Every once in a while, I find
something that captures my interest. On my mom’s birthday which happens to fall
during Women’s History month, my sister sent me a passage of scripture that
caught my attention. I felt compelled to study. It mentioned that Jesus
appeared first to ordinary women and trusted them with the most important news
in history.
As I read the gospels depiction
of the resurrection story, at first glance, it looked contradictory. So in the
wee hours of the morning, I began to research and try to piece together, like a
detective, the bits and pieces that each writer shared. I have to admit that it
was fun. Since I’ve been surrounded by law enforcement for most of my adult
life, I understood that each account would be different. It is just like when a
detective is piecing together a story of what happened from the account of
different witnesses. Each one will give their perspective and then the
detective pieces together what happened based on all the stories they
collected.
At first I was a bit baffled,
but as I kept reading and studying, this is what I believe happened. My attention
was mostly on Mary Magdalene because I found it fascinating that Jesus appeared
to her first.
So let’s start with Mary
Magdalene.
She was from the city of Magdala
which was 3 miles from Tiberias. It was off the Sea of Galilee and was a
fishing city. It was a center for trade and commerce. Capernaum, Jesus’ home
town as an adult, was only a little over six miles from Magdala.
What’s interesting is that Mary
Magdalene is mentioned 12 times in the gospels, so apparently the writers were
impressed to mention her. They felt she was important. Unfortunately over the
years, she was confused with other Mary’s mentioned in scripture.
When you study closely, Luke 8
explains that she had seven demons and Jesus casted them out of her. Her
devotion and gratitude, could be plainly observed in how she followed him,
supported him, endured watching him die at the cross and then went out first
thing in the morning when it was still dark to anoint his body.
It makes you wonder why the
devotion? Why such intense gratitude? It really bothers me when people have
speculated that Jesus had something going on with her. It’s such a lie from the
pit of hell that tries to diminish the finished work of Jesus the Christ. (I
needed to mention that because there are so many speculations that are false
out there.)
Now, imagine for a moment being
tormented, because that is what she actually was. The gospels, give clear
pictures of how demon possessed individuals acted. In Mark 9, it says that when
the spirit (demon) saw Jesus, he threw the boy into convulsions. The father had
just finished explaining to Jesus that the evil within his boy robbed him of
speech. The boy could not talk or explain what was going on in him. This boy
also foamed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth and would become rigid. He went on
further to explain after the boy started convulsing that the spirit throws him
into the fire and water to try to kill him. That’s a pretty scary depiction of
this young man’s life and what’s heartbreaking is that it began as a child.
Some will ask, how could this happen? We’ve read and heard of stories of how
the authority over a child (parents or guardian) have made vows on behalf of
their children to evil spirits and they get possessed. In this passage, there
is no indication of that, but I thought I should give you one of many explanations
for those of you who would have that question in mind.
Another story that the writers
share is the man who had a legion of demons at the region of the Gerasenes in
Mark 5. This poor man was chained over and over again but he had the
supernatural strength to break out of them. He roamed the tombs and he would
cry out and cut himself. That must have been a pitiful and scary sight for the
people who lived close by. Unlike Mary Magdalene, this guy had many demons
inside of him, so much so that when Jesus casted them out, they went into 2,000
pigs.
Now, let’s circle back to Mary
Magdalene. She could’ve manifested any of the accounts that were described
above. In both cases, it shows that they were tormented. She lived a life of
torment and Jesus came and set her free. This began her journey with Jesus and
she had much to be grateful for.
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