Who was Mary Magdalene?
A prostitute…….probably not.
A sinner……..probably (we all are).
A wealthy patron……maybe.
The wife of Jesus……probably not.
A real historical figure…….probably.
A woman once possessed by demons…..probably.
An important companion of Jesus…..definitely.
The first person to encounter the risen Jesus…..definitely.
Mary doesn’t get a lot of ink, but she gets more ink in the gospels than many of the apostles. When the apostles ran and hid……even Peter…….she stayed close to Jesus. After his death, she went to the tomb with the intention of caring for his corpse. The apostles were sleeping in.
So what is the main thing that we need to know about Mary?
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene…….first……before Peter……before Paul……before the apostles…….before his family. This was his choice. He chose to appear…….he chose to appear to Mary. This was arguably the most important event in human history……..and he shared it with Mary.
He shared it with Mary because she was very important to him…….because she was the most loyal of his followers……..because he could trust her to handle the knowledge properly.
I think that Mary Magdalene…….and Mary Jesus’s mother are extraordinarily important characters in the New Testament. The fact that they get little coverage may be related to the position of women in society at that time.
But, they were important……to Jesus……and that is all that counts.
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?”
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”).
John 20:11-18, ESV