Mad Mary Of Magdala Series

Over the years I have had to be around quite a few deaths. It is never easy to be with someone during their last hours. It can be quite heart wrenching. You can tell when the hospital begins to sense that the end is near. Suddenly, many of the doctors begin to disappear. Then the nursing staff leaves more and more things to the family. Sadly, even some of the family begins to find reasons to go away. At times the closer to death someone gets the fewer and fewer people there are at their bedside. Not all the time thankfully, but it does happen a lot.

None of us like watching someone slip away. It is not a great deal of fun. I remember once when a man was dying in our church back in Grenada, Mississippi. His death was not easy. He died of a horrible type of cancer that had ravaged his body and mind. He had these two daughters could have been related to Mary of Magdala because of their caring, compassion and courage. Even when it got tough they never abandoned him. They were there through it all. They had courage, faith and love. They were an inspiration to everyone that was around. Through them I got to see a glimpse of what Mary of Magdala must have been like.

No doubt the pain of watching Jesus die on that cross was excruciating. I am sure seeing him being so humiliated that way was almost more than she could bear. But Jesus' mother needed someone and Mary of Magdala was that someone. Even if she could not help Jesus she could let Him know that in the midst of all the swearing and cursing His name she believed in Him. When everyone else had left Him, she would be there till the end.

Once again, Mary is an inspiration to us all. She knew:

+That the work of the Kingdom needed support - time, resources and courage

+That Jesus and Mary in their toughest hours needed someone to care, comfort and love them. We need more people in our world like Mary.

III. The final picture we have of Mary is a woman who is transformed from a weeping disciple to a courageous witnessing disciple.

One of the final times we find Mary in scripture she is at the tomb of Jesus. She is weeping over the loss of her rabbi, spiritual mentor and friend. Luke tells us that she mistakes Jesus for the gardener. Her heart is broken at the thought that someone has stolen the body of Jesus. All she wants to do is to rescue Jesus' body. Verse 12 tells us that she saw two angels in white but in her grief Mary does not even see them as angels.

But then as we read in verses 15 - 17, Jesus comes and speaks to her and suddenly everything is different. Jesus' resurrection completely transforms everything in Mary's world. Mary the Demoniac becomes Mary the Declarer of Good News. Mad Mary becomes Jesus' first witness. This woman who had at one time suffered from hearing the dark voices of hell, that morning heard the first words of her risen Lord Jesus. He was calling her name.

That is all it took. Mary immediately becomes Mary the great witness. Notice verse 18 - I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!

Wow! What a turn of events. She had gone to the tomb to care for and put spices near the body of Jesus. She had gone to pour out her heart in sorrow. But Jesus changed it all. He always does.