Something caused Mary to turn around and see Jesus standing there. It may have been a noise that Jesus made upon His appearing or it may have been a motion or a glance from the angels in His direction.

Before the angels can give her an answer as to what has happened to Jesus, He steps in to show Himself to her. Matthew Henry would have us see two things from this: first is “those that will be content with nothing short of a sight of Christ shall be put off with nothing less.” and second, “Christ, in manifesting himself to those that seek him, often outdoes their expectations.” Mary was longing to see the dead body of Christ and instead she got to see Him alive!

Interestingly enough, she doesn’t recognize Him at first. The tears in her eyes may well have been blurring her vision so that she could not see clearly. Often our sorrow blinds us to the truth of our surroundings and to what God is doing for us. Note that sorrow, at its root, is selfish, thinking of what loss has been incurred to one’s self, and yet Jesus is near to those who are brokenhearted (Ps 34:18). When we seek Christ, even if we don’t see Him, we can rest assured that He is near.

Psalms 34:18  The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

She probably didn’t recognize Him because He was temporarily hiding Himself from her. There was certainly something different about Jesus after His resurrection. Several times His close associates didn’t recognize Him until He allowed it (Luke 24:13-35, 37, John 21:4, Matt 28:17). Jesus probably wasn’t quick to reveal Himself to her until after a short conversation with Him would have convinced her that He was a real person and not a ghost and that He was indeed alive.

Luke 24:13-37  Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.  They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.  As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;  but they were kept from recognising him.  He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.  One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.  The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;  but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.  In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning  but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.  Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”  He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.  As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further.  But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together  and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”  Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.  They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

John 21:4  Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus.

Matthew 28:17  When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.

It is interesting to note that in the race to the tomb Mary Magdalene came in last and yet she is the one who first gets to see Jesus. Persistence in the face of failure provides great reward!

But it is also surprising to us that Jesus would first reveal His resurrected self to Mary Magdalene and not to one of His disciples or to His own mother. Once again we are reminded that God’s priorities and methods are not our own. Tasker thinks that her needs may have determined her Lord’s appearance. He observes that “She who owed so much to her Master during His earthly life (Mark 16:9) needed most of all to be reassured at the earliest possible moment that death had not put an end to the benefits she could receive from Him.”

Mark 16:9  When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

Jesus knows our needs better than even we do and He will do everything in His power, which is infinite, to meet them. The greatest news for us in this is that when He met Mary Magdalene’s needs He was still physically limited to an earthly body and could only be in one place at one time so he could only meet one person’s needs at a time. That is no longer the case. Jesus is presently seated at the right hand of the Father and has resumed His divine attribute of omnipresence. He is completely with each and every one of us all the time and can and will meet our needs at the moment we need Him the most.