The River AM Class - Mary Magdalene, 04.29.2025

[Music]

Good

morning. Good morning. It's good to see

you this morning. Hope you had a good

weekend. I had a good weekend in Idaho

uh with a bunch of women, Idaho women up

in the mountains and there were gigantic

piles of snow everywhere and it was just

gorgeous. And this weekend the theme to

the retreat was the verse, let the

redeemed of the Lord say so. And the

version that they used um you know that

was on the wall behind us as we were

worshiping and uh was let the redeemed

of the Lord tell their story. And I love

that because that's what we're we're

like reading all of these amazing

stories of the women in scripture and

how that just changes our perspective

and deepens our trust and our faith in

the Lord as we read their stories and

then we know that God is at work in our

story. Uh and so the whole weekend we

were sharing our stories with each other

of God's goodness and faithfulness and

then where we are in the middle of our

stories and waiting on God to do the

very things that he loves to do since

he's so faithful and trustworthy and

good. And uh 1st Chronicles 16 uh verse

23 says, "Sing to the Lord all the

earth. Proclaim his salvation day after

day. Declare his glory among the

nations, his marvelous deeds among all

the peoples." just tell tell your story

for great is the Lord and most worthy of

praise. I love that. And so we're just

going to worship the Lord this morning

because he's worthy and we're going to

lift our hearts to him. So why don't you

stand if you're able and then uh we'll

just sing

together. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise to you

[Music]

ally. You give

life. You are

love. You bring light to the darkness.

You give hope.

You

restored every heart that is

[Music]

broken. Great are you,

Lord. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. It's your breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise to you

[Music]

only. Let's sing it again. You give

life. You give

life. You are

love. You bring light to the darkness.

You give hope.

You

restore every heart that is

[Music]

broken. Great are you,

Lord. It's your breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. your breath in our

lungs.

So we pour out our praise to you

[Music]

only. And all the earth will shout your

praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones

will sing.

Great are you,

Lord. And all the earth will shout your

praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones

will sing.

Great are you,

Lord. And all the earth will shout your

praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones

will sing.

Great are you, Lord.

It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. We

pour out our praise. It's your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise to you

only. It's your breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour

out our praise. is your

breath in our

lungs. So we pour out our praise to you

[Music]

only. Great are you Lord.

Great are you

[Music]

Lord. Great are you

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Lord. Great is the Lord and worthy of

our

praise.

Worthy of every song we could ever

[Music]

sing. Worthy of all the praise we could

ever

bring. Worthy of every breath we could

ever brea. We live for you.

Jesus the name above every other

[Music]

name. Jesus the only one who could ever

[Music]

save. Worthy of every breath we could

ever breathe. We live for

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you. Oh, we live for you.

and

holy there is no one like you. There is

none beside you. Open up my eyes in

wonder and show me who you are and fill

me with your heart and lead me in your

love to those around me.

[Music]

Jesus the name above every other

name. Jesus the only one who could ever

save. Worthy of every breath we could

ever breathe. We live for

you. Oh, we live for

[Music]

you. And

holy, there is no one like you. There is

none beside you. Open up my eyes in

wonder and show me who you are and fill

me with your heart and lead me in your

love to those around me.

[Music]

Let's sing it. I will build my life and

I will build my life upon your love. It

is a firm

foundation. And I will put my trust in

you

alone. And I will not be shaken. And

let's proclaim it. I will build my life

upon your love. It is a firm

foundation. And I will put my trust in

you alone.

And I will not be

[Applause]

[Music]

shen. Worthy of every song we could ever

sing. Worthy of all the praise we could

ever bring.

Worthy of every breath we could ever

breathe. We live for

[Music]

you. Let's sing this together.

Worthy is your

name,

[Music]

Jesus. You deserve the

praise. Worthy is your

name. Worthy is your

name,

Jesus. You deserve the

praise. Worthy is your name.

Worthy is your

name,

Jesus. You deserve the

praise. Worthy is your

name. Worthy is your

name,

Jesus. You deserve the

praise. Worthy is your name.

So be exalted now in the heavens as your

glory fills this place. You alone

deserve our praise. You're the name

above all names. Be exalted now in the

heavens. As your glory fills this place,

you alone deserve our praise. You're the

name above all names. Be exalted now in

the heavens as your glory fills this

place. You alone deserve our praise.

