<p>20:1 <em>Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb</em>- Mary came seeking the Lord early in the morning&hellip; and this inevitably takes our minds to some OT passages which speak of doing just this:</p><p>- &nbsp;&ldquo;O God, thou <em>art</em> my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;&nbsp;&nbsp; To see thy power and thy glory&rdquo; (Ps. 63:1,2). The resurrection of Jesus showed clearly both the power (2 Cor. 13:4) and glory (Rom. 6:4) of the Father. For Mary, life without her Lord was a dry and thirsty land. This was why she went to the grave early that morning. She was simply aching for Him. And she had well learnt the Lord&rsquo;s teaching, that her brother&rsquo;s resurrection had been associated with the glory of the Father (Jn. 11:40). She went early to the tomb to seek the Father&rsquo;s glory- so the allusion to Ps. 63 implies. She was the one person who had actually believed in advance the Lord&rsquo;s teaching about resurrection. And yet even she was confused- half her brain perceived it all and believed it, and was rewarded by being the first to see the risen Lord; and yet another part of her brain was simply overcome with grief, believing that the gardener had somehow removed the body some place else. And our own highest heights of spiritual perception are likewise shrouded by such humanity too.<br />- &ldquo;I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me&rdquo; (Prov. 8:17) is written in the first instance of wisdom. And yet the Lord Jesus has &ldquo;wisdom&rdquo; as one of His titles (Mt. 12:42; 1 Cor. 1:24,30). Mary sat at the Lord&rsquo;s feet to hear His wisdom; to her, she showed in practice what it means to comprehend Jesus as &ldquo;the wisdom of God&rdquo;. She anxiously heard His words. And thus she sought Him early&hellip;because she so wanted to hear His wisdom again. Of course, she loved Him. But that love was rooted in respect and almost an addiction to His wisdom. It was this that she loved about Him, and it was this which led her to the grave early. And it was this which led her to the honour of being the first to see the risen Jesus.<br />- &ldquo;Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of <em>our</em> soul <em>is</em> to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early&rdquo; (Is. 26:8,9) makes the same connection between seeking the Lord early, and loving His words. &nbsp;</p><p>John&rsquo;s record seems to reflect how he saw parallels between himself and Mary in their witness to the resurrection. They both &ldquo;came to the tomb&rdquo; (Jn. 20:1,4), stood outside, &ldquo;stooped&rdquo; and looked into the tomb (Jn. 20:5,11), &ldquo;beheld&hellip; saw&rdquo; (Jn. 20:5,12). Yet Mary was the first to see the risen Lord. The testimony of a woman didn&rsquo;t count in the 1st century world, and yet God chose her to be the first witness. In doing so, He was teaching that the work of witness and the sheer power of what we are witnesses to can transform the most hesitant and inappropriate person into a preacher of the irrepressible good news, even with the whole world against them. It&rsquo;s as if John is saying in his account of the Gospel that Mary was in some ways his pattern; he and her were to be connected. He wasn&rsquo;t ashamed to thus identify himself with the witness of a woman. Ps. 68 is prophetic of the Lord&rsquo;s death and resurrection. Verse 18 is specifically quoted in the New Testament about His ascension. Verse 11 predicts that: &ldquo;The Lord gave the word: the women that publish the tidings are a great host&rdquo;. This primarily concerns the publishing of the Lord&rsquo;s resurrection, although the imagery is based upon the singing of Miriam and the women of Israel after the Red Sea deliverance. Clearly enough, women were to play a major part in the witness to the Lord&rsquo;s resurrection. This was shown by the women being commanded to go tell their brethren that the Lord had risen indeed. And yet there is ample evidence that it was women who in practice were the more compelling preachers of the Gospel in the first century ecclesia. The simple fact is that God delegated to women the duty of witnessing to what was for Him the most momentous and meaningful act in all His creation- the raising of His Son from the dead. He was clearly making a point- that those whose witness this world may despise, are those He uses. And in this we can take endless personal encouragement, beset as we are by our own sense of inadequacy as preachers.&nbsp;<br />John's record presents the resurrection through the eyes of Mary Magdalene. She went alone to the tomb while it was yet dark. This doesn't contradict the other accounts, which pick up the story at sunrise, when all the women were together there.</p>