The Example of Angels

John 20:11-14 (NET)

11 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb.

12 And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus' body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet.

13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" Mary replied, "They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!"

14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

This passage corrects a lot of misinformation about angels. We get interesting insights about real angels in John chapter 20.

1. Angels are present but not always visible. John reached the tomb first, then Peter second, then Mary third. But only Mary saw the angels. Why didn’t John and Peter see the angels? They didn’t want to reveal themselves yet. What were the two angels waiting for? For the late arriver. For the female.

   

2. Angels ask questions they know the answer to. “Why are you weeping?”

3. Angels don’t blurt out everything they know. They are not wordy and they do not say what would seem obvious to the natural man. If a human wrote the Bible, like a mere human conceived of the Quran, then the normal human thing to say is, “Mary, stop crying. You misunderstand the Gospel Plan. Jesus’ body was not stolen by anybody. Jesus is not dead. In fact, Jesus is standing right behind you.”

4. Angels don’t steal people’s thunder. Angels are not attention-seeking. Angels allowed Jesus to reveal Himself and receive the glory all by Himself. It is almost as if angels were Heaven’s bystanders. Their main job is as recorders and witnesses of our attitudes.

Jesus said two things to Mary. In verse 15, Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him." In verse 16, Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni" (which means Teacher).

This passage really corrects a lot of misconceptions about angels. They are not sent primarily to reveal anything, but to witness everything. People think if they met angels, they would get a better message than from their pastor or local preacher. Not true! Angels are not sent to preach the Gospel (at least not until the Book of Revelation when the majority of Christians will be gone). For now, it is our duty to preach the Gospel. Angels do not reveal Jesus; even when Jesus was obviously standing next to Mary, they stayed quiet and discreet.

We can learn a lot from angels, because they are called ministers (Hebrews 1:14), just as we are also ministers. We should not be verbose, we should not be attention-seeking, we should not steal people’s thunder, and we should facilitate the revelation of Jesus to people’s hearts and minds. Be an angel to someone!