whole world seemed turned upside down to the astonished wo- man ; and that under the influence of such an amazing revul- sion of feeling as that much-loved voice must have caused, her mind could only find expression in one passionate word — " Kab- boni," or Master.
The expression, " turned herself," in this verse, is rather curious. We know, from the fourteenth verse, that Mary had already turned once from the grave, when Jesus appeared be- hind her. Here again we are told that she *' turned herself." The simplest explanation seems to be, that when she did not recognize the person who spoke to her, and thought He had been the gardener, she partially turned away, as a woman naturally would from a strange man, and hardly looked at Him, while she spoke of taking the body away. But the moment the voice of Jesus sounded in her ears, she turned again directly to Him, aad made some movement towards Him, as she uttered the cry, " liabboni." — Thus there were three movements : first, a turning round to see who was behind her ; second, a partial turning away, when she heard a voice she did not recognize ; and finally, a quick, passionate turning round entirely, when the well-known voice of her Master said, " Mary." So at least it appears to me.
Chrysostom says, " It seems to me that after having said, 'Where hast thou laid Him ? ' she turned to the angels to ask why they were astonished ; and that then Christ, by calling her by name, turned her back to Himself from them, and revealed Himself by His voice."
The boundless compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ to His believing people comes out wonderfully in this verse. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows how weak our bodily frame is, and how much excessive sorrow can unnerve and stupefy our minds. He can pass over much darkness of understanding, much slowness of comprehension, when He sees real, genuine, hearty, bold, persevering, thorough love to Himself and His Person. We see this prominently brought out in His dealing with Mary Magdalene, when He re- vealed Himself to her. He graciously pardons her forgetful- ness of His oft -repeated declaration that He would rise again after His death, pities her deep sorrow, and abundantly rewards her love. These things are written for our learning. Jesus never changes. What He was, when He revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene, He is at this day,
Rabboni, according to Parkhurst, " is nearly of the same im- port as Rabbi. St. John explains both by the same word, — teacher. But Lightfoot and others say it was a term of higher respect." Parkhurst thinks it is formed from the Chaldee,and includes the idea, " my Master."
17. — [Jesus saith... Touch Me not. ..my Father.] This saying of our liOrd is undeniably a very " deep thing," and the real meaning