“An amazing witness”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, July 22, 2023
John 20:11-18 (Forward, p. 85) CEV p. 1129
By rights, Mary Magdalene should have a prominence and lofty reputation far more than most of the twelve disciples. After all, her name appears in the four gospels far oftener than many of them. And, besides, she was the first witness to the resurrection. Others, such as the other women and Peter and John, had seen the empty tomb and, in the case of the women, had seen a vision of angels, but Mary Magdalene was the very first to see Jesus in person after His resurrection, the first to see Jesus alive and well.
But then, the ancient Jewish world was firmly entrenched in not accepting the word or the testimony of a woman—under any circumstances. In a court of law, for instance, it had to be ‘backed up’ by a male in order to be accepted. Women were considered unreliable, and it is no wonder that the disciples, all male, wrote off the women’s testimony as ‘nonsense’, an ‘idle tale’,’ sheer foolishness’. It didn’t make any sense to them. Or as Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase puts it, “The apostles didn’t believe a word of it, thought they were making it all up” (Luke 24:11). Or as another translation puts it, ‘they thought it sounded like a fairy tale.’
So, no wonder Mary’s account was not taken seriously, not at first, anyway. When, in all of recorded history, had this happened before? A man, dead for three days, a man crucified, certified dead by people who knew this kind of thing and then laid in a sealed tomb, undeniably alive again. I used to work in a cemetery, and I can state for a fact that I have never heard of such a thing. And so, it is no wonder that all of the disciples—and not just Thomas—doubted that this had happened--some, in fact, even after Jesus had been with them for numerous days and had been often seen (see Matthew 28:17).
But Mary stuck to her facts, stuck to her story of what she had experienced, and so became the first missionary, the apostle to the apostles, the first of many to pass on this incredibly good news. I pray that many people today, men and women alive, will step up to fill her shoes and do the same. Our world is just as much in need of such incredibly good news, and of people who will share it. May we, you and I, be part of such a company. We can be other ‘amazing witnesses’, just as Mary was. Amen.
Forward notes: “When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus” (verse 14).
“In tears, Mary Magdalene discovers that Jesus’s body is not in the tomb, and she fears it has been taken away. After answering to the angels, who ask her why she is crying, she sees a man but doesn’t initially realize it is Jesus, her friend and leader.
“In troubled times, pain blinds us, and we fail to see the Lord’s presence. He is next to us, but we cannot see him or hear him.
“When I taught literature at the university some time ago, the administrators came to evaluate my teaching. The evaluation was quite harsh—so much so that I decided to switch to a different department. It was hard for me, and I felt forsaken by God. However, in the new department, I began my formation as an editor, and that prepared me to do in church what I love the most: writing for others.
“When our eyes are opened and we understand God’s purpose in our lives, we also realize that we are never alone.
MOVING FORWARD: “Mary Magdalene is one of many prominent women mentioned in scripture. How many can you list without looking in your Bible?”