Jun P. Espina 2 min read
Updated on February 26th, 2020
Mary Magdalene (the ex-harlot), Peter and John rushed to the tomb to check if Jesus was still there. (cf. John 20) But Mary didn’t return home (as what Peter and John did!) after learning the loss the Lord’s body. Instead, she looked for it, worried about what had happened to the corpse of Jesus.
The Real Faith of Mary Magdalene
At that time, Mary was still ignorant about any Christian doctrine concerning our Savior. But it seemed that real faith (in that instance even until the present) had won the heart of Christ more.
Mary Magdalene waited upon the “dead” Lord of whose body was missing and didn’t care about the time wasted in the process.
But John and Peter already returned home. We find the story in John 20.
Early on Sunday morning after the burial of Christ, “Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’” (vv. 1-2)
After confirming Mary’s story that Christ’s body was gone, Peter and John returned home. The Bible said that it was because they didn’t understand the Scriptures. “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes.” (vv. 9-10)
Mary, on the other hand, seemed to think illogically or contrary to reason as when the woman is high on her emotions. She stayed no matter what, in contrast to the logical minded Peter and John. For them, the body was gone, so they had to return home and perhaps study what to do next. That’s how reason sometimes operates.
But Mary’s faith didn’t follow a logical understanding of the scenario, for she wanted, and even demanded in a sense, to see Christ’s dead body.
The Faith of Mary Magdalene Seems to Violate the Art of Correct Reasoning
Most of the time, real faith in Christ operates that way. Paul and Silas sang hymns inside the prison cell instead of worrying over the possibility of dying. Then, God, by a miraculous earthquake, opened the prison doors so they could get out in freedom.
Mary’s faith was so pleasing to Christ that “after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.” (Mark 16:9)
Christ’s First Appeared to Mary Magdalene Because of Her Unreasonable Faith
It is one evident account in the Scriptures about how God listens or reacts to real faith more than to the cold and wet expertise in Theology. Mary Magdalene was nothing compared to Peter and John theologically. But Christ first appeared to her, the ex-harlot and house of seven demons.
