So it is not those who will, nor those who run, but of those who God shows mercy. [paraphrased Romans 9:16 NKJV] Sometimes due to the oversimplification in which we read the Gospels, we miss the revelation of this passage. Mary Magdalene is one of them, and for this reason, let me give some substance to the message of her portrait. We learn through the books of the Gospels that Mary became a follower, and disciple of Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. Whether these works hold other consequences, we do not know, but what is notable is what we are to see from the Gospels themselves…that is Mary as Christ’s redeemed beginning her ascent to becoming the first witness of Christ’s resurrection. There is something that goes lacking in the teaching of the Gospel, because not many Christians are aware of this: Mary Magdalene is the first witness of Christ resurrection. And it is hardly that it was omitted inadvertently. Mary’s portrait is not a very celebrated one as there are many questions surrounding her disreputable condition that cast her away as only a support figure to other major figures in the earthly ministry of Christ, however Christ, Himself seems to assign her a greater importance than is acceptable to many preachers, theologians, and the like…maybe because the lack of true insight makes this implausible to them.
Her portrait is told to us from the Gospels giving quite a hard and repulsive image of one whose human debaseness is brought nil under the power of Christ call and deliverance so that no more are we allowed to look into the one who was once defiled, but only the one who is made well. An image we can only characterize by the acts of her discipleship. So we peer into Mary’s character through the lens of grace to see not one characterized as having a reasonableness of propriety, but one who is unwavering and steadfast by her witness and the perseverance to hide or deny nothing when integrity demands it. We see a woman of disciplined faith who shows consistency to hold to her path. So that it is Mary, we find at every turn of Christ’s story, often mention among those who remain pass all the rest…held to His Lordship not by conscious effort, but by inherent passion that is unyielding to human or spiritual dithering. This immovable passion she maintains throughout her mission with Christ is not the willy nilly morose often perceived in spiritual bondage. Mary is the fruit of Christ righteousness, the “born again” which by any human summation of a righteous life could not have been attainable against the spiritual oppression once described of her.
he induction that Christ gave to Mary as His disciple is especially celebrated, because even as Christians we still remain captive to the boundaries that sin, propriety, culture, or plain old ignorance hold over us regarding the character which the Gospel must be conveyed in… a Spirit which will never be sufficiently cast by reasonableness, diplomacy, or servility though they are useful, they pale in comparison to the character needed in matters of standing as a witness of the Truth. While it may seem less of a consequence to be prejudice by impropriety over the debaseness that Mary once knew, it is no less one of the most crippling and degenerative consequences known to man against the hearing of the truth. Christ rebuked his disciples for their resistance and disbelief because it is the message of the Gospel and His Lordship that grants our authority to proclaim it and He governs our obedience… not the Law or nature. Neither can the Gospel be believed or understood under the constraints of such, because where there is law, there is bondage of sin. And it is because of the Law of bondage and the sinfulness of man…boundaries such as these have become costly for the disciple who will not yield him or herself to for the sake of the Gospel, but rather endure the humiliation and suffering that comes by offending them …since man under the Law cannot recognize God or His righteousness when it is present (See the portrait of Tamar, the Canaanite). How does the Christian become blind to God’s will and presence? We’ll have to study it in another teaching.
There is one other passage that needs mentioning which becomes this portrait all the more and that is at the center of Mary’s witness of Christ resurrection. Christ when revealing Himself and calling to Mary, He responses to Mary’s sorrow and weeping: “Mary! [He says] do not cling to Me for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and [tell] them I am ascending to My Father and your Father and to My God and your God.” Christ is making known a reality that all of us and not just Mary will have to confront…Christ has left us for a time that we might receive the necessary measure of faith…walking in what is not naturally seen, but in what we know by the Spirit…the Truth. It does not leave Christ unknown to us, but known…not from things unseen, but from things that can only be spiritually discerned which is a much more far-reaching endeavor that will empower us as children to God, who is Spirit and victors against spiritual evil and the world. Christ has declared this truth to us that God is Spirit and must be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth. And God has declared it, it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “The just shall live by faith.”
Though without any written incident we can know this of Mary… that her finish of faith could be no less than what she endured throughout her race…still standing even at the very last.
Oh isn’t the grace of perseverance awesome!
