The resurrection of Jesus means everything to me as a Christian. It is the foundation on which my faith is based. However, the resurrection also affirms me deeply and abidingly as a woman.
WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
Women played a considerable role in the life and ministry of Jesus.
Why?
He valued them, treated women with dignity and respect, and called them his friends and followers.
He sat with women, ate with them, taught, and prayed for them.
He healed women and forgave their sins.
No other man could say and do these things.
Think about his encounters with:
- The Samaritan woman
- Mary and Martha
- Mary Magdalene
- The woman caught in adultery, ready to be stoned
- Not to mention the countless widows, mothers, & orphans who remain nameless in scripture.
If we examine the resurrection of Jesus…the most incredible event in history and the absolute foundation of the Christian faith, what do we find?
Women.
In almost every corner of this world and in almost every epoch of recorded history, women have been entrusted with the care of bodies. We birth them. We feed them. We wash them. We mend them. We comfort them. We fret over them. So it is nothing short of utterly unremarkable that it is women who arrive at the tomb of Jesus to anoint him for burial. It is obvious. It is commonplace. The women who fed him and washed him and looked after him in life come to care for his body one last time. And this is where the story is transformed. This is where it ceases to be ordinary.“
Caitlin Kennell Kim, Resurrection Women
WOMEN AT THE RESURRECTION
In her article, Resurrection Women, Caitlin Kennell Kim goes on to insightfully explain the power of the resurrection of Jesus:
Resurrection is absolutely central to the Christian faith. If the Resurrection does not happen, the Church is little more than a failed movement of individuals of questionable moral character whose megalomaniacal leader is subjected to a painful demise as a warning against further insurrection. End of story.
The Resurrection means that Jesus is precisely who he claims to be and that he has accomplished precisely what he intended to accomplish. It means that for one brief moment in human history God walked among us to teach us about the Kingdom of God and to show us how to live it into being by acts of justice, mercy, and unflinching love. It means that we are loved so fiercely and with such abandon that death and brutality and evil are conquered. It means that we are not mourning the end of something but anticipating the beginning of something new … the Reign of Love made manifest and complete and resplendent here on earth.“
In including women as an integral part of the resurrection story, Jesus gave them the highest honor. During the time of Christ, among both the Jews and the Romans, the testimony of women did not count for much, and they could not testify in court.
It really is astonishing that Jesus made his first post-resurrection appearance to women.
Interestingly, many of the women present at Jesus’ crucifixion were also the women who awoke early Sunday morning after the Sabbath had passed to care for Jesus’ body.
BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS OF WOMEN AT THE TOMB
Each Gospel has a different account of what women were present, what happened, and what was said. I encourage you to read each account on your own. It is also an excellent way for you to prepare for Resurrection Sunday!
Each of the gospels records that women were the first to receive the amazing news that Jesus was alive, but they recount it in slightly different ways.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE WOMEN AT THE RESURRECTION
Very little is known about these women except that they were followers of Jesus.
Salome is mentioned as being at the cross (Mark 15:40), and she is identified as one of the women who followed him and cared for his needs. She is also the mother of disciples James and John.
According to Luke 8:3, Joanna was the wife of Chuza, a manager of King Herod’s estate or possibly his vineyard in Galilee. She worked to financially support and care for Jesus and his disciples while they traveled.
Mary, the mother of James and Joses, was also at the cross during Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt. 27:56). This is probably the same Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was a cultural practice not to indicate Mary as Jesus’ mother due to his crucifixion. Remember, at the cross, she is called “Mary, mother of James and Joses” and only directly addressed in John’s gospel.
They had been ministering to his needs out of their own resources (Mark 15:41; Luke 8:1-4), so presumably, they were moderately wealthy. They traveled with him, at least part of the time, and it is logical to think that they would have ministered to women who came to hear Jesus teach.
(Most of this information comes from Women of the Resurrection by Nell Sunukjian. Please check out her full post for even more details about the women at the resurrection.)
THE SPECIAL ROLE MARY MAGDALENE PLAYS AT THE RESURRECTION
Every Gospel is clear on one point:
Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Savior.
Why?
Out of all the people who followed Jesus, why did she see Him first?
Not his disciples.
Not his mother.
Mary Magdalene…a woman in which he cast out several demons.
The Bible doesn’t tell us, so we can only guess.
She is mentioned first in all four gospel accounts of the resurrection… isn’t that remarkable?
We know that at one point in her life, she was seriously afflicted by demons. What a testimony she was to what could happen to a woman who was set free! No longer in bondage, no longer a slave to sin and pain, but set free by Jesus—now able to serve and love others with freedom and joy.