You're the name above our names. Be

exalted now in the heavens as your glory

fills this place. You alone deserve our

praise. You're the name above all names.

[Music]

Great is the

Lord and worthy of our

praise. Worthy is your

name,

Jesus. You deserve the

praise. Worthy is your

name. Worthy is your name.

Jesus, you deserve the

praise, worthy is your name. Let's make

this our prayer. Worthy is your

name,

Jesus, you deserve the

praise. Worthy is your name.

Worthy is your

name

Jesus. You deserve the

praise. Worthy is your

[Music]

name. So here I am to

worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I

am to say that you're my

God. You're all together

lovely, all together

worthy, allto together

wonderful to me. Sing it again. Here I

am to

worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I

am to say that you're my

God. You're all together

lovely, all together

worthy, allto together

wonderful

to

me. Jesus, you are altogether wonderful.

You're so worthy of our praise. There's

there's no one else that

is is worthy worthy of the adoration

that we give you this

morning. A lot of people and things will

v for it, but you are the one. You're

the one we worship. You're the one we

adore. And so we we do it in the best

way we can. And we praise you this

morning. We just tell you that you're

worthy and we love

you. Help us live that way this week.

Our eyes are on you right now. Speak to

us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Couple things um to to just remind you

of real quickly. This Thursday is the

National Day of Prayer and um lots of

people are going to be gathering at city

hall to pray. Um it is going to be

happening at noon on Thursday. So let's

show up in mass and pray for our city,

for our country, our state, the world.

Let's pray together. And then also this

Sunday night, uh 6:30 is the citywide

woman's worship night at um South Lake

Church starting at 6 o'clock. And um

here are if you want the information

here are a couple of flyers that you can

take a picture of with your phone and

have all the information that you need.

Um I am going to ask you a profound

question this morning. Deep existential

question. Why are you

here? Who are

you? What is your true identity?

This is these are the questions at the

heart of what it means to be a human

being. We ask ourselves these questions.

Who am I? What is my purpose in life?

What is do I actually make a difference?

Does it matter that I'm here, that I'm

alive, that I'm born? And I think

honestly this is why I have loved our

study so much this year because we have

looked at at all of these various women

as we've looked at our different lessons

and we've come to understand their

identity in a whole new light. It's like

we've gotten to see them as God sees

them and um we see how they struggled in

their culture and with their unique

circumstances and yet we see how

faithful God was to them and how he sees

them and meets them. And so it's just

been so special, but it also has us, as

Lisa previously mentioned, also looking

at our own stories and our own lives and

our own relationship with God. And it's

encouraging us to know that yes, God

sees me and I'm responding to my life

circumstances and my my situation as

faithfully as I can and seeking to grow

closer to him, knowing that he is

drawing closer to me. Um, but let me ask

you, have you ever like really

experienced an identity crisis? Um, have

you ever felt so lost in your

understanding of yourself that you

couldn't find your way forward? Has

anybody ever felt that

way? Identity is having a deep knowledge

of where I come from, where I'm going,

and to whom I

belong. And knowing who we are shapes

how we live our lives. Actually, what

you believe about yourself determines

how you will live out your life. And the

Bible answers these questions for us.

The Bible explains that. It explains who

we were made by and what we were made

for. God tells us clearly in his word

that we were made in his image. We are

the imag made in the image of God. And

he has a purpose for us to accomplish

with our lives. So we actually receive

our identity from God himself. Our

identity stems from our createdness. In

our humanness, we reflect God's

attributes. We have the capacity to

love, to order, to name, to create, to

care just like God does. And God has

made us relational beings because he is

relational, father, son, and holy

spirit. So, he has made us to have

relationship with him and relationship

with one another. So knowing where we

came from, where we're going, and to

whom we belong is vital to our

understanding of our identity and

purpose. And today we're going to

spotlight one of the most misunderstood

women in all of biblical history. Her

identity has been so confused for

centuries. And that's Mary Magdalene.

We've all heard about Mary, right? Oh,

yeah. She's the one who anointed Jesus

with expensive perfume and then wiped

his feet with her

hair. Oh no, that was Mary of Bethany.

We looked at her last week. Different

Mary. Oh yeah, we know Mary, right?

