Let us note how St. John takes it for granted that his readers were acquainted with the other three Gospels, and knew that " a stone " had been rolled to the door of the sepulchre. He here speaks of " the stone." Yet he has said nothing about it before.
There seems strong internal evidence that Mary, and the other women who agreed to come with her to the sepulchre, could not have known of the Roman guard having been placed around it. It seems, at all events, highly improbable that they would have gone there before the sun was up, if they had ex- pected to find Koman soldiers at the place.
Andrews observes that four special favors were granted to Mary in one day : (1) To see the angels ; (2) To see Christ at all; (3) To see Him first of all ; (4) To be employed by Christ to carry a heavenly errand. And why ? Because she loved much. He adds, " We cannot say that she believed much. By her thrice repeated saying her Lord was ' taken away ' (2, 13, 15 verses), it seems she believed no more than the high priest would have had the world believe, that He was taken away by night."
2.— {Thensherunneth?i I believe this expression means that Mary Magdalene, the moment she saw the stone rolled away from its place, ran off alone to tell the news to Peter and John. She did not go a step nearer the tomb, but left the other wo- men to go up to the grave and look in, and thus missed seeing the angel whom they saw. She waited for nothing. The stone was moved. The body, she at once concluded, had been taken away. She turned on her heel at once and ran off to tell the two chief Apostles. The rest of the party probably drew near to the grave slowly and hesitatingly, not knowing what to think or expect ; and Mary was probably a long way on the road to the dwelling of Peter and John, before they finally turned away from the tomb. This should be carefully noticed, if we would reconcile the narratives of Matthew and John. It is clear to my own mind that there was something peculiar and striking in the conduct of Mary Magdalene this wonderful morning, and St. John desires on that account to direct our special attention to it. " Mary," he seems to say, " was the first to come to the tomb, the first to see that the stone was removed, and the one that ran off alone to tell me and Peter. Many of the Galilean women showed faith, and love, and zeal that morning, but none more than Mary."
\^And cometh...Peter... other disciple.Joved.'] The other disci- ple here mentioned was unquestionably John. Mary's reasons for running to tell these two first were probably these, {a) They were chief men among the Apostles, (b) They had been the two who had stuck most closely to Jesus up to the last, and Bhown most faith and love, and were naturally most anxious to know about His body, (c) Wherever John was, Mary the