We show what we value by the way we act toward it.
Take rest, for example: We may desperately need it, yet doggedly push it away. Convinced that resting will keep us from accomplishing, we relentlessly press on.
And what about women? Even when that’s who we are, we may live as if a woman’s responsibilities are peripheral, and her role, prescribed.
And thus, we may devalue rest. And we may devalue ourselves. As a result, we may wear ourselves out doing what God never intended – and miss doing the good works he has prepared for us to do.
Meanwhile, the Spirit of Christ nudges us, insistently reminding us of Jesus’ invitation:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30)
Intrigued, we may think: How sweet! … But no. There’s no way.
No rest for the demon-oppressed
So let’s consider a woman who took Jesus at his word. Luke 8:2 introduces her as “Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out.”
Other scriptures indicate that demons deceive, rob, torment and destroy. They also manipulate, intimidate and control. And in Matthew 12:43, Jesus described demons as constantly seeking rest but never able to find it.
Though people have assumed Mary was a prostitute, the Bible doesn’t say that. Regardless the details, she was used, oppressed and desperate for rest.
She might have hardened. She might have despaired. Instead, she came to Jesus. And he sent all seven demons scurrying.
Then, Mary and some other women “who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases” traveled with Jesus as he proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:1-2).
Trusting the One who had delivered her, Mary took the yoke Jesus held out to her, and never turned back. Day after day, she continued to accept his invitation, that The Message version renders this way:
Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
Keep company with me
At Jesus’ call, Mary went where he went. Just the fact that she and the other women kept company with him was scandalous. Even today, rumors continue to fly. Sometimes it’s whispered, sometimes trumpeted, that Mary Magdalene was the mistress or wife of Christ.
Undaunted by the gossip, Mary stayed in the yoke that kept her neck-to-neck with Jesus. The result was holy intimacy – audacious yet utterly pure. Not rebellious nor defiant nor immoral, Mary did what flew in the face of tradition, religion and culture – and highly honored God: She literally walked and worked with Jesus.
Luke 8:3 says:
These women were helping to support them [Jesus and the twelve] out of their own means.
In a day when women generally didn’t own property (but rather were considered to be property), these women could have expected someone else to support them. Yet, Mary Magdalene and friends had “means” enough to help Jesus’ whole entourage.
Even more amazing, the women had the authority to decide how their property and possessions were to be used. They chose to invest in the one man the religious leaders most wanted dead.
One day, the religious leaders got their wish. Jesus was crucified. Mark 15:40-41 says:
There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him. (NAS)
The Greek verb translated “follow” means “to accompany (specially, as a disciple).”1
The Greek verb translated “minister to” is diakoneo. It means “to take care of, by rendering humble service,” “to be responsible for financial aspects of an enterprise” and “to serve God in some special way, such as a deacon.”2
Formerly demonized, Mary became both disciple and “deacon.” She is named first by the Gospel writers in every list of the women connected with Jesus’ ministry, except the one list that includes Jesus’ mother. Trusted with authority, treated with respect, Mary Magdalene served Christ from a place of continual inner rest.
Of first importance
Even when it seemed that Jesus’ claims were false and his mission aborted, Mary and the other female disciples didn’t scatter.
- We find them at the cross.
- We find them at the tomb when Jesus’ body is placed there; and the entrance, sealed.
- We find them returning to the tomb on resurrection morning, hoping to anoint the dead.
In 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, Paul identified these as the three key events of the Gospel: Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised.
After his resurrection, the Lord appeared to the 11 apostles and many other witnesses.
But notice who God chose as the sole eyewitnesses to all three events that Scripture calls, “of first importance”: A handful of women who kept coming to Jesus even when it seemed hopeless and pointless – among them, Mary Magdalene.
Horrified, the women watched Jesus die. Heartbroken, they saw him buried. Then, hallelujah! The risen Lord appeared first to them!
The women made two choices that positioned them to meet Jesus outside the empty tomb on resurrection morning: (1) They never stopped coming to Christ, and (2) they rested when the Lord said to rest.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (Luke 23:55-56)
Mary and the other women disciples didn’t succumb to the lie that resting gets in the way of accomplishing. Even though their task seemed urgent, on the Sabbath after Jesus’ death they rested as God had said.
