Love That Won't Let Go

During my prayer time this morning, I thought of Mary Magdalene.  I thought of this woman and the picture we are given of utter devotion and lavish adoration she had toward Jesus, despite the scant information we are given about her in the gospels.  I can't articulate how profound it is to me to read the gospel accounts and see that it was the women who never left Jesus.  Jesus poured His life into the Twelve, but He was abandoned by them all.  It was the women who followed Christ to the cross.  It was the women who stood at the foot of it and watched their Beloved suffer and die.  It was the women who looked on with pierced hearts and torn souls and watched their Lord bleed for them, watched their Lord gasp for each labored breath, and watched Him take His last-- breathing out His Holy Spirit.  It was the women who faithfully went to the tomb to anoint His broken and bloodied body that glorious Sunday morning.  

A man will love through barbed wire, but a woman will love through a razor-wired electric fence.  A man will cross seas and climb mountains for love, but a woman will drain the ocean and move the mountains, even raze them to the ground if she has to.  There is nothing in all of creation like the devoted love of a woman.  Hell hath no fury like a mother's protective love of her sons.  And Heaven only knows the sweetness of mother's tender love for her daughters.  How blessed is the husband who has known the depths of a wife's covenantal devotion, despite the struggles, despite the stress, despite the strain.  She is the rock beneath his feet and the crown upon his head.  A man's love is simple and pure.  A woman's love is complicated and deep.

Mary loved Christ with the fierce devotion of a woman who had been set free by Him.  Jesus delivered Mary from seven demons and from what we can glean from scripture, we see that she was part of Jesus' inner circle of companions.  She is first mentioned at Luke Chapter 8, where, although she is not named as an apostle, she was included among them and traveled with them (Luke 8:1,2).  Most of what we know about Mary Magdalene comes from the resurrection account in the Gospels.  We are told that she stood "near the cross of Jesus" along with His mother, watching Him die (John 19:25).  She watched as the Savior Who set her free suffered for hours in extreme in agony.  She watched as He took His last sigh, and slipped through her fingers into death's embrace.  She stood there with empty hands, wounded in her love for Him, and all of creation groaned.

One of the most poignant accounts in scripture is when Mary stood alone by the empty tomb of Christ, after Peter and John left (John 20:10,11).  She stood by His tomb with empty hands and a pierced heart and wept.  Jesus appeared to her and asked her why she was crying.  Not recognizing Him and thinking that He was the gardener, she begged Him to tell her where Jesus' body was, basically saying, "Just tell me where He is, I will go get Him myself." 

She couldn't bring herself to leave the empty tomb. 

She was willing to go get His body herself. 

She was willing to do whatever she had to do. 

Then, Jesus said her name.  She heard His voice speak her name and she cried out in recognition from the depths of her soul, "Rabboni!" which means teacher, or master (John 20:16).  We are not told how much time passed between verse 16 and 17.  It could have been a moment, just long enough for her to reach out and grasp Jesus.  It could have been an hour, or it could have been the rest of the afternoon, that she spent desperately clinging to Him in rapt embrace.  We don't know how long she clung to her Savior, all we know is that He finally had to tell her to let go.

She couldn't bring herself to let go of Him.

She was willing to follow Him anywhere.

She was willing to cling to Him for all eternity.

Because a woman's love is complicated and deep.

The profundity of Mary Magdalene being the first to see the resurrected Jesus cannot be lost upon us.  We are talking about women who lived in a culture in which the men spoke a daily prayer saying:  "Blessed are You, O God, King of the Universe, Who hast not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman."  Although, for the most part, women were treated with dignity in Jewish culture, they were not allowed to learn scripture, or speak out loud in the synagogue, or pray in public.  Their testimony was not allowed in a religious court because their witness was considered invalid.

The testimony of a woman was not considered valid by religious men, so it is a woman that Jesus first appeared to and sent to give testimony that He was alive.  This was a profound statement made by our Lord for those willing to see it.

When I think on these things, it seems that Mary Magdalene was the first person to preach the Gospel in its complete fullness.  Jesus preached that the Kingdom of God was near, or at hand (Mark 1:15).  But now that He was risen, the Kingdom of God was no longer near, it was here.  The veil was torn, Jesus had given up the Holy Ghost, He had triumphed over death and was raised unto eternal life as the first-fruits of His eternal kingdom, and a woman was the first person to see the victorious risen Christ and publicly proclaim, "He is risen! You have all been set free!"  Scripture tells us that she "came, announcing to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord,'" and telling them all the things He said to her (John 20:18).  And that is the same gospel the Apostles eventually proclaimed:  "We have seen the Lord, and this is what He has spoken to us." 

Mary proclaimed, even though her testimony was not considered valid.  She spoke the truth about Christ, even though no one believed her and no one listened to her because she was a woman (Luke 24:11).  She testified to the truth because she had been set free by the Lord and she loved Him fiercely, tenaciously, and deeply.  May we look at Mary Magdalene and be reminded that we, too, are called to testify to the truth about Christ, even though no one may believe us or listen to us.  May we all look at her and be reminded that we, too, have been set free by the Lord.  And may we all look at her utter devotion and lavish adoration and be reminded that we, too, should love Christ fiercely, tenaciously, and deeply.

"Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little." (Luke 7:47)

"But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, Who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, "He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him."'" (Matt 28:5-7)

"As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, '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 in Galilee:  The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.'" (Luke 24:5-7)

"He was handed over by God's set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches." (Acts 2:23,24)