Jesus Sees Women | John 20:1-11
This message was preached at Sherwood Community Friends Church on Sunday, November 13, 2022. You can watch the video in full by clicking below.
Jesus sees… women: Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is a surprisingly misunderstood and under-discussed disciple of Jesus. Although she was not named as one of the twelve disciples, as we will learn today, she was a key part of Jesus’ ministry and the spread of the Gospel.
What do we know about the life of Mary before Jesus?
Who is Mary?
From Magdala, also went by the name Taricheae, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. We know this by her name, Mary Magdalene, indicating she was from the town of Magdala. (Mk 15:40-41, 16:9, Lk 8:2)
Magdala was situated on the Sea of Galilee, which is north of Jerusalem, and it was a fishing village. In fact, if you went north from this city, you would find Capernaum, where Jesus based much of his ministry. If you went west from Magdala, you would find Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding. If you went south, you would find Bethany, where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Although we don’t have record in Scripture Jesus visited here, he likely traveled through here.
Financially Well-off - May have been a woman of means – provided for Jesus’ ministry – This means she was generous with what financial means she had.
Luke 8:1 “Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.
It's possible Mary was from a wealthy family or had an influential husband. She used what means she had to support the ministry of Jesus.
Mary was possessed by 7 demons
When Mary met Jesus
This is a clip from the popular series The Chosen, a retelling of the life of Jesus and the life of the disciples, including Mary of Magdala. Here we see when Jesus encountered Mary and freed her of the demons that possessed her.
So, where did Jesus see Mary?
Jesus met her where she was. She was demon-possessed. He came to her, in the places of darkness to bring her out.
In the darkness.
In fact, God meeting us in the dark places is not an uncommon story.
The psalmist writes
40:2 “He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay…”
51:1 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”
56:8 “You yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”
70:1 “God, hurry to rescue me. Lord, hurry to help me.”
And in verse 5 “I am oppressed and needy; hurry to me, God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.”
74:1 “Why have you rejected us forever, God? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?”
123:3-4 “Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.”
We don’t know why Mary was possessed. We don’t know her full story. We don’t know if it was because of her choices or because of someone else. We don’t know how this manifested in her. We do know that we don’t NEED to know. Jesus liberated Mary from Magdala from the dark place she was in. From hopelessness.
In fact, the whole Gospel is centered around the liberation of the oppressed, the forgotten, the lowly, and the needy.
James H Cone says in his book God of the Oppressed “The Jesus story is the poor person’s story, because God in Christ becomes poor and weak in order that the oppressed might become liberated from poverty and powerlessness. God becomes the victim in their place and thus transforms the condition of slavery into the battleground for the struggle of freedom. This is what Christ’s resurrection means. The oppressed are freed for struggle, for battle in the pursuit of humanity.”[2]
Jesus’ interaction with Mary isn’t an isolated one. Jesus frequently brought honor to women despite the situations that made them feel low, oppressed, shameful.
With the Woman at the well, Jesus sees her in her desperation for love, and offers her the chance to worship in spirit and truth, and to abandon her shame.
In a crowded mob, a woman with an issue of blood, a problem which caused her to be unclean and forbidden for anyone to touch her, she was bold enough to reach out for his garment to be healed. Jesus could have kept on walking, but he stopped. He sought her out. And he saw her desperation for cleanliness, to be made whole again. And Jesus gave that to her.
The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and her hair. When she was shamed for being wasteful, Jesus hushed the critics and elevated what she was doing, because what she did was out of love for the one who saw her in her shame. She wasn’t wasteful. She was worshipful.
There were people giving heaps of money at the treasury, yet a poor widow dropped in two copper coins. Jesus pointed out that it was the poor widow who gave all she had who was the most generous, because she gave sacrificially where the others gave out of their abundance. He brought honor out of her low circumstances.
As someone who’s independent and has always worked a bit too hard, I’m guilty of looking at those who have less than and wondering what they could be doing better. It’s easy in our bootstrapping and independent culture to say that someone brings trouble upon themselves. Was the woman poor because she didn’t spend her money wisely? The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and dried them with her hair, why wasn’t she more responsible with those funds? Did the woman with the issue of blood do something to cause her sickness? Why did the woman at the well have so many husbands? Why did they leave her or she leave them?
But we don't need to know someone's story to know that Jesus died and rose again to liberate them from the darkness.
Just like we sang earlier - “There’s no mountain you won’t climb up, no shadow you won’t light up coming after me. There’s no wall you won’t kick down, lie you won’t tear down coming after me.” (Reckless Love) Jesus pursues us In the darkness to bring us Into the light.
I’ll say it again, “This is what Christ’s resurrection means. The oppressed are freed for struggle, for battle in the pursuit of humanity.”
Jesus restores humanity.
What happens after Jesus met Mary?