If they had not, if they had hurried to the tomb Saturday morning, they would have left the tomb still desolate.
Instead, they arrived too late to anoint a dead body. Yet they left overjoyed! For God had an entirely different assignment for them from what they’d supposed. He ushered them onto the scene exactly on time to watch him unveil the most glorious, most important miracle in the history of the world.
Remember how he told you
Inside the now-empty tomb, angels proclaimed to astonished women:
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”
Then they remembered his words. (Luke 24:5-8)
“Remember how he told you.” The angels didn’t say, “Remember how he told the men while you ladies were down at the river washing clothes.” The Lord Jesus, who had himself entrusted these women with significant responsibility, had also entrusted them with first-importance truth.
Before his death, Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom to the women who followed him as disciples. Standing in the empty tomb, they remembered!
Then, wonder of wonders, Jesus showed them the Good News. They who had witnessed his death and burial saw him alive! They “came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him” (Matt. 28:9).
Why are you crying?
Only John’s Gospel tells us: Mary Magdalene encountered the risen Lord one-on-one, after he showed himself to the other women who had gone with her to the tomb. How did that happen? Apparently, like this:
All the women approached the tomb together. But immediately on seeing the stone rolled away and the tomb empty, Mary ran to tell Peter and John. Meanwhile, the other women encountered angels, saw Jesus, worshiped him and left. Then Peter and John ran up, saw the tomb empty and left. And finally, Mary arrived back at the tomb, only to find everyone else gone.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). (John 20:11-16)
Going to the tomb twice, Mary had no clue she would find Jesus alive.
He had told her he would die and rise again. He had spoken the truth into Mary’s spirit, where it lay ready for her to retrieve.
But when she saw the tomb, open, and the body of Jesus, gone, she did not remember and find rest. Instead, her mind seized upon the only explanation that seemed possible. Her body cooperated in spreading the error:
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:2)
Then, returning to the tomb, Mary wept and wept.
She was so convinced of the lie her soul had embraced that she saw and talked with two angels – without any clue that she was witnessing something supernatural and illogical and real.
Even when Jesus stood before her, even when he spoke, Mary mistook the risen Lord for the gardener.
And then Jesus spoke her name.
“Mary.”
And suddenly, in her spirit, she knew. She knew why his body was not in that tomb. She knew HIM. Physically, she turned; she saw. Emotionally, her deep sorrow turned to great joy.
Mary wanted to cling to Jesus. He had other plans.
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)
What he had told Mary beforehand, what she now saw to be true, he sent her to tell others. Yes, Jesus himself sent Mary Magdalene and the other women to proclaim the truth to devastated men who needed to hear it.
Mary didn’t ask, “Lord, is it really appropriate for me to take your message to a group of men?” Nor did she decide, “Okay, you must not really be Jesus because God wouldn’t call a woman to do such a thing.” Yoked to the Lord Jesus:
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:18)
And thus – spirit, soul and body – Mary Magdalene returned to her rest. Then, she ran to tell the others the best news they would ever hear.
The REST of her story
Thank you, Mary, for coming to Jesus. Your story shows:
Rest is the release I experience when Jesus sends scurrying demons I could not evict.
Rest is knowing the Lord and his truth, Spirit-to-spirit. It’s letting him calm me and refocus me when my mind and emotions have run, screaming, the wrong way. It’s hearing in my inmost being when he himself calls my name.
Rest is emerging from my darkest hour to see my Lord alive. It’s worshiping him with great joy. It’s hearing my next assignment from his own lips.
Rest is humbly serving the One who always treats me with high respect, entrusts me with significant responsibility and involves me in things of first importance.
Want the rest? Take the risk: Never stop coming to Jesus. Stay in the yoke that keeps you neck-to-neck with him.
This post is condensed and adapted from chapter 8 of Return to Your Rest: A Spirit-to-spirit Journey. Originally, the post was titled, “The Rest of her story: Mary Magdalene.”
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
See also
- The blessing of rest
- Darkness, betrayal and the heartbeat of God
- This girl is a woman now
- Leah no more
- Don’t be afraid to look
- Dear weary one, can we talk about the spirit realm?
- He restores my soul: Resting in God’s unforced rhythms
Beautiful and a good reminder. Thank you.