Sent from the Garden

The Woman Who Saw Him First: Mary Magdalene and the Commission to Proclaim

In the dim light of early Sunday morning, a woman made her way to a tomb. Her heart was heavy with grief, her mind focused on one final act of devotion—anointing the body of her beloved teacher. She had watched him die. She had seen where they laid him. And now, after observing the Sabbath as required, she came to complete the burial rituals that had been interrupted by his death.

What she found instead would change everything.

The stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. And in her distress, Mary Magdalene became the first person to encounter the risen Christ—and the first person commissioned to proclaim the resurrection.

Who Was Mary Magdalene?

For centuries, Mary Magdalene has been misunderstood, her identity obscured by conflation with other biblical figures. She's been portrayed as a prostitute, as the woman caught in adultery, as a repentant sinner. Yet scripture tells a different story.

Luke 8 introduces us to Mary as a woman healed by Jesus of seven demons—likely a combination of physical and mental afflictions that had tormented her. Modern scholars now believe she was a woman of means who financially supported Jesus's ministry. She was part of his inner circle, one of the faithful women who followed him throughout his ministry.

When others fled, Mary Magdalene remained. At the foot of the cross, she stood with Jesus's mother, his mother's sister, and Mary the wife of Clopas. These four women witnessed the crucifixion when many of the male disciples had scattered in fear. They saw where he was buried. And they planned to return to honor his body properly.

The Recognition

The Gospel of John gives us the intimate details of that resurrection morning. After Peter and John ran to the tomb, examined the abandoned grave clothes, and left confused, Mary stayed. She wept. When she looked into the tomb, she saw two angels who asked why she was crying.

"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."

Notice the shift in her words. Earlier, she had told the disciples, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and WE do not know where they have put him." But now she says "I." It's subtle but significant—emphasizing her aloneness in that moment of grief and confusion.

Then she heard a voice: "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for?"

Thinking he was the gardener, she pleaded for information about the body's location. But then Jesus spoke her name: "Mary."

That single word changed everything. As Jesus himself said in John 10:27, "My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me." Mary recognized him instantly, responding in Aramaic: "Rabboni"—teacher.

We can imagine her reaching out, wanting to embrace him, to confirm that her eyes weren't deceiving her. But Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father."

And then came the commission: "Go instead to my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Go and Tell

These weren't suggestions. This was a divine commission. Mary Magdalene became the first person to see the risen Christ and the first person commanded to proclaim it. She went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord."

Think about the radical nature of this choice. In first-century Jewish culture, women's testimony wasn't accepted in court. Their voices carried no legal weight. Yet Jesus entrusted the most important truth in human history to a woman whose testimony would have been dismissed by the legal system of her day.

Women got Jesus. Throughout the Gospels, we see women understanding what the men often missed. While the disciples argued about who was greatest, women anointed Jesus for burial. While Peter demanded Jesus speak plainly about his identity, the Samaritan woman at the well simply said, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." And Jesus responded, "I, the one speaking to you, I am he."

The Apostle to the Apostles

Many Christian traditions have long recognized Mary Magdalene's unique role. Orthodox Christians view her as a virtuous myrrh-bearer and "equal to the apostles." Catholics honor her as "the apostle to the apostles."

There's a beautiful legend associated with Mary Magdalene. According to tradition, she traveled to Rome and was invited to the home of Emperor Tiberius. She proclaimed, "The Lord is risen! I have seen the Lord!" The emperor scoffed, saying he would believe it when the white egg she was holding turned red. At that moment, the egg turned crimson. Mary went on to convert members of the imperial household.

This is why Eastern Orthodox icons often depict Mary Magdalene holding a red egg—a symbol of the resurrection and her bold evangelism.

A Threshold, Not a Banishment

Mary Magdalene's story reminds us that resurrection encounters change us. They send us forth. They give us a message we cannot keep to ourselves.

The poet Jan Richardson captures this beautifully in "The Magdalene's Blessing," describing the moment of recognition as standing with "everything you ever loved suddenly returning to you, looking you in the eye and calling your name."

But this recognition creates "a hole in the center of your chest, where a door slams shut and swings open at the same time." The old life is gone. The new life beckons. There's grief and hope intertwined.

Richardson writes: "I tell you, this is not a banishment from the garden. This is an invitation, a choice, a threshold, a gate."

Mary couldn't return to who she was before that Sunday morning. None of us can return to who we were before we encounter the risen Christ. But this isn't loss—it's transformation. It's a call to something we "could have never have dreamed."

The Call Continues

Acts 2:17 proclaims: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams."

This pouring out of the Spirit began in that garden when Jesus called Mary's name and sent her to proclaim what she had seen. The seed planted that Easter morning continues to flower in every person who hears their name called by the risen Christ and responds with proclamation: "I have seen the Lord."

The blessing Richardson offers reminds us that we may not remember the exact words spoken to us in our encounters with Christ. They don't matter as much as the sound of the voice—the recognition of being known and called by name.

When you stand in the place of death and hear the living call your name, everything changes. The only response is to go and tell.