Mary after Jesus
As we talked about earlier, Mary became one of Jesus’ most devoted followers, being mentioned more times in the four gospels than almost half of Jesus’ twelve disciples - Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Bartholomew, Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot. She financially supported Jesus’ ministry. Jesus saw her in her darkness, he brought her into the light.
So it only makes sense that Mary also was present throughout the crucifixion and resurrection.
She grieved the death of the one who saw her.
At the foot of the cross
Mary gathered with some of the other women who were also a part of Jesus’ ministry and watched as the one who liberated her, who brought honor to her, really saw HER as the child of God she was, was put to death.
John 19:25 - Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
And when it was time to bury the body of Jesus, she was present there too.
At the Tomb
Matt 27:59-61 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb.
When we grieve, we grieve with those who are closest to us. We only allow in the people who will be with us, who might be experiencing the same loss, and those who won’t judge us for our unnerving reaction to grief. This was Mary’s people. They had a task to accomplish here, to bury the body of the one who saw them, and they did this together. Even in the midst of their grief.
At the tomb, After
John 20:1-11
On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!” At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying. But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb.
Notice that Mary was doing the next thing in front of her. She was taking the next right step. Mary and the other Mary did not go to the tomb expecting this was the day that was going to change history. No. Mary went to visit the tomb. To continue to grieve.
When Mary didn’t think her grief could get any deeper, she was met with confusion and frustration at where Jesus’ body had been taken. When she discovered Jesus was gone, she didn’t know what to do. She went and told Peter and John (the disciple whom Jesus loved). And even after Peter and John came, saw, and went, Mary stayed.
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.”
Can you feel the weight of this?
Mary.
Can you imagine what it feels like to hear your name spoken when you are in the middle of the dark and the hopeless?
Can you hear Jesus calling your name right now?
He called her by name, not only because he knew her name. It was because he saw her.
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.” “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Jesus saw her for a second time. And so she
Celebrated the life of the one who saw her
For the second time in her life, she was freed from the darkness. She couldn’t help but celebrate the life of the one who saw her and called her by name.
What is the significance of Mary as the witness to Jesus’ resurrection? First of all, even though each of the four gospels present the resurrection with different perspectives and details, this one detail remains the same in each of them: it was Mary of Magdala that was the first witness of the resurrection. Which brings me to the second point. The testimony of a woman in that culture was not considered valid and would not hold up in a court of law. So, if the disciples wanted to present a hoax, their tale would have been far more believable if it had been one of the remaining eleven disciples who would have discovered Jesus’ resurrection.
Again, Jesus brought honor to Mary by entrusting her with the greatest news of all time. And it didn’t stop there.
Mary shared the one who called her by name
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.
Mary is attributed as the first evangelist. She was the first witness and the first to tell others about Jesus’ resurrection.
Now, Mary did her part, but how was it received? In Mark 16:11, we are told “Yet, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it.”
Again, doesn’t this speak to the validity of the story? Why would the authors have pointed out their unbelief? This makes their faith look weak!
Perhaps you know what it feels like to have experienced something so real, for God to have touched your life in inexplicable ways that you want to shout it from the rooftops, yet no one believes you. But the call to go and tell remains the same. Jesus knew the culture of the time. He knew that by revealing himself to her first and instructing her to go tell others would likely not be believed. Take a lesson from Mary, who likely knew her word wouldn’t be taken seriously. Be bold in sharing your story of how God saw you in the darkness and brought you into the light.
Closing
Next week, we’ll wrap up our series Jesus Sees with the Rejected. What we hope you’ve gathered from this series is this message:
Jesus sees you. And Jesus sees you for the sake of restoration.
I mentioned Psalm 40:2 earlier and we are now going to have our Scripture reading. I’d like to invite Don Powers up to read our Scripture. I imagine that if Mary would have written a Psalm, it would have been something like Psalm 40. As Don reads this, allow God to speak to you. Reflect on the life of Mary and where you see yourself today.
Father, you have pulled us from the miry clay. You are the one who puts our feet on solid ground. Meet us today. Speak to us today.
What part of Mary's story do you see yourself in today?
Reflect on the truth that Jesus sees you.
You might identify with Mary before she met Jesus. Living in a dark and hopeless place. If that’s you, then I invite you to seek me or Pastor Bob after the service. We want to pray with you, walk with you, stand with you, be present with you. The second person I’d like to speak to today is those of you who have experienced the life-changing experience like Mary, but you’ve been hesitant to live with boldness, to tell others persistently, regardless of whether or not they will believe you. Well, Bob and I would like to pray for you too. If you are in either of those two places, seek us out after the service so we can stand with you.
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Lk 8:1–3.
Cone, God of the Oppressed, 74
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jn 19:25.
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Mt 27:57–61.
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jn 20:1–18.
