On Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene and another Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, were the first of Jesus’ followers to discover the empty tomb. They had made arrangements with a number of other women to meet there to complete their burial custom for Jesus’ body, which was hastily interred Thursday evening as the required sabbath for the first day of unleavened bread was beginning. Since the seventh day Sabbath followed immediately after from Friday evening till Saturday evening, this was the first opportunity they had to attend to the work. Salome, likely the sister of Jesus’ mother Mary, was evidently with them as they started (Mar 16:1) but the two Marys went on ahead to meet others that Luke mentions leaving Salome to purchase the necessary items. For it was still early, “there yet being darkness” (Joh 20:1), and the vendors would still be arriving in the marketplaces. Upon arriving at the tomb, the two women were immediately disoriented to find the stone rolled away, as well as Roman guards whom they were not expecting and who seemed unnerved themselves. Upon entering the tomb they found it empty, and had a surreal experience, like a trance, in which they saw a young man wearing a white robe telling them he knew they were looking for Jesus but He wasn’t there, for He had risen. He then commanded them to go tell His disciples and Peter that He would go before them into Galilee as He had arranged before His crucifixion, where they would see Him at a designated mountain (Mat 26:32, 28:7,10,16). They then fled trembling from the tomb. They were full of fear not just from the angelic encounter, but as their normal state of mind returned, from their very human thoughts of what had actually happened to Jesus’ body, why there were Roman guards outside, and the potential danger they could be in as followers of one who had just been executed as the equivalent of what authorities today would label a terrorist so as to squash His movement.
What then of Salome and the other women whom they were to meet there? While it is possible that they crossed paths with some of them, should we necessarily assume that was the case? Would the two Marys have necessarily left the same way that they came, as if they were all staying in the same location as Jesus’ disciples so that we would expect them to run into these others on their way? See Luk 24:1-9 which seems to describe another, different experience at the tomb by these other women who would have arrived not long after the two Marys had left. Similarly, should we necessarily assume that as the two Marys fled the tomb that they stayed together as they went, as if all His disciples would be in the same place? See Joh 20:1-2, which indicates that Peter and John were together, but evidently not with the other disciples, so that Mary Magdalene came to them while the other Mary perhaps went to another location to tell others, or even met the other women on her way. Although John only mentions Mary Magdalene by name as having been at the tomb, what one word in Joh 20:2 makes clear that she wasn’t alone there? What do the words that she reported to Peter and John about her experience at the tomb indicate about how quickly the vision of the angel at the tomb had faded, like a dream, by the time she reached them, so that she reported what she had rationalized in her mind must have happened because in her normal mind her ecstatic experience at the tomb was so extraordinary she at first concluded it wasn’t real? Cf. the ecstatic visions Paul mentions in 2Co 12:2-3 that he could not determine were in or out of his body.
If we are to accept the Biblical record as true, what does the women’s experience with the angel teach us about the existence of things outside of our normal experience that are real even though they defy any “natural” explanation and leave us wondering if such experiences really happened or if we just imagined them? On the other hand, should we necessarily assume that such spiritual encounters must be true in the sense of originating from God? See 2Co 11:14 and consider how the devil has throughout history used such experiences to deceive people, such as Mohammed, who at first thought his visions were demon-inspired before becoming convinced they were from God. What commands has God given His people against seeking out such encounters, that should naturally make them suspicious of such experiences? See Lev 19:31, 20:27, Deut 18:10-11. Although God can, and at rare times as we find throughout the Bible does, break through the usual boundary He has fixed between the spiritual and our natural world, how can we know such instances are really from Him and not from Satan appearing as an angel of light? See 1Th 5:19-22; cf. Isa 8:20, Mat 7:15-16, Act 17:11, 1Jo 4:1, Rev 2:2. If God does interrupt the normal course of our world with such a spiritual experience or revelation, should we ever expect it to in any way contradict what He has previously revealed in His word? See Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8, Jam 1:17. What does this teach us about the importance of knowing and understanding God’s word s in order to discern if something extraordinary is really from God and not some subtle deception from the devil or even our own wishful thinking or imagination? Should we ever accept something as true on the sole basis that it seems right to us? See Pro 14:12. Even if we have an ecstatic experience that is so beautiful that our feelings tell us that it must be true, should we ever rely solely upon our emotions as the determination of whether or not it is true?