John 20:13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

John 20:13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

What do the two angels in white say to Mary when she sees them sitting in the tomb, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying?

“…‘Woman, why are you weeping?’…” (John 20:13).

•       “Two angels in white (20:12–13). In that day and culture, angelic appearances were no less real than what in modern parlance is called ‘evidence.’ Angels or celestial visitors are often depicted as clad in white. The appearance of angels in pairs is likewise not uncommon in descriptions of heavenly visitations.”

Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: John, Acts. vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 188.

•       “4.5. Angels and the Welfare of Humans. Angels have various functions in relation to God’s people. “Little ones” (perhaps childlike believers rather than children as such) have guardian angels who dwell in God’s presence (Mt 18:10; see Child, Children). The language is drawn from the context of a royal court and concerns access to the king. Angels with such access to God are particularly important in Jewish thought, being called “angels of the Presence” (Jub. 1:27; T. Levi. 3:4–8; 1QH 6:13; 1QSb 4:26). Since the “little ones” are served by such angels who actually look on God’s face—a privilege not normally belonging even to the angels closely associated with God’s throne (1 Enoch 14:21)—it is clear that God has great concern for them.

Elsewhere, angels are said to be linked with God’s people as a nation (Dan 12:1), with individual churches (Rev 1:20), with the worshiping community at Qumran (1QSa 2:8–9) and with pious individuals (1QH 5:20–22). Jesus could speak of joy* in the presence of God’s angels (either the joy of angels or joy shared by God and angels) when a sinner repents, a further indication of the angels’ alignment with the purposes of God (Lk 15:10; cf. 15:7). In a manner unparalleled in Jewish writings prior to the second century A.D., Jesus speaks of angels carrying Lazarus to a place of bliss at death (Lk 16:22).

As we have already noted, Jesus received angelic assistance following his temptation in the wilderness (Mt 4:11; Mk 1:13). At the close of his ministry, in the midst of his arrest in Gethsemane, he professed to have at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels (Mt 26:53). The implied military* function of these angels is reminiscent of the Qumran sectarians’ anticipation that angels would fight for them in the eschatological war (1QM 7:6; 13:10). Yet Jesus chose the way of suffering and death to fulfill his mission (see Death of Jesus).

5. The Gospel of John

Compared with the Synoptics, there are relatively few references to angels in the Gospel of John and no mention of them in relation to a final judgment. This is understandable in the light of John’s realized eschatology*. There are only three (or perhaps four) passages to consider.

John’s Gospel reflects popular beliefs regarding angels in at least one instance. The idea that angels bring divine revelation is reflected in the crowd’s interpretation of the divine voice from heaven (Jn 12:29). While some identify it as thunder, others perceive it to be the voice of an angel. John 5:4 (though unlikely to have been part of the original text) accords with a then-popular notion that unusual phenomena were attributable to angels. Here the healing properties of the pool at Bethesda are ascribed to the stirring of the waters by an angel of the Lord.

Early in the Fourth Gospel Jesus tells Nathanael he will “see heaven opened, and God’s angels ascending and descending on the Son of man” (Jn 1:51). The allusion is to the patriarch Jacob’s vision of a ladder on which angels ascended and descended, linking heaven and earth (Gen 28:10–17). Jesus appears to be telling Nathanael in a figurative way that once again God would reveal himself from heaven to the pious on earth, and that this revelation would directly involve Jesus as the Son of man (cf. Jn 1:14, 18; 3:13).

Finally, on resurrection morning Mary Magdalene looks into the tomb and finds two angels in white seated where Jesus’ body had lain (Jn 20:11–12). Apparently they were not present immediately prior to this, when Peter and his companion had gone inside (Jn 20:3–8).

6. Conclusion

The Gospels present angels as exercising functions similar to what we may observe in the OT and intertestamental Jewish writings. These include mediating heavenly revelation, aiding the pious and assisting in the final judgment. However, unlike the OT and other Jewish writings, the angelology of the Gospels is, like the Gospels as a whole, essentially christocentric. The functions of angels relate directly to the life and ministry of Jesus. Specifically, angels mediate direct revelation from God only at two moments: Jesus’ birth and his resurrection. In the interim, he himself is the pre-eminent disclosure of God."

M. J. Davidson, “Angels,” ed. Joel B. Green and Scot McKnight, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 10–11.

How does Mary respond to the angels' question, "Woman, why are you weeping?"

“… ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’…” (John 20:13).

Father,

Yeshua died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried. He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 

You promised the Gospel beforehand through Your prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning Your Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. And I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is Your power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it Your righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

Glory and thanks to You through Yeshua for so great a salvation. For by grace we have been saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is Your gift; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are Your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which You prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. May we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You. In Yeshua’s Name, Amen.