Focus: Look Back And Rejoice!

Text: Mk.16:9

"Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils."

Mary Magdalene had a past just like everyone else. Her past was connected to a demonic bondage. She had seven demons that resided in and presided over her.

Like Mary Magdalene, every unsaved person is controlled by demons. Paul has this to say about the past of every saint, "Wherein in TIME PAST ye walked according to the course of this world, according to THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, THE SPIRIT that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph.2:2). We were once dead in trespasses and sins. We were trapped in worldliness, and enslaved by a spirit, known as "the prince of the power of the air," and we lived in total rebellion and disobedience to God. We totally disregarded God's revealed will. It is a true saying that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. A harlot was once a virgin. What we call habit is developed bit by bit, and before we know it, everything about our lives goes bananas.

It is so interesting to know that Jesus Christ came into Mary's life and changed it. He did cast out the seven demons that controlled her life and gave her a fresh start in life. Jesus Christ became her whole new world. Christ completely broke the yoke of sin in her life, freed her from every demonic influence, and she lived a changed life.

Every time her story is told her past was always remembered. Her deliverance from a bad past was never in doubt. At every point in time people had a clear idea about what her past looked like, and where Christ picked her from. Mary always looked back and rejoiced in Christ, her Savior.

*Mary at Golgotha

John reports, "Now there STOOD by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene" (Jh.19:25). Among the very few found around the cross of Christ was Mary Magdalene. She stood by her Savior even in the hour of pain and death. She manifested the spirit of true friendship. She followed Christ to the end of His earthly life.

*Mary at Jesus' gravesite

Mark declares, "And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses BEHELD where he was laid" (Mk.16:47). Mary did not go home from Golgotha, but followed her Savior's corpse to where He was buried. She followed Christ from His cross to His tomb. She observed where He was buried. She took notice and marked the place, because she had yet an unfinished business to carry out, which was the traditional burial ritual of embalming the dead. Mark says, "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him" (Mk.16:1). She came to her Savior's gravesite to anoint His body.

*Mary's commitment to Christ

Luke writes, "And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which MINISTERED unto him of their substance" (Lk.8:2-3). Mary showed her deep appreciation of Christ, her Savior by committing to serve Him. She was devoted to Christ. She followed Christ everywhere, and out of her own means and resources she ministered to Him. She used her service to show how grateful she was for her utter deliverance.

*Mary's encounter with the resurrected Christ

John tells us that "the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre" (Jh.20:1). Mary could not sleep, for her heart was heavy with the turn of events. Her Deliverer had just died. Christ was unjustly sentenced to death, and now she came to the gravesite and discovered that His tomb was empty. Matthew says, "And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre" (Mt.27:61). Mary sat helplessly and hopelessly by the tomb of Jesus Christ, not knowing what to make out of this new development. Matthew says, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to SEE the sepulchre" (Mt.28:1). She came to see the tomb of her Savior and show her last respect.

*Mary's witness

Luke writes, "It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles" (Lk.24:10). Mary was the first announcer of the resurrection of Christ. John says, "Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her" (Jh.20:18). After that, the angel of the Lord says to her and the other women, "And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you" (Mt.28:7). He says again, "And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him" (Mt.28:9). They encountered the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and worshipped Him with gladness.

So we can see that Mary devoted herself to Christ from the moment of her deliverance to the time of His resurrection and ascension, and for the rest of her life she remained committed to Christ and His cause. She always looked back and rejoiced in Christ, her Savior. She saw Christ and testified of Him. She was there the day the Holy Spirit came down on the Day of Pentecost. Her joy knew no bounds. Christ settled her past, made her present meaningful, and secured her future.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter