<p>20:14 <em>When she had said this, she turned herself around and saw Jesus standing there; but did not know that it was Jesus</em>- She apparently perceived they were Angels (:12); but her focus on the Lord was so great that she was not impressed with that. All she wanted was Him. The later New Testament frequently tackles the Jewish obsession with Angels, to the point that the Christian Jews were losing their focus upon the Lord Jesus. And here in visual terms John addresses that issue, by presenting Mary as so focused upon the Lord that even meeting two white Angels was of no interest to her compared to her focus upon Him.</p><p>Jewish women were not supposed to talk to men in public. The fact that Mary addresses the man whom she thinks of as &ldquo;the gardener&rdquo; shows how her love for Jesus, her search for Him, led her to break out of gender roles. She perceived that through His death, there was now neither male nor female, but a new kind of family (Jn. 20:14,15).</p><p>It is emphasized that Mary Magdalene beheld the cross of Jesus (Mk. 15:40)- the same word is used about how she came <em>to see</em> the sepulchre (Mt. 28:1); and now she <em>saw </em>Jesus standing (Jn. 20:14). People beheld the spectacle of the crucifixion (Lk. 23:48) and repented, smiting their breasts in recognition of their sinfulness. She was representative of us all. John&rsquo;s Gospel is full of references to the crucifixion, and especially the idea of &lsquo;seeing&rsquo; / perceiving its&rsquo; real meaning. The prologue invites us too to be amongst those who &ldquo;beheld his glory&rdquo;. &ldquo;This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life&rdquo; (Jn. 6:40) connects with the idea of looking unto the bronze snake (which represented Christ on the cross) and receiving life. &nbsp;&ldquo;And he that seeth&nbsp;on the cross seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness&rdquo; (Jn. 12:45,46). Note again the linkage between seeing and believing; which Jn. 3 applies to belief in the crucified Jesus, as Israel had to believe in the bronze snake on the pole. The light of the world was defined in Jn. 3 as the light of the cross. In seeing / perceiving Christ on the cross, we perceive the essence of God- for the Father was so intensely manifested in the Son. There, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. &nbsp;The emphasis on Mary Magdalene being the one who beheld the cross, the one who perceived the things of the Lord&rsquo;s death and resurrection, is surely to set her up as our example. For we can look at the cross without perceiving the glory and wonder it all, neither perceiving the urgency of the imperative in the things which were so uniquely crystallized there. She, the one with former 'demons' and a sinful past, and a mere woman, in the eyes of her world, is set up as a pattern for all who shall see the Son in faith.</p>