Day Eleven in the Wilderness

 

This song is AMAZING!!

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I've always been incredibly fascinated and wonderfully blessed by the exchange between Mary Magdalene and Jesus at the tomb. I can't begin to imagine the tenderness in his voice when he spoke to Mary.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

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 lain, one at the head and one at the feet.  They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” 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. 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.” Jesus said to her  "Mary".  She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “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." Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her."

I can't imagine the emotion Mary felt when Jesus was buried in that tomb three days before....Mark 16:9 repeats what had been said before "Mary Magdalene, out of whom he (Jesus) had driven seven demons."

Women Accompanying Jesus

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve 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. Luke 8:1-4

A LOT of reading today but I'm just so drawn to her. MacLaren's Expository on Bible Hub says this about Mary Magdalene:

"As to the women of the little group, we know very little about them. Mary of Magdala has had a very hard fate. The Scripture record of her is very sweet and beautiful. Delivered by Christ from that mysterious demoniacal possession, she cleaves to Him, like a true woman, with all her heart. She is one of the little group whose strong love, casting out all fear, nerved them to stand by the Cross when all the men except the gentle Apostle of love, as he is called, were cowering in corners, afraid of their lives, and she was one of the same group who would fain have prolonged their ministry beyond His death, and who brought the sweet spices with them in order to anoint Him, and it was she who came to the risen Lord with the rapturous exclamation, ‘Rabboni, my Master.’ By strange misunderstanding of the Gospel story, she has been identified with the woman who was a sinner in the previous chapter in this book, and her fair fame has been blackened and her very name taken as a designation of the class to which there is no reason whatever to believe she belonged. Demoniacal possession was neither physical infirmity nor moral evil, however much it may have simulated sometimes the one or the other."

"Mary Magdalene owed much, gave much, loved much, and served much. She is a wonderful example of a woman whose life was poured out in response to God’s extravagant grace." (quoted)

• Owed much
• Gave much
• Loved much
• Served much

Extravagant grace. I'm trying to comprehend 

AMAZING GRACE 

poured out for me! 

I am not unlike Mary Magdalene. Jesus' commissioned her that day at the tomb to "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and TELL THEM, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

GO AND TELL! Scream it from the rooftops!

My commission (an authorization or command to act in a prescribed manner or to perform prescribed acts; a formal request to produce something)

IS to go and make disciples. 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 💓 Matthew 28:19

What that looks like daily for me is this:

• Seek Jesus FIRST

 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

• Pray for discernment (ability to understand and comprehend)
• Be aware (not caught up in my busyness)
• Obey (even when I'm unsure, uncomfortable or lack confidence)
• ACT!! (even when it seems silly or especially inconvenient) 😕
• BE BOLD!
• BE BRAVE!
• GIVE MUCH!
• LOVE MUCH!
• SERVE MUCH!

Jesus, please help me to seek you first, above ALL else so that I am prepared to make disciples. Help me to not get caught up in my own busyness. My desire is to NOT miss what you have planned for me....though only you know if that's true. Help me to have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart so soft for you that your  love would pour from me into those you put in my path. Help me to remember that even when I extend a smile, or a kind word, or hold a door open, return a grocery cart.....I am showing them you. Help me to understand that little acts of kindness mean something. Help me not to fall into the trap that my "splash" isn't big enough. That it goes unnoticed. Help me to NOT compare myself with others that seem to make a bigger splash than I do. Help me to love you moment by moment and to be confident that you will work in and through me.

**Before writing this post I read 14 commentaries, Wikipedia and History Stories in addition to articles and blogs and every single one refuted the notion that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or immoral or in any way connected to the woman spoken of in Luke 7:37 who anointed Jesus' feet with expensive oil from an alabaster jar.