Day 94: the Girl No One Wanted

But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?” Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.” John 20:11–16

A former demoniac, Mary from Magdala (Magdala means “fish tower” and is the name of the unimpressive fishing village Mary grew up in) was the very first person to see the risen Messiah. Which surely caused more than a few to cry, “FOUL!” Plenty of folks probably raised their eyebrows and wondered, “Is she really the best spokesperson for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus?” I’d be willing to bet good money on the fact that some women in that first-century audience made snide remarks about Mary’s less-than-trendy outfit. And based on their initial dismissal of her claim (Mark 16:11; Luke 24:10–11), even the disciples, who’d known Mary for years, seemed to think the cause of Christ would be far better off with a more credible eyewitness to Easter.

Now their resistance to Mary’s leading role in the Passion Play stands to reason because based on the number of demons Jesus cast out of her (Luke 8:1–2 tells us there were seven, a number that illustrates completion in biblical literature), the disciples likely assumed she’d been completely oppressed by satan. Which means basically by the time Mary was a freshman at Magdala High she was an outcast. She didn’t smile much. She didn’t participate in classroom conversations. She didn’t make the cheerleading squad. She sat by herself in the lunchroom. And she definitely didn’t get invited to prom. I mean good night, what mama wants her darling teenaged son to take a nutjob to that pivotal shindig of adolescence? Mary had probably been branded as “less than the best choice” by pretty much everybody in Magdala before she even got her driver’s license.

John Ortberg describes the resurrection as “the fulcrum of the Christian faith.” In other words, our entire belief system hinges on Easter—on the fact that our Savior didn’t stay dead. And don’t forget, our Creator-Redeemer is a God of details—He put stripes on zebras and gave cells their nucleus— which means you can bet everything about that first Easter week was preordained, from the placement of the cross to the borrowed tomb.

So don’t you think it’s incredibly cool that God chose Mary Magdalene—this woman who’d been totally oppressed and completely marginalized—for what is arguably the most important job in biblical history? To be the first witness of the Resurrection, the very first human to testify that Jesus had come back to life! I know I do. Because it encourages me that He can use anybody—any hot mess out there, including me!—to tell the story of His Son and change the world. He can take someone totally dominated by the enemy and transform them into someone totally dominated by the Gospel! Thank You, Lord!

• If you were writing the story, who would’ve been the hero/heroine that first Easter morning besides Mary from Fishville?
• Who’s the most unlikely missionary you’ve ever met?
• How does Mary’s story encourage you in your own evangelistic efforts?