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Transcript 339A — Why Didn't Mary Recognize Jesus?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: The question I wanted to ask was, why didn't Mary recognize Jesus?
HC: When Jesus rose from the grave, and He's outside the tomb, Mary Magdalene supposed Him to be the gardener and did not recognize Him at first. And why did she not recognize Him?
Well, we might argue that she did not recognize Him because she was so grief-stricken that she was beside herself in her grief, and could not see Him. I believe, however, that the reason she did not recognize Him is that God did not open her eyes so that she might recognize Him.
Do you remember in Luke 24, when Jesus is on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection? He's with a couple of the disciples. And He talked with them a long time about what Moses and the prophets, that is, what the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, said concerning Christ. And they didn't recognize Him at all.
Then, when He broke bread with them, we read that God opened their eyes.
CALLER: When He broke the bread.
HC: Yes. We read in Luke 24:30, "And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed and brake and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. And He vanished out of their sight."
CALLER: Do you think He still had His same physical appearance then?
HC: I think absolutely he had His same physical appearance. He suggested to Thomas to touch the holes in His hands, and to put his hand in the hole in His side. He had the same body. He resurrected with the same body as He went into the tomb with.
CALLER: I just couldn't understand why the disciples and Mary hadn't recognized Him.
HC: Because God had a precise moment in time when He wanted them to recognize Him. God can open our eyes or close our eyes.
We might have an analogy here when we think about why it is that lots of people hear the Gospel, yet they remain in the sin of unbelief. They do not place their trust in Christ. They do not see Jesus as their personal Messiah. It requires the opening of their eyes by God Himself. Then they will see Him.
CALLER: Oh, yes. That's very very good. I should have known that. Thank you so much.