JOHN 20:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,”
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb — Mary's return to the tomb mirrors the beloved disciple's movement; again she bends (parakuptō) to peer within. Her persistent action suggests either desperation to recover the body or (in dramatic irony) preparation for the risen Jesus' revelation. The repeated gesture of bending emphasizes humility, seeking, and the threshold between human and divine knowing.
Church Fathers on John 20:11
Mary Magdalene, who had been the sinner in the city, and who had washed out the spots of her sins by her tears, whose soul burned with love, did not retire from the sepulcher when the others did: Then the disciples went away again to their own home.
i.e. To the place where they were lodging, and from which they had ran to the sepulcher. But though the men returned, the stronger love of the woman fixed her to the spot. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping.
Be not astonished that Mary wept for love at the sepulcher, and Peter did not; for the female sex is naturally tender, and inclined to weep.
Read all 38 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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