Yeah, she's that sinner, that former

prostitute, right? No, that was church

tradition, but you'll not find that

anywhere in scripture. Oh, but no, we

know Mary because we've read the book by

Dan Brown. She's the secret b bride of

Jesus who had all of those mysterious

children, right? No, that's fiction.

Pure fiction. So Mary has been the

subject of extra biblical mythology for

centuries and the world has been in a

continual crisis over Mary's identity.

Why? I am going to propose that it is

because Satan has been trying to usurp

her life and use her to discredit Jesus

since the day she was born. Because the

truth about Mary Magdalene provides one

of the most compelling proofs for the

resurrection of Jesus Christ. So her

identity

matters. So we have to look to scripture

to see the true story of her identity.

And so today, in doing so, as we look at

the true story of her identity, we're

actually going to discover some pressing

answers to our questions about our

identity. We're going to look at Mary's

story in two parts. First, we're going

to ask the question, who am I as we look

at Mary? And then we're going to ask the

question, why am I here as we look at

Mary's life? And here's the key truth

that I want you to walk away with today.

My identity in Jesus Christ changes

everything about who I am. Your identity

in Jesus Christ changes everything about

who you

are. So let's jump in. Let's look at

this first question. Who am I? Who are

you? Magdalene was not Mary's last name.

It was where she was from. So Magdala

was a fishing village located on the

northwest side of the Sea of Galilee,

just a couple miles up the coast from

Tiberius and a kind of a jaunt across

the tip of the water from Capernaum.

Capernaum was where Peter lived and

where Jesus spent a lot of time hanging

out. Luke introduces us to her story in

Luke 8:es 1-3. Jesus was traveling

through cities and villages proclaiming

the good news of the kingdom of God. And

the twel were with him and also some

women who had been healed of evil

spirits and infirmities. Mary called

Magdalene from whom seven demons had

gone out and Joanna the wife of Chuza

Herod's household manager and Susanna

and many others who provided for them

out of their means.

So right away we find out that Mary

Magdalene was part of Jesus's inner

circle of friends. And these women

provided resources to enable Jesus's

ministry to expand. They were not merely

female tagalongs or Jesus groupies. They

were resourceful contributors to God's

kingdom

work. This was remarkable because Mary

lived in a time when women had, as we

know, very little societal value. As

we've learned in our study, women had no

voice in this day. They were not even

allowed to be witnesses in a court of

law because their testimony was

considered worthless. Women were looked

at as being um gullible or weak. They

were rarely educated and they were very

often oppressed by men. Yet Jesus

invited Mary Magdalene to be a member of

his ministry team. He has he had ex

exercised seven demons out of her. He

knew her. He knew her past. He knew her

present. He knew her future. He had

called her out of darkness and into the

light of life. And then he taught her

about the kingdom of God. She was a

living example of someone who had been

rescued from the grip of

Satan. Jesus knew her. He knew her

intimately and he loved her. Mary

Magdalene was beloved by God. Do you

know what it means to be beloved? To be

loved means to be greatly loved, to to

be dear to the heart of God. That's what

it means to be beloved. Now, Jesus of

course knew what it meant to be beloved

by God the Father. Um he was identified

as beloved by his father. It was during

his baptism when God the Father

announced with a loud voice Jesus's

identity to the whole world. He said in

Matthew 3:17, "This is my beloved son

Matthew 3:17

with whom I am well

pleased." Jesus clearly knew. He knew

who he was. He knew where he came from.

He knew where he was going. And he was

focused with great intention his whole

earthly life because he knew what his

purpose was. His purpose was to do the

will of his father. And here's a truth

for you. This is the first truth about

who you are. Who are you? You are

beloved by

God. You are

beloved. These words reveal the most

intimate truth about you and about me.

We are

beloved. Being God's beloved expresses

one of the core truths of our

existence. So let me ask you, why is

this so hard for us to

believe? Why is it so hard for us to

receive this truth that that I am God's

beloved? You are God's

beloved. I think so often we have

negative voices running through our

heads that are speaking just the

opposite.

