Welcome to the last week of Faithlogue’s 2023 Fall Series: “The Women of the Resurrection.” Please subscribe to receive each week’s post in your email inbox.

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This week, we conclude our study of The Women of the Resurrection. Thank you so much for reading along with me! I enjoyed the work and writing for this project, and I hope you also found the time beneficial.

The goal of this series was to see what we could learn from the variations in the four Gospel accounts of Mary Magdalene’s reaction and response to the news of Jesus’s resurrection. I think we accomplished this goal, so I invite you to review or read any posts you missed on the blog page.

To summarize what we’ve learned, in Matthew 28:1-20, Mary and the women “ran to tell” the disciples the good news of Jesus’s resurrection after meeting and worshiping Him on the way. Their time with Jesus brought them joy that mitigated their fear of this awesome news. This passage taught us the importance of spending time with Jesus ourselves before we “go and tell” others about Him.

Our study of Mark 16:1-8 further demonstrated the importance of the edifying joy of time with Jesus. In Mark’s account, the angel’s announcement left Mary and the women “trembling and bewildered.” Instead of going to tell the disciples, they fled in fear and “said nothing.” Later manuscripts amended the narrative to add Mary’s encounter with Jesus in Mark 16:9-11. Clearly, time with Jesus made all the difference!

Like Mark’s account, Luke 24:1-21 does not include a reference to Mary and the women personally meeting Jesus at the tomb. However, in Luke’s narrative, the angels’ announcement reminded them of Jesus’s words. In this case, the women “remembered and told” the disciples, but the disciples did not believe them (except for one curious Peter). Luke’s account confirms the need for us to study the words of Jesus and reminds us that our call is to relate the good news for God’s glory and timing, not ours.

The final account in John 20:1-18 relates a very personal experience of Mary Magdalene with Jesus at the tomb. Through Mary’s experience, she exemplifies the fear, desperation, and loneliness of a world searching for its Savior. When Mary hears Jesus call her name, she recognizes and listens to Him, and then she goes and proclaims to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” When Jesus calls Mary, the encounter exemplifies the relief and joy we experience when Jesus finds us at our point of desperation.

All I can say is, “Wow!” I never realized how much there was to learn from examining Mary’s varied experiences and responses in the resurrection narratives. Now, our final task for this series is to tie all these passages together.

First, the consistent and most important good news in these passages is the truth of Jesus’s resurrection and its meaning for the world. When Jesus died on the cross, He bore our sins so that we could be restored to a right relationship with God. His sacrifice provided the final and sufficient atonement for our sin and fulfilled God’s covenant with Abraham’s descendants. This is the good news Mary and the women were called to “go and tell.”

However, through His resurrection, Jesus also defeated sin and death so that neither condition can separate us from God. Jesus did what no annual sacrifice could ever completely accomplish: He reconciled us with God eternally. We understand the joy of this work as we read and study Scripture. This is the good news we are called to “remember and relate” to others from God’s Word and for His glory and timing.

But Jesus’s sacrificial mission was not only for the sake of our eternal lives. When the angels told Mary and the women to “go and tell,” they heralded Jesus’s fulfillment of His promise not to leave the disciples as orphans. You see, Jesus is not only the sacrificial lamb for our eternal life reconciled to God, but He is also our Good Shepherd who provides for our daily relationship with God. This is the good news that emboldens us and invites others to witness our joy because “we have seen the Lord!”

For example, before Jesus ascended to heaven, He brought joy to the disciples by meeting with them personally. He also tasked them with the joy of sharing that gift by “going and telling” others this good news. Even after His ascension, Jesus did not leave the disciples alone. As promised, He provided them with the ongoing gift of the Holy Spirit to support, protect, teach, and edify them every day.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that you and I know what it means to hear Jesus call our name at the exact point of our fear, loneliness, and desperation. This is the good news we proclaim because Jesus continually meets us at the point of our need. Therefore, we do not flee silence and fear.

We testify to the good news of Jesus’s resurrection not only because we read and remember the words in our Bibles. We tell others because we have seen the Lord at work in our own hearts and lives. Mary became the “apostle to the apostles” not only because she and the women were the first to arrive at the tomb that morning but also because Jesus met with them personally. Mary’s most powerful testimony was, “I have seen the Lord!”

Your testimony of God’s goodness matters. Your story matters. Go and tell.

© 2023 Lori Myers Berry