Mary Magdalene

Let’s look into the details in today’s passage, referring to its parallel passage in John 20:11-18. (1) Mary already came the tomb earlier and left, seeing that it was empty. Here, she returns to the tomb, still in belief that someone had stolen the Jesus’ body. (2) At that moment, the resurrected Jesus stood behind her. However, she didn’t recognize Him, possibly because His resurrected body was significantly changed from the original body (ref. Luke 24:16, 31). (3) She realizes that it is Jesus when He calls her name, “Mary.” (4) Jesus explains, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” In the Old Testament, the high priest conducted a series of purification rituals before entering the Most Holy Place with the blood of sacrifices. If someone touched the high priest after these rituals, he would become ceremonially unclean, requiring him to start over the purification consecration process. Here, Jesus intends to ascend to the Most Holy Place in heaven with His own blood. At this point, no human was allowed touch Him.

The credibility of a woman’s testimony

Mary Magdalene becomes the first witness to Jesus’ resurrection and goes to inform the grieving disciples. However, they were reluctant to believe her report. It is quite peculiar from a Jewish perspective that a woman would be the first witness, because in Jewish legal settings at that time, women were not considered eligible witnesses. If the disciples had fabricated Jesus’ resurrection, they would have chosen a male as the first witness. However, the Bible records that the first witness was a woman. Why is that? Simply because that exactly is what happened. The resurrection of Jesus is indeed a fact. How do you think our lives will change, when we begin to live with the assurance of life after death? The message of resurrection gives us direction and vitality in our lives.