th the body of her Lord, she
exclaimed: "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast
laid him, and I will take him away." She knew that Jesus had been
interred in a borrowed tomb; and if the body had been dispossessed of
that resting place, she was prepared to provide another. "Tell me where
thou hast laid him," she pleaded.

It was Jesus to whom she spake, her beloved Lord, though she knew it
not. One word from His living lips changed her agonized grief into
ecstatic joy. "Jesus saith unto her, Mary." The voice, the tone, the
tender accent she had heard and loved in the earlier days lifted her
from the despairing depths into which she had sunk. She turned, and saw
the Lord. In a transport of joy she reached out her arms to embrace Him,
uttering only the endearing and worshipful word, "Rabboni," meaning My
beloved Master. Jesus, restrained her impulsive manifestation of
reverent love, saying, "Touch me not[1358] for I am not yet ascended to
my Father," and adding, "but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I
ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your
God."[1359]

To a woman, to Mary of Magdala, was given the honor of being the first
among mortals to behold a resurrected Soul, and that Soul, the Lord
Jesus.[1360] To other favored women did the risen Lord next manifest
Himself, including Mary the mother of Joses, Joanna, and Salome the
mother of the apostles James and John. These and the other women with
them had been affrighted by the presence of the angel at the tomb, and
had departed with mingled fear and joy. They were not present when Peter
and John entered the vault, nor afterward when the Lord made Himself
known to Mary Magdalene. They may have returned later, for some of them
appear to have entered the sepulchre, and to have seen that the Lord's
body was not there. As they stood wondering in perplexity and
astonishment, they became aware of the presence of two men in shining
garments, and as the women "bowed down their faces to the earth" the
angels said unto them: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not
here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in
Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they
remembered his words."[1361] As they were returning to the city to
deliver the message to the disciples, "Jesus met them, saying, All hail.
And they came and held