Mary Magdalene was one who deeply loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He had delivered her from seven demons; hence, as one who had experienced the grace of the Lord, she was very attached to Him (Lk. 8:2). We learn from her that heart affection for Christ—even when it is lacking knowledge—is rewarded with spiritual intelligence, and in her case, even beyond that of the apostles. To her was given the commission from Christ to go to “My brethren” with the astounding message that Christ had risen and would ascend to “My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” Added to this is the fact that the believers were the Lord’s “brethren”—the first time this relationship is directly revealed.

For Mary personally, however, this was initially a trying moment: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” She was so occupied with Him that she uses the pronoun rather than His personal name, assuming her listeners would know to whom she referred (see Jn. 20:15). Her love and devotion were rewarded: “Mary!”

This scene unfolds in a garden (19:41; 20:15), a reminder of the fall of man. In that garden we also see a woman, one deceived by the power of the serpent, which had plunged mankind into sin, putting him at a distance from God. But now—what a reversal! A woman delivered from Satan’s power is given the blessed announcement of a new relationship: God was now their Father, and they the brethren of the Lord! The defeat of Satan was to be through the “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15), and how fitting that the message was given to a woman. The first woman had said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate,” but this woman, Mary, became the chosen herald to the apostles.