<p>20:18- see on Mk. 3:14.</p><p><em>Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples: I have seen the Lord And she told them that he had said these things to her</em>-&nbsp; <br />Mary went to tell others &ldquo;what she had seen and heard&rdquo; (Jn. 20:18), and John in one of his many later allusions back to his Gospel uses these very words about all the apostles- &ldquo;that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you&rdquo; (1 Jn. 1:1,3). He and the other brethren took Mary as their inspiration in the work of witness, as should we.</p><p>Mary is very convinced as to what she had witnessed; she goes and tells the others that she has actually seen the Lord in person, and that He spoke words to her which she was now telling them. By contrast, the other women spoke in more abstract terms of having seen &ldquo;a vision of Angels&rdquo; (Lk. 24:23), rather than saying how they actually met Angels; and likewise the disciples understood the Lord&rsquo;s appearance to them as them having &ldquo;seen a spirit&rdquo; (Lk. 24:37). But Mary is far more concrete; she was immediately convinced of the actual, personal, bodily resurrection of the Lord. To &lsquo;spiritualize&rsquo; is so often really an excuse for lack of faith. And so many, from ivory tower theologians to JWs, have fallen into this error. Faith in the end is about concrete, actual things which defy all the &lsquo;laws&rsquo; of our worldviews. And it was this faith which Mary showed. See on Mk. 16:9.</p><p>&quot;I have seen the Lord&quot; is consciously alluding to Jn. 14:19 and Jn. 16:16, where the Lord had prophesied that all the disciples would see Him. It's as if John saw her as the representative of them all. Further evidence of this is found in the way John records the Lord as saying that He calls His sheep by name, and they recognize His voice (Jn. 10:5)- and by then recording how Mary Magdalene was the one who recognized the Lord&rsquo;s voice when He called her name (Jn. 20:16), as if she represents all the Lord&rsquo;s sheep. A woman rising early and searching for the Man whom she loves, asking the watchmen whether they have seen him, then finding him, seizing him and not letting him go&hellip; this is all the fulfilment of Song 3:1-4, where the bride of Christ is pictured doing these very things. Mary Magdalene is therefore used by John as a symbol for all the believers, or at least for the Jewish Messianic community searching for Jesus. Compare too the Lord&rsquo;s reassurance of Mary Magdalene with language of Is. 43:1 to the whole community of believers: &ldquo;Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name&hellip;&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p>