Some of you may have tapes running all

the time through your head, playing out

all the derogatory things that people

have said to you. Often it's things your

parents have said to you that stick. You

remember those words. But I also think

that we so easily fall into the trap of

self-rejection and low self-esteem and

insecurity. We think, how actually can

God call me his beloved when I feel so

worthless and so full of shame? And I

think these conflicts that we feel

knowing that God calls us his beloved

but knowing how far short we fall of of

that title of that that name. This

conflict is what actually prompts us to

spend a lot of our time and energy

looking for someone or something else to

convince us of our belovedness. Or else

we try to work really really hard to do

something really really spectacular so

we feel like we can earn God's love. we

can measure up to that title. But all

the while, what we do is we refuse to

really listen to the voice of God who's

speaking into our souls and saying, "You

are my beloved in whom I am well

pleased." When you see Jesus face to

face, he will say, "Well done, good and

faithful

servant." Think of what the Bible tells

us about ourselves. Tells us that God is

the one who knit us together in our

mother's womb. He has us carved into the

palms of his hands. He hides us under

the shadow of his wing. He knows us more

intimately than our own mothers. He

knows how many hairs are on our head.

And he guides us along every step of the

way through life. He is with us. He

promises wherever we go. And he watches

over us at night when we sleep. He tells

us in scripture that he never hides his

face from us. and nothing ever of any

kind will ever separate us from his

love. I really believe that Jesus wants

to free us from these voices of

self-rejection that are rooted deep in

the belief that we are not

enough. Henry Nen said this. He said,

"Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of

the spiritual life because it

contradicts the sacred voice that calls

us the beloved."

Can you hear God's sacred voice speaking

into your soul and telling you, "I love

you. You belong to me. You are dear to

my

heart." Would you like to be free to

live in the reality of who you are as a

beloved daughter of

God? Your belovedness is the beginning.

It's what comforts us in knowing who am

I? I am the beloved child of God.

It's but there's more. Um there's a

freedom that comes with that. And Mary

had to be set free as well because she

was held captive by seven demons before

she met

Jesus. Both passages in Luke and Mark

confirm that she was she was living with

these demons inside of her. Scripture

doesn't explain how Jesus met her or

what the circumstances were that led to

him casting these demons out of her. But

there are lots of examples in scripture

which you got to look at your lessons

this week of what it was like for other

people who lived in bondage to demons.

Now, first let's define a demon. A demon

is an angelic being that is in rebellion

against God. They are personal spirits

with wills and emotions. They are in

Satan's battalion of evil forces and

they serve to tempt, to accuse, to

deceive, to shame, to dominate, and to

cause suffering for people. So imagine

what Mary's life was like by looking at

others who had experienced this kind of

suffering being uh inhabited by a demon.

We can think that Mary, she might have

been crazed. She might have been

perceived as really frightening to other

people. She could have been shouting or

wailing on the streets because demons

often speak through their tormented

victims. She could have been prone to

cutting herself or self mutilation of

some kind. She could have been

physically disabled by blindness or

deafness or sickness or having

convulsions. And it's possible that she

had been tormented by all of these

demons all of her life. that she could

have been living as an absolute outcast

in her

community. Sometimes we assume that the

demons have access to a person because

of sin. And sometimes that's true.

Sometimes people can open themselves up

to evil as they're engaging in sin. But

scripture shows demons tormenting even

the righteous. We see in Job was

righteous and he was tormented by de

demons. Jesus in the wilderness was

tormented, tempted by Satan and he's

righteous. So not that's not always the

case. We should not assume that Mary was

involved in some kind of sin that then

led to her demonic possession. But she

was imprisoned by a multitude of evil

angelic beings who tormented her day and

night. Having seven demons, ironically,

we know seven is the number of

completion in scripture. It meant that

she was tortured also in at least seven

different ways. So whatever her life

circumstances were, we can assume that

she was depressed, she was anxious, she

was lonely, she was ashamed, she was

afraid, and she was full of

self-loathing loathing. Can you imagine

what her life was like? I imagine she

had no friends. She probably had no

means to escape the relief of her

suffering. She was unloved. She was

unloly. She was living without any hope.

There was no joy. And there was

absolutely no escape from the stronghold

that captivated her soul until she met

Jesus. This is who Mary was. And then

she met

Jesus. Mark 9:16:9 says Jesus is the one

who cast these powerful demons out of

her. Jesus can speak a word and they

would flee.

Mark 16:9 says that now when he rose

Mark 16:9

early on the first day of the week, he

appeared first to Mary Magdalene from

whom he had cast out seven

demons. Scripture doesn't tell us

anything more. And that's because Mary's

story is actually not a story about a

tale of her bondage to the past. It's

about her freedom. It's about her new

life in Christ. She was freed from the

clutches of Satan by his grace and by

his power. She was literally delivered.

