Mary Magdalene: Apostle of the Apostles 07.26.2026

The gospel of John is crystal clear: the first person sent to preach the good news of resurrection was not Peter, and it was not Paul. It was Mary Magdalene. The risen Christ himself commissioned her to “go and tell,” and much of the church spent centuries trying to turn her into somebody else.

The old image of Mary as a repentant prostitute did not come from the New Testament. That mistake came from confusing several women in the gospels and fusing them into one person. Luke introduces Mary through healing and discipleship, as a woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, and as a woman who helped provide for Jesus and his ministry. The church’s long misreading of Mary was not harmless, because when Mary is misread, the power of the resurrection is misread too.

Matthew shows the women arriving at the tomb while it is still dark. The earth shakes, an angel descends, the stone rolls back, and the trained soldiers shake and become like dead men. But the women stay. The angel gives them the greatest news in human history: “He is not here, for he has been raised.” Then the angel sends them, and Jesus meets them on the way and sends them again. Resurrection is not something just to behold. Resurrection is good news to carry.

John then zooms the lens in on Mary alone, standing outside the tomb weeping. Peter has come and gone. The beloved disciple has looked and left. Mary stays with tears on her face, running on nothing but fumes and love. Jesus speaks one word, “Mariam,” and the good shepherd calls his sheep by name. Mary turns and cries, “Rabboni,” undone with love for her Lord.

Jesus does not tell Mary to get over her grief. Jesus meets her in it. Her tears are not an obstacle to resurrection; they are the very place where resurrection finds her. Christ commissions her before all her questions are answered, before her grief is resolved, before she has time to become respectable. Mary simply goes and announces, “I have seen the Lord.”

Christ did not entrust resurrection first to the powerful, the prominent, or the perfectly composed. Christ entrusted it to the faithful one who stayed. The disciples had to receive the good news from Mary because Christ chose her, and no one else had heard it yet. The same risen Christ still calls people by name, still sends people through tears, and still asks whether the gospel will stop with them or continue to live through them.

##

Key Takeaways

• 1. Mary was sent by Christ himself Mary Magdalene’s authority did not come from Peter, Paul, or any later church structure. Christ chose her, named her, and sent her with the first resurrection proclamation. The question was never whether the disciples preferred the messenger, but whether they would receive the one Jesus had chosen. [49:17]
• 2. Tears can become holy ground Mary’s grief did not disqualify her from meeting the risen Lord. Jesus did not wait for her to calm down, clean up, or “get over it” before calling her by name. Resurrection met her exactly where love had left her standing, outside a tomb with tears on her face. [43:13]
• 3. Good news belongs to everybody The good news is not truly good if it is guarded, hoarded, or treated like a private escape plan. Christ’s resurrection is life for the world, not a prize for a few who look right, talk right, or belong to the right crowd. Mary’s witness pushes the church away from fear and toward a love big enough to be proclaimed. [42:05]
• 4. God calls unexpected voices The risen Christ did not choose the most obvious witness by human standards. Christ chose a woman in a world that often dismissed women, and the church has too often received her announcement while sidelining her example. Faithfulness requires listening for God’s voice even when it comes from someone the community has been trained to overlook. [51:45]
• 5. Resurrection witness cannot stay hidden Mary went because she had seen the Lord, not because every question had been answered. Her testimony became part of the gospel’s movement into the world, and the same pattern still holds. The story of Christ’s work in a life remains incomplete until that witness is spoken for the sake of another.
  
  ## [54:12]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [17:10] - Go And Tell Begins
• [28:52] - Mary Magdalene Preaches First
• [31:41] - Correcting Mary’s False Reputation
• [33:32] - Matthew’s Resurrection Morning
• [35:21] - Commissioned Twice To Tell
• [36:26] - John Centers Mary Alone
• [38:34] - Jesus Calls Mary By Name
• [40:20] - Jesus Meets Shame With Love
• [43:13] - Grief As Resurrection Ground
• [45:59] - Mary Sent Through Tears
• [48:44] - Disciples Must Receive Mary
• [50:44] - The Church Sidelines Mary
• [52:21] - Christ Entrusts The Faithful
• [55:01] - Go And Tell Today

1. In John 20, what does Mary do that Peter and the beloved disciple do not do, and how does that shape what happens next? [37:00]
2. What changes in the scene when Jesus says only one word, “Mary”? [39:09]
3. According to this passage, what exactly is Mary told to do, and how does she respond? [48:07]
4. What details help show that Mary is introduced in the New Testament through healing and discipleship rather than through the false reputation later attached to her? [32:23]

1. Jesus meets Mary while she is still weeping and then sends her before her grief is resolved. What does that suggest about how Christ works in a person’s pain? [46:11]
2. Mary Magdalene is the first one sent with resurrection news. Why does it matter that the risen Christ chose her and not a more expected messenger? [49:17]
3. Mary says, “I have seen the Lord,” before every question is answered. What does her witness show about the difference between having complete understanding and having enough to testify? [47:32]
4. The good news is only good news if it is good news for everybody. How does Mary’s commission push against the habit of keeping faith private, guarded, or limited to certain kinds of people? [42:05]

1. Mary stayed near the tomb when others had already gone home. Where has it been hardest lately to stay present with Jesus instead of withdrawing, numbing out, or moving on too quickly? [37:41]
2. Jesus called Mary by name in the middle of her tears. In what area of grief, shame, or exhaustion does there need to be fresh trust that Christ still sees and calls people personally? [43:13]
3. Christ does not wait for people to become perfectly composed before sending them. Is there a place where waiting to “feel ready” has become an excuse for silence or inaction? What might one small step of obedience look like this week? [45:59]
4. The disciples had to receive good news from the person Christ chose. Whose voice has been too easy to dismiss because it did not fit an expected picture of who should speak for God? [51:45]
5. “I have seen the Lord” is a simple but bold witness. What is one part of that story that could be spoken more clearly in everyday life—with a friend, family member, coworker, or neighbor? [54:12]
6. The gospel is not meant to stop with the person who receives it. What would it look like for the love and hope of Christ to continue through a person’s words, habits, and relationships this week? [56:00]
7. Mary went because she had encountered the risen Lord. What usually makes it hardest to “go and tell”—fear, self-doubt, shame, busyness, or something else—and what would trusting Jesus in that place look like? [55:01]