Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene because in His resurrection, as in His ministry, He chose witnesses the surrounding culture would not have chosen. In first-century Judea, a woman’s legal testimony was discounted in many settings, and a former demoniac’s testimony was even less likely to carry weight. Yet the first person to see the empty tomb, the first person to encounter the risen Jesus, and the first person to be sent (the literal meaning of apostle) with the news of the resurrection — “Go to my brethren, and say unto them…” (John 20:17) — was Mary Magdalene. The choice was itself part of the message: the new creation does not run on the old hierarchies of who counts.
This article walks through who Mary was, what happened that morning, and what her commissioning teaches.
Who Mary Magdalene was
The Gospels identify Mary by the town of Magdala, a fishing village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, distinguishing her from other women named Mary. Luke gives the key biographical detail: Jesus had cast out of her “seven devils” (Luke 8:2), and from that point she had become one of the women who supported Jesus’ ministry “of their substance” (Luke 8:3).
Three things are worth noting because they are not in the text:
- Mary Magdalene is not identified as a prostitute in any Gospel. The medieval Western tradition of conflating her with the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7:37 has no biblical basis. The historical Mary was a woman delivered from severe demonic oppression who became a generous and faithful disciple.
- Mary Magdalene is not the woman caught in adultery in John 8.
- Mary Magdalene is not Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus.
What the Gospels do agree on is striking. Mary Magdalene is named more often than any disciple except Peter in the resurrection narratives, and she is listed first whenever a list of the women at the cross or the tomb is given. She was, in some sense, the leading woman among Jesus’ followers.
What happened that morning
John’s account is the most detailed (John 20:1–18). Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary came to the tomb. She found the stone rolled away. She ran to tell Peter and the disciple Jesus loved, who came and saw the empty grave clothes and went home. Mary stayed, weeping.
Two angels appeared to her in the tomb and asked why she was weeping. She gave the only answer her grief could give: “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him” (v. 13).
Then she turned around and saw someone she took for the gardener. He asked her the same question. She said, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away” (v. 15).
He said one word: “Mary.”
She turned and said “Rabboni” — Teacher — and the resurrection became, for her, not a doctrine but a Person calling her by name.
Why this matters
A few things converge.
1. The cultural setting magnifies the choice
First-century Jewish culture, like most ancient cultures, was strongly patriarchal. A woman’s legal testimony was, in many contexts, not accepted as equal to a man’s. Mary Magdalene’s background — a woman delivered from demonic affliction — would have made her testimony even more easily dismissed. If you were inventing a resurrection story you wanted people to believe, you would not have your first witnesses be women. Yet all four Gospels report exactly that.
This is one of the strongest historical arguments