She was unbound. She was released from

the strongholds of her captivity. And we

don't know exactly what Jesus said to

set her free. We don't even know how she

actually came into his presence, but

it's it's likely that someone must have

brought her to him. Um because there was

a lot of demonic activity in that area

around Galilee. Either someone brought

her to Jesus because they heard that

Jesus was casting demons out of people

in that area or perhaps Jesus sought her

out. But one thing we know for sure, she

would not have sought out Jesus because

the the demons in her would not have

allowed her to. They would not have

allowed her to seek him

out. So imagine the depth of gratitude

that Mary felt when she was finally set

free. I mean, just imagine to have that

noise in her head finally stop, to have

those voices of accusation finally

silenced, to be able to breathe and

experience peace, and maybe even just to

sleep through the night for the first

time. The second thing about who you are

is that you are

freed. Who are you? You are freed. Jesus

wants to free you and to free me from

the strongholds of our life. Will you

think with me? What is a stronghold in

your

life? Is there something that is holding

you

captive? Perhaps it's an attitude. It's

a bitterness. It's a resentment. It's an

anger. It's an injustice. It's just

something that just has grips in your

heart and it influences the way that you

engage. Or maybe it's an addiction to

alcohol, to pills, to caffeine, to

sugar, to shopping, to

sex, something in your life that has

become the center of your daily

existence. Perhaps it's another per in

person that you're infatuated with or

someone in your life who has the

potential to steal all of your emotional

energy away from your primary

relationships.

The thing about strongholds is they

sneak up on us because at first they

appear to be just harmless desires. Oh,

that's not going to harm me. That's not

a big deal. And then they begin to root

down into our hearts and they begin to

take control of our lives and they drive

us away from dependence and fulfillment

in

God. Jesus wants to meet us there with

his grace and he wants to set us free

with his power. Mary was actually made

alive in Christ. And Jesus set her free

from the powers of darkness. And in the

same way, Jesus makes us alive in him so

that we can be free to walk in faith

with him. That's the power of the cross.

There's freedom and power to experience

triumph over the strongholds that seek

to hold us captive because of what Jesus

accomplished on the

cross. And this freedom then leads to a

transformed life.

When Mary became a close friend to

Jesus, she was transformed. She was

transformed from an outcast to a Christ

follower and she was part of his inner

circle. And that actually gave her

access to be a front row witness to his

crucifixion. It's amazing how Jesus

treated women. He treated them with such

great esteem and he regarded them so

differently than their culture regarded

them. He welcomed them in and Mary got

to be close and to see things that many

others didn't get to see. And she was so

loyal to Jesus. As the opposition was

growing against his ministry, she stayed

by his side. She followed him from

Galilee to Jerusalem and she stayed near

to him when other people fell away. And

she was with him at the cross. John 19

records that she was there when they

crucified him. She was there when the

soldiers took his garments and divided

them up between

them. Imagine her heartbreak as she's

watching her Lord and Savior, the one

who called her out of darkness and

invited her into be part of his inner

circle of friends, likely the first

experience of community that she'd ever

had in her whole life. To see him now

dying on a cross and seeing the soldiers

just giving up his clothes. and she was

close enough in that moment to be able

to hear Jesus speak from the cross about

his mother to the Apostle

John. Later, as the crowds were were

pushing in, the women had to be moved

back, but they stayed and they watched.

We see this in Matthew 27:55. It says

Matthew 27:55

there were also many women there looking

on from a distance who had followed

Jesus from Galilee ministering to him.

Among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary

the mother of James and Joseph and the

mother of the sons of

Zebedee. And then when Jesus breathed

his last breath, Mary Magdalene was

there. She watched as Joseph of Arythea

took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped

him in a litten shroud, and then she

followed him to the place where he laid

Jesus' body. It was a tomb cut into a

rock. Mark 15 says that he, Joseph, he

rolled the stone against the entrance of

the tomb, and Mary Magdalene and Mary

the mother of Joseph saw where he was

laid. But imagine her sorrow as she saw

his lifeless body battered and beaten

and laid in this cold tomb. She probably

thought, "What had he done to deserve

such

brutality?" Perhaps she was wondering to

herself, you know, if he was if he was

so powerful that he could call demons

out of her, why couldn't he save himself

from that kind of torment?

