There’s something so poignant about the first sounds of birdsong in spring.  Their clear notes are almost piercing at first, louder after a long absence.  It makes you realize that you’ve missed the sweet sound, that the passing winter was silent, void of the music now filling the air. 

I wonder if Mary Magdalene’s Easter morning walk to the garden was accompanied by birdsong.  Did nature sense something big was happening? 

I love imaging this scene in John 20 and picturing myself in Mary’s shoes.  What was that morning like?  How far did she have to walk?  Was it light by the time she got to the garden?  What did she see – her 360-degree view of the scene that changed everything?

I like to imagine that she heard birdsong as she entered the garden.  Maybe the smell of wet earth rose to meet her.  Maybe the morning mist was starting to clear as she neared the tomb.   

I don’t know the specifics of that Easter morning, but I do know Jesus cast seven demons out of her (Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2).  I know He was her only hope.  If He didn’t rise from the dead, then there would be nothing to keep her from going back to her old life, no power to maintain her freedom.  So, she would not leave Jesus.  She could not.  He was her only hope – and while that hope may have been dwindling in His followers, it was not extinguished. 

With an ember of hope flickering in her eyes and undying love in her heart, she went to the tomb, to the last place she had seen Him.  She went to minister to Him one last time.  She could not bear to be separated from Him, even from His dead body.  She had to see it through to the end.  Her devotion demanded it. 

And devotion she had in spades.  Let’s continue our deep dive into John 20 and consider the ways in which Mary’s devotion to Jesus was expressed.

1. When she bent down to look into the now empty tomb, she saw two angels who asked her why she was crying.  Look at her choice of words and hear the devotion in her voice.  Verse 13 records her response: “They have taken my Lord away.”  (NIV) Not Jesus of Nazareth, not the Lord – my Lord.  Even after everything that happened, He was still her Lord.  Circumstances did not shake her faith.  He was still her Lord, and she wasn’t leaving that garden until she did what she came to do.  She was going to bless Him – one last time.  She was faithful to the end. 

But it wasn’t the end.  It was the beginning of “a new and better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22 NIV), of “a new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20 NIV), a way she was about to discover. 

2. Mary went to the tomb the first chance she got – very early, while it was still dark.  Since the Sabbath (a day of rest) was now over, this meant she could begin the work she had to put on hold the day before.  She could go gather water, bake bread, tend to the house – whatever a day in the life of a woman looked like back then, whatever her friends and neighbors were busying themselves with.  But not our Mary.  She had a more important job to do that day.  She prioritized ministering to Jesus before tackling her to-do list. 

3. And finally, after everything that happened, she stayed.  Think about the day before John 20 – after the events of Friday and before Sunday happened.  Think about that silent, somber Saturday, a Sabbath like no other.  Were they numb with shock?  Scared for their own lives?  Or too overwhelmed to do anything but grieve?

And think about Good Friday.  What must it have been like to stand at the foot of the cross and look up and see Jesus?  We know from Isaiah 52 and 53 that he was disfigured.  He was beaten beyond recognition.  What must it have been like to see the man you traveled around with, the man you broke bread with, the man you trusted and followed, the man who became so dear to you, the man you worshipped – dying on a cross?

Utter heartbreak.

And that, I think, was why she stayed at the tomb after the others came and left.  (John 20:10, 11) Clinging to His dead body, clinging to His memory – she was grieving.  And that was how she was processing it.  Her devotion couldn’t allow her to do otherwise.  He meant too much to her.  So, she stayed – and encountered life. 

I love dissecting John 20, and not just around Easter.  It’s one of the sweetest passages in all of Scripture to me.  Because just as she was there seeking Jesus, He was there seeking her.  Her devotion to Him was only trumped by His devotion to her. 

Verse 15 says “Whom are you seeking?”  Mary knew where to go to find what she needed.  But what about us?  What are we seeking?  The approval of others?  Success?  Escape?  Ease?  To have our own way all the time?

What are we seeking?  How we spend our time, how we spend our money, the choices we make every day – what do they reveal about what really matters to us?

Let us learn from Mary’s example and look nowhere else for what only He provides.  Only He satisfies.  Only He makes us come alive. 

Mary knew that and was rewarded for it.  She loved Him in life, and she loved Him in death. Her fierce devotion and unwavering faith make her a hero in my book.   

I want to love the Lord with a love like that – when all hope seems lost, to hold on to hope anyway.  To see things through to the end, come what may.

I want to live out my own John 20 experience every day by clinging to the Lord as my only source of life, by knowing this One who is so worth knowing, by serving Him with every breath. 

And just like Mary, I have a story to tell.  “I have seen the Lord!” John 20:18 NIV Mary was the first witness to the resurrection of Jesus, an incredible honor.  And I am witness to His resurrection power working in my life every day.  I have seen the Lord move in my life in powerful ways, time and again.

As I look back at the first Easter and look ahead to all that’s to come, I see the life and love of Jesus – a life and love available to all who, like Mary, come to Him and remain in Him, come what may.  May we follow our hero’s example.  May we embrace “the life that is truly life.” 1 Timothy 6:19 NIV