Today’s QQ: Jesus chose a woman, Mary Magdalene, as the first witness to his resurrection. What’s the significance?
Scriptures: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:1–2).
[Peter and John run to the tomb. John looked in and saw that it was empty. Peter walked in, followed by John. After seeing the linen grave wrappings, including the head cloth lying there, they returned to where they had been staying (.]
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her (John 20:11–18 NIV).
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her (John 20:11–18 NIV).
We first meet Mary Magdalene in Luke 8:2. Luke introduces her as one of the female disciples traveling with Jesus and the Twelve: “Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had gone out…” She was one of the women Jesus healed from sickness or demonic possession.
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, Salome, and many other women provided financial support for Jesus’s ministry, (8:3; Matt 27:56; Mark 15:41). These female disciples journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem with Jesus as he was “preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God” (23:55—24:11).
Mary Magdalene is NOT the unnamed female sinner (later incorrectly interpreted as a prostitute) who tearfully anoints Jesus’s feet with perfume in the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:37–50).
All four Gospels testify that Mary Magdalene witnessed Jesus’s death on the cross. John writes, “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (Jn 19:25, see also Matt 27:55–56; Mk 15:40; Luke 23:49).
Mary Magdalene is the first to discover the empty tomb (Matt 28:1; Mk 16:1; Luke 24:1–11; Jn 20:1). All four gospels record an angel (or two) speaking to Mary Magdalene. Here is Matthew’s account:
The angel said, “Do not be afraid; I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you!” (Matt 28:5–7).
Mary Magdalene is the first to whom Jesus revealed himself as the Crucified and Risen One.
Jesus commissioned Mary Magdalene to “Go and tell…” He entrusted her to be the first proclaimer of his resurrection and pending ascension (Mk 15:47—16:1–11; Luke 24:9–10).
Early Christians revered Mary Magdalene, a fact evidenced by the title she was given of “apostle to the apostles.” A title found in the writings of Hippolytus, bishop and martyr of Rome (d. 235/6).
Scholars’ Views: Complementarians and egalitarians are unified in acknowledging that it is significant that God chose women, Mary Magdalene and the other women, to be his first witnesses to Jesus’s resurrection.
In the well-known book of complementarian theology, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, James Borland writes, “These women not only were the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, but also stand perpetually as examples for all believers. These women [Mary Magdalene and others] led the way in proclaiming the gospel—that Christ died for our sins, was buried, but rose again for our justification the third day.”
George and Dora Winston in Recovering Biblical Ministry by Women write, “Both Christ and the angel specifically commanded them [Mary Magdalene and the other female witnesses] to instruct the men concerning what had happened. The females instructed the males because Christ told them to do it.” They continue, “And Jesus ‘rebuked [the Eleven] for their… stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen” (Mark 16:14 NIV).”
In the latest edition of the egalitarian book Discovering Biblical Equality, Aída Besançon Spencer writes, “Jesus certainly broke convention by choosing women as the first witnesses for the greatest event of all time, the resurrection, even though women were not considered valid witnesses in court.” She continues, “For Jesus faith is the key determiner of one’s place in the new covenant…Thus, women functioned as witnesses or apostles who had been with Jesus, were eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and were sent by Jesus to proclaim the good news.”
In Mary Magdalene, The First Apostle, author Ann Graham Brock notes that Paul points to the fact that he is one of the witnesses of the risen Christ and “closely connects resurrection appearances and apostolic authority” which is “born out by the fact that he emphasizes Christ’s appearance to him precisely in those letters in which the issue of his claim of apostleship arises” (Gal 1:15: Rom 1:1–5).
Key Takeaways:
Mary Magdalene is the first witness of the saving event of the Christian faith—Jesus, the Son of God, rose from the dead, having conquered sin and death.
Jesus commissioned Mary Magdalene to be the first person to proclaim “Christ is Risen!”
The resurrected Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and sent her out on the apostolic mission—the mission to proclaim the Good News!
What did Jesus Do (WDJD)? Jesus respected and valued women. He chose women (and men) to join him as disciples and laborers. And, he entrusted a woman to preach (kēryssō) the message of his resurrection.
Above all, remember to filter what you believe about women through Jesus!
Until next time,