Or maybe because she had spent so much

time sitting at his feet listening to

his teaching that she she knew somehow

that this was part of the plan. We don't

know what was going on in her mind, but

what we do know is that she wanted him

to have a proper burial. And so she and

her friend Mary wanted to wash his body

and they wanted to anoint his body with

spices. But they knew they would have to

wait until after the Sabbath to do that.

They couldn't attend to him till the

Sabbath was

over. And the third truth about who you

are is that you are

transformed. When you know Jesus, he

transforms your

life. Timothy Keller said that our most

fundamental identity and life behavior

is a function of what we

love. Mary loved Jesus. She was

dramatically transformed from a

demon-filled outcast to a devoted,

tender-hearted follower of Christ. She

had this powerful story of

transformation. Mary's testim testimony

would have sounded like this. She would

have said, "This is who I was and then I

met Jesus and now this is who I am." Do

you have a story like

that? This is who I was. I was

searching. I was lost. I was desperate

for love. I was longing for fulfillment.

I was believing the lies of the world. I

was chasing after the wrong things. And

then I met

Jesus as Lord and Savior who loved me,

who called me his beloved, who forgave

me of my sins, who rescued me from

darkness. And this is who I am. born

again person full of joy, free from the

guilt and shame of my past sins,

forgiven, living in community, full of

his love and now actually someone who

wants to share the good news with

someone else. That's our story. This is

who I was and then I met Jesus and now

this is who I am. And this is what Jesus

wants to do for you. He loves you. You

are his beloved. He made you. He knows

you intimately. He is calling you to be

near to his heart because he loves

you. And by his grace and power, he is

calling you to be free from the power of

sin and death. His death on the cross

defeated Satan and paid for your debt of

sin. And the Bible tells us the wages of

sin is death. His death has set you free

to live eternally with him. He has

prepared a place for you. All we do is

we believe it by agreeing that it is so.

And now he welcomes you to live in light

of your new identity in Christ to be

transformed. Listen to what the Bible

tells you about who you

are. You are redeemed from slavery to

sin. You're no longer a slave to sin.

You've been redeemed. You are reconciled

to God. You are forgiven of all of your

sins. You are washed clean.

You are accepted by God. You are

justified by Jesus. You possess every

spiritual

blessing. And you have become a child of

God. This transformation happens as you

live into the reality of who you are in

Christ. You are a daughter of the king.

This is who you are. Not because of

anything you've done or anything you

will ever do. It's simply who you are.

because of who Jesus Christ

is. That's who you are. Our identity in

Jesus Christ not only though changes

everything about who I am, it also

changes everything about how I live. So

let's answer the second question. Why am

I

here? When the Sabbath was over, Mary

was one of the first to reach the tomb.

It's Sunday morning. John 20 tells us

verse one. Now, on the first day of the

week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb

early while it was still dark and saw

that the stone had been rolled away from

the tomb. When we pieced together all of

the gospel accounts, we learned that

three women actually arrived at the tomb

that morning. Mary Magdalene, Solom, and

Mary, the mother of James. They showed

up at the crack of dawn. They were ready

to anoint Jesus's body with the spices

that they had prepared. They probably

thought, "Oh, maybe a Roman guard would

roll that stone away." But instead

there's this powerful earthquake and the

stone is rolled away. Matthew 28 tells

us that now after the Sabbath toward the

dawn of the first day of the week, Mary

Magdalene and the other Mary went to see

the tomb. And behold, there was a great

earthquake for an angel of the Lord

descended from heaven and came and

rolled back the stone and then sat on

it. This angel shone like lightning. It

clothes were as white as snow. The

guards who had been watching over the

tomb were terrified and became like dead

men. But the women went inside the tomb

to see Jesus's body. And then to their

great dismay, the body of their Lord was

gone. Mary was absolutely sure somebody

must have come and stolen his body. And

so she raced out of the tomb. She's

heading up the trail when she runs into

John and Peter. And she tells them,

"They've taken the Lord out of the tomb,

and we do not know where they've laid

him." So, they take off running. They

get to the tomb. John gets there first,

but Peter goes in first. And they see

these linen claws lying there. And

strangely, this facecloth is all folded

up and put in a separate place.

Obviously, not the work of grave robbers

who would have just scattered things

everywhere.

The only way that it seems that these

claws would have been the way they were

is if a body had passed through them.