Read this beautiful summary of what happened on Resurrection Sunday:
Mary Magdalene had been at the crucifixion, standing near the cross, watching the horror of Jesus’ death (John 19:25). As darkness fell and the Sabbath began, Mary faithfully observed the Sabbath rest. Now, as daylight broke on Sunday, she and other women had come back to the tomb bringing additional spices to finish the preparation of his body.
They were puzzled when they saw that the large stone that covered the mouth of the tomb was already moved away. And Jesus’ body was missing! The angels told the women who had entered the tomb, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen. Remember he told you that he would be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day, be raised again” (Luke 24.1-12).
Mary Magdalene, upon discovering the empty tomb, ran to get the disciples. Though Peter and John had come back to the tomb with her, they were unable to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Jesus’ body and returned to their homes. But Mary lingered in the garden with her pain, confusion, and distress. Suddenly, as she wept, unbelieving, she saw a person—the gardener, she supposed. He asked her why she was crying. She explained that Jesus body was missing and that she wanted it to be put back.
Then Jesus spoke her name, “Mary,” and she knew instantly what she had not dared to believe—He was alive. Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus alive and in person after his resurrection—a woman, and one who had had seven demons, but a woman who followed the Lord (John 20.10-18). She fell trembling at His feet in worship and joy, and called His Name in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means teacher). She longed to embrace Him, but He told her not to hold on to Him yet, for He had not yet returned to His Father. Instead, He gave her a commission, an assignment, “Go and tell my brothers I am returning to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” (John 20:17).
And Mary of Magdala did that. She was entrusted with good news, the best news ever given, and she spread that news.
Nell Sunukjian, Women of the Resurrection
HOW WE SHOULD VIEW THE INCLUSION OF WOMEN IN THE RESURRECTION STORY
One aspect of the resurrection story that most scholars agree on is:
The inclusion of women is strong evidence of the veracity of the story. No one would have invented an account so dependent on women as witnesses.
To then appoint them as the first messengers of the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead shows the total absence of prejudice in Jesus.
Author Dorothy Sayers, a friend of C.S. Lewis, wrote:
Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man—there had never been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, who never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as ‘The women, God help us!’ or ‘The ladies, God bless them!’; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously, who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no ax to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious.”
Dorothy Sayers
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE WOMEN AT THE RESURRECTION
So, as I reread each account, thought about each woman, prayed, and pondered…I asked myself:
- What can I learn from these women?
- What characteristics did they possess that can teach me?
- How can I be eagerly seeking the risen Savior just as they did?
Here are the powerful traits that these women possessed.
THE WOMEN WERE FAITHFUL
Many of the women at the foot of the cross at Jesus’ crucifixion were the same women who showed up early Sunday morning after the Sabbath to care for Jesus’ body. They remained faithful to the end.
THE WOMEN WERE FEARLESS
In addition to being faithful, they were fearless. According to OT law, if someone touched a dead body, they were declared unclean, so care of dead bodies was considered a woman’s work. However, these women did not care about being clean or unclean. They did not care about the Roman guards either. Nothing was going to stop them from taking care of their Savior.
THE WOMEN WERE FAVORED
Although not regarded or recognized by society, these women were favored by Jesus, and they knew it. They felt it. No man had ever talked to them as he did or valued them as he did…and they were utterly devoted to him because of it.
THE WOMEN WERE FORGIVEN
In just looking at Mary Magdalene and others, Jesus healed these women, forgave them of their sins, and set them free.
THE WOMEN WERE FRUITFUL
All of these women went on to share the good news of the resurrected Christ. Although no one believed them at first (even the disciples), they stood firm on what they saw and remembered Jesus’s words. They were fruitful in being the first witnesses declaring the good news of the gospel.
WHY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS AFFIRMS ME AS A WOMAN
The most important news in the world’s history —the resurrection of Jesus—was entrusted to women.
And I am a woman!
Paul says that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, neither male nor female. By that he doesn’t mean that we lose our gender identity when we place our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. He means that Jesus died as much for women as He did for men, that women matter to Him, that He trusts the feminine gender to spread His word, His good news. Like Mary of Magdala and Joanna and Salome and Mary the mother of Joses and James, we can be His ardent followers and tell everyone we meet the best news we have ever had, “I have seen the Lord.”
Nell Sunukjian
Amen to that, dear sisters.
JOIN A COMMUNITY OF WOMEN SEEKING JESUS
I hope this post has reminded you that Jesus cares deeply for you as a woman! You are worthy, valued, and loved.
Please consider joining me here AT THE CROSSROADS if you want a place to receive spiritual encouragement and genuine connection. Sign up by filling out the form below, and you will receive weekly blog posts, monthly newsletters, free faith resources, and more!
If this post spoke to you in any way, would you mind leaving a comment, sharing it on social media, or even letting a friend know?
My heart is to help as many people as possible connect faith and life in practical, purposeful, and powerful ways. I would love to have you along for the journey!
Leave a Reply