger and uncertainty. The "tomb" (τάφος, taphos) is a significant archaeological and historical element, as it was a rock-hewn grave typical of Jewish burial practices in the first century. This setting emphasizes the reality of Jesus' death and the miraculous nature of His resurrection.

weeping
Mary's "weeping" (κλαίουσα, klaiousa) is a profound expression of grief and loss. In the Jewish culture of the time, mourning was often a communal and expressive act, involving tears and lamentation. Her tears reflect not only personal sorrow but also the collective despair of Jesus' followers. This emotional display underscores the depth of her love and the seeming finality of death, setting the stage for the revelation of the resurrection.

And as she wept
The repetition of her weeping emphasizes the intensity of her sorrow. The conjunction "And" (καί, kai) connects her emotional state with her subsequent actions, showing that her grief propels her to seek understanding and closure. This persistence in the face of despair is a testament to her faith and hope, even when circumstances seem dire.

she bent down
The action of "bent down" (παρέκυψεν, parekypsen) suggests humility and a desire to see more clearly. This physical act of stooping low is symbolic of her willingness to seek truth and encounter the divine mystery. It reflects a posture of reverence and submission, qualities that are essential in the Christian walk of faith.

to look into the tomb
Her intention "to look into the tomb" indicates a search for answers and a longing for understanding. The Greek word for "look" is "βλέπειν" (blepein), which implies careful observation and discernment. This act of looking is not merely physical but also spiritual, as Mary seeks to comprehend the reality of Jesus' resurrection. The empty tomb becomes a symbol of hope and new life, inviting believers to look beyond the visible and trust in God's promises.

She stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre.--Comp. Note on John 20:5.

(2) The revelation made to adoring love, answering to the first portion of the high-priestly prayer. Verses 11, 12. - But Mary, who had followed Peter and John to the grave, and witnessed their amazement, and the gleam of hope in the face of John, was standing at the sepulcher without - not within it - weeping. She had not overcome her fears. She had not grasped the idea of resurrection or life. One crushing overmastering grief was still weighing heavily upon her, obscuring her vision, and breaking her heart. While she was continuously weeping, she, as Peter and John had done before her, stooped down (see ver. 5, note) to look into the sepulcher, and beholdeth two angels in white (λευκοῖς) or glittering garments - the adjective so often used for the precious heavenly things, for the garments of the glorified (Revelation 3:4, 5, 18; Acts 1:10; Revelation 7:9, 13, etc.) - sitting, the one at the head, and the (other) one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Here rationalism has come with various explanations. Some have said two white-robed Essenes like those who are also supposed to have appeared to our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, his secret friends, who had really spirited the body of Jesus away, lingered yet in the tomb, and duped Mary by a lying story. Scorning this hypothesis, legendarists have said - Here we see the subjective creation of the terrified and weeping women, who took white clothes for men or angels, and whose fancies were readily believed; while mythical hypotheses have suggested that a glamour of love, many years after the event, created a pathetic and beautiful fiction of what may have happened on that memorable dawn. Every one of these interpretations vanishes before the authenticity of John's Gospel. The disciple whom Jesus loved, the author of the Apocalypse, was personally acquainted with Mary of Magdala, and had much communion with her, and could heartily believe her story. If there be no spiritual world, no kind nor modes of existence beyond what we call the seen and temporal, and no thought higher than man's thought; if every testimony to this spiritual world right through the ages is a delusion, and can be explained away; if it be an irrational or impossible supposition; - why, then this vision must pass away with the rest. But the entire teaching of the Bible from end to end reveals and bears witness to a world ordinarily unseen by human eyes, but none the less real. To some the door thus opened into heaven is closed and sealed by the seven seals of materialism, agnosticism, dogmatism, scientism, worldliness, indifference, and unspirituality. How much do men forget that all human life is but a very temporary, ever-vanishing robe around a permanent and abiding spirit! that it is entirely conceivable that even pure spirit can come for our advantage into still more evanescent forms than those we now possess, which yet make appeal to what we call our senses of sight and hearing! Objective as such manifestations are, they are no more visible to all eyes or ears than the mysteries of art are open to all human sensibility. The harmonies of heaven are not heard by those who are muffled up with vesture of decay, and there is nothing lying beyond or behind the veil of sense to the unspiritual. The whole critical school might have rambled about the garden, with hammer and spectacles, and would never have seen an angel or the risen Christ; but, thank God, all eyes were not so dim. Some were there who saw and believed; and they have revolutionized the world's thought. Their vision is the key of time; their voice, the word that wakes the dead. This manifestation of the unseen world does not contradict the statement of Matthew that an angel of the Lord had been seen sitting on the displaced stone, and terrified the Roman guard; nor Mark's assurance that the women had seen a young man clothed in a white robe, who gave the Divine assurance which perplexed the eleven; nor Luke's description of two men clothed in glittering apparel, who told them that the Lord was living. Surely it is impossible to represent Mary of Magdala's present vision as identical with that which had occurred at an earlier hour; but it is clear that, if she shared in the earlier vision at all, she had not been convinced by it, for still she wept in utter despair. The fact that these angelic appearances should take different forms to different witnesses belongs to their very nature. Such visions, translated into words, would naturally differ. If there had been rigid uniformity in the statements of the three evangelists, and of the fourth with them, grave suspicion would have been attached to the entire recital. The experiences of several different women would be repeated a thousand times. They would be questioned separately and together in every possible way; and it appears from all four narratives that three forms of the ultimate traditions alike declare that hope and fear arising from the empty grave were quickened and stimulated by angelic ambassadors, who variously prepared their mind to receive the grand objective fact.

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