Peter and John are really confused. They

don't put together yet the scriptures of

what Jesus had been telling them um that

he was going to rise from the dead. So

they they leave. But Mary could not

leave. She loved the Lord with all her

heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so

she remains near the tomb and she's

weeping. She's like, "Where is her Lord?

What happened to his body? How could she

prepare him for a proper burial with all

the spices if her if his body is gone?"

It's like as if the suffering and death

that he'd gone through on the cross

wasn't enough for her to bear. Now,

there's just no way, she's thinking, to

properly honor him in his death and to

have some sense of closure with his body

not being in the tomb. And here is just

one of the most beautiful passages in

scripture from John

20. But Mary stood weeping outside the

tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to

look into the tomb. And she saw two

angels in white sitting where the body

of Jesus had laid, one at the head and

one at the feet. And they said to her,

"Woman, why are you weeping?" And she

said to them, "They have taken away my

Lord, and I do not know where they have

laid him." Having said this, she turned

around and saw Jesus standing, but she

did not know that it was Jesus. And

Jesus said to her,"Woman, why are you

weeping? Whom are you seeking?"

Supposing him to be the gardener, she

said to him, "Sir, if you have carried

him away, tell me where you have laid

him, and I will take him away." And then

Jesus said to her,

"Mary." Can you imagine that voice? He

said her name and she instantly

recognized. She had heard him say her

name hundreds of

times. Her eyes probably couldn't see

him through the tears, but now she knew

he was her Lord. He was the one who with

that same voice had called all of those

demons out of her. And he knew she knew

this was her master, her rabbi, her

lord. Maybe he looked different in his

glorified state.

But when Jesus spoke, he she recognized

his voice. And I love that Jesus doesn't

rebuke her for not remembering the words

that he had spoken to her about his

death and

resurrection. On several occasions, he

had spoken to his disciples about his

coming death and resurrection after

being three days in the ground. He had

even talked to them about how what was

going to happen to him paralleled Jonah

being in the whale for three days. But

he knows now that he's gentle with her

because he knows that this is so

confusing for her. And he knows that

she's wrought with grief. And so he

reveals himself to her in such a tender

way. He just says,

"Mary." He speaks her name in this way

that was so familiar to her. And what an

incredible surprise for her to turn and

see the face of her beloved Lord. He's

alive once more. He has turned her tears

of sorrow into tears of

joy. Now, here's something interesting.

What if Jesus had appeared just a little

bit

earlier? What if he came and revealed

himself just minutes earlier to two of

the greatest apostles, to John and

Peter? His timing though was not an

accident. Mary was the perfect choice to

receive the honor of being the first to

see him alive. Because who knew better

than Mary what it meant that Jesus had

triumphed over the devil at the

cross. His resurrection not only broke

the power of sin and death, it

accomplished the ultimate defeat of her

former tormentor and all of his demons.

The truth is, why are you here? You are

here to love God because he first loved

you. That's first John 4:9 4:19. We love

1 John 4:9

God because he first loved us. 1 John

1 John 4:9

4:9. How can we express our love and

devotion to the one who first loved us?

I think we can choose to seek him and to

know him through the devotion of our

time and our hearts and our minds and

our bodies. And I feel like this is what

we've been doing all year. We've been

seeking to know him. We've been seeking

to discover God's glory through her

story. We're drawing near to him through

his word. We're drawing near to him

through prayer. We are seeking to love

him as we engage in community with one

another and as we worship together and

as we serve

together. And the joy is that he makes

himself known to us as we draw near to

him. When we love God with all our

heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will

recognize his voice like Mary did. And

we will hear him pronounce the true

identity of our souls that we are his

beloved. And our purpose in life is to

love him because he first loved us.

But there's a little bit more because

the Lord has a mission for us. So, let's

go

on. Immediately after Mary hears Jesus's

voice, she exclaims, "Rabani," which

means teacher. And Matthew reveals that

Mary fell to the ground and she took

hold of his feet as an act of worship.

And I wonder if she didn't see the scars

on his feet from the nails that had that

had pinned his feet to the cross.

And Mary worshiped him. And now that she

had found him, she didn't want to let

him go. She didn't want to let go of

this moment of holding on to him and

worshiping his resurrected body. And

Jesus gave Mary then the most amazing

honor of being the very first human

being to see him and to hear his voice

after his resurrection and to touch him.

