John 20:11-16

11 But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,

12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13 They told her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

World English Bible, public domain

A garden, an empty tomb and a woman crying so hard she cannot see straight. On the first Easter morning, Mary stands outside the grave of Jesus, notices a man nearby and takes him for the gardener. She only knows who he is when he says her name.

John tells it simply. Mary has found the tomb empty, and she cannot stop weeping. Two angels ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” (John 20:13), and she answers the way anyone in fresh grief might: someone has taken him, and she does not know where. Then she turns and sees a man standing there. She is so certain of what she has lost that she cannot recognize what is in front of her. She speaks to him, “supposing him to be the gardener” (John 20:15), and offers to carry the body away herself. Then he says one word, her own name, and everything turns.

There is something honest about that mistake. Grief narrows your eyes. So can worry, or a long, dry stretch when prayer feels like talking to a wall. You may sit down to write in a season like that, looking hard for one thing and missing another. The passage does not scold Mary for her tears or her confusion. She is asked a question twice, and a question leaves room for an answer. Whatever you believe about that morning, you probably know what it is to be called by name by someone who sees you clearly.

Here is one way to picture it. Say you are digging a spring garden bed. The shovel turns over cold dirt, old roots, a stone. Then you lift a clump and find a chrysalis clinging to a dead stem, brown and still, looking like nothing much at all. You might write about that moment: the same shovel that buried bulbs in autumn is now uncovering this. Gardens hold digging, burial and new life in the same small patch of ground, which may be part of why this story happens in one.

Before you write

Try writing your own name at the top of the page before you begin, slowly, the way someone who loves you might say it. Then choose the prompt below that sits closest to where you are standing today, whether that is near the tomb or already turning around. If you would like more ideas for this season, our Easter prompts are there too.

Journal prompts

  1. Mary looked straight at Jesus and saw a gardener. When have you been so sure of what you lost that you missed something standing right in front of you?

  2. Picture a shovel turning over garden soil. What in your life right now feels buried, and what might be quietly growing under it?

  3. Mary is asked twice why she is weeping. Write your own honest answer to that question today, even if the answer is that you do not know.

  4. Remember a time someone said your name in a way that made you feel truly seen. Who was it, and what shifted in you?

  5. You may have no settled view of what happened at that tomb. Where in your life would you most like to be recognized, by God or by anyone, and what would that feel like?

  6. Write a short prayer from where Mary stood. Tell God plainly what you are looking for and where you have already searched.

  7. A chrysalis looks lifeless until it opens. Where have you seen something new come out of a thing you thought was finished?

  8. This week, step into a garden, a park or a patch of weeds and find one sign of new growth. What do you want to remember about it?