She got to see him. She got to hear him.

She got to touch him, the first person

after his

resurrection. Others then had heard the

good news from the angels at the tomb.

But Mary heard it from the lips of Jesus

himself. And I'm sure Mary would have

stayed there forever. I know I would

have in that moment. I would have stayed

there forever. But Jesus had a very

special assignment for her which he says

in John

John 20:17

20:17. He says,"Do not cling to me, for

I have not yet ascended to the father,

but go to my brothers and say to them, I

am ascending to my father and your

father, to my God and your God." So

Jesus gave Mary a mission. She was to go

and tell the disciples the good news.

Jesus has resurrected from the dead and

soon he's going to be ascending into

heaven. She had to go proclaim the good

news that he is alive and he is Lord.

Now, this is absolutely amazing because

a woman in that culture who is

prohibited from being able to serve as a

credible witness to anything in a court

of law is deemed the first eyewitness of

the resurrection and the first bearer of

good news that Jesus is alive, that he's

risen from the dead. verse uh 18. Mary

Magdalene then went and announced to the

disciples, I have seen the Lord and that

he had said these things to

her. So the second answer to the

question, why are you here? You are here

to love others by sharing the good news

of Jesus Christ.

That's really the greatest expression of

love that we will ever have for another

person is to tell them the good news of

Jesus Christ. Who do you need to share

this good news of the gospel

with? We over complicate it. It's just

not as hard as it seems. Sometimes I've

told you that I feel like if I share the

good news, I have to start in Genesis. I

have to go all the way to Revelation and

tell all the inbetweens. But that's not

it. The way to start the conversation is

just to say this is who I was and then I

met Jesus and now this is who I am. I am

a living representative of a transformed

life in Christ. And we have a purpose.

Our purpose is to go be witnesses and to

help people who are bound up in sin and

darkness know that Jesus is alive and

that he loves

them just the way he loves us.

The interesting thing is that this

controversy around Mary's identity and

her experience has actually been very

intentional. It has had the intention of

trying to subvert the impact of her

postresurrection encounter with Jesus.

Because if the world can discredit her

testimony, right? If we can discredit,

if the world can discredit her

testimony, it would prove that she

didn't actually hear Jesus's voice or

she didn't actually touch his body. And

perhaps that could be evidence that he

wasn't raised from the dead after all.

But in fact, her testimony has become

one of the greatest proofs of the

resurrection because of the

embarrassment of it. No one would ever

make up a story with someone like Mary

Magdalene as the first witness and the

first proclaimer of such good news. It's

called the embarrassment factor and it

is actually one of the greatest proofs

of the reliability of the res

resurrection.

And the other thing that's so amazing is

that Mary has another title that's been

associated with her name throughout the

centuries. She's been called the apostle

to the apostles. This was a title that

the first church fathers called her.

Early on, first century Christians

called her the apostle to the apostles.

And then somewhere in church history

during a dark time, a pope named Gregory

the Great preached a powerful sermon

about her and got it all wrong.

Completely discredited her. Called her a

prostitute. All those things, those

rumors that we've had for centuries came

out of this sermon that then was

translated

into fact apparently. And it wasn't

until the last century when theologians

have done deep dives into scripture like

we're doing that they've untangled her

identity from all of the history of lies

and come up now with a clear sense of

knowing who she is. And in fact another

pope John Paul II in 1988 reestablished

her title as the apostle to the

apostles. Her identity has been

redeemed. Our identity in Christ changes

everything about who we are and how we

live. Jesus invites us into a life of

faith that's dependent upon his grace.

And it's meant to be shared with other

people. Mary Magdalene's story just

proves that no one is too broken or too

forgotten or too misunderstood for the

love of Christ. She was beloved. She was

freed. She was transformed. And the same

is true for us today. You are beloved.

You are known and chosen and deeply

loved. You are freed. You are no longer

a prisoner of shame or sin or fear. And

you are transformed. You are called to a

new life in Christ. A life of love and

purpose and joy. And Jesus is alive. He

is our resurrected Lord. He speaks your

name. He invites you to live like people

who have seen the risen Lord. people

whose very lives proclaim, "I have seen

the Lord." Does your life proclaim that?

That Jesus is alive and you have seen

him. This is who we are. And God is now

calling us to go and share this good

news with someone else, with someone we

love. Let's pray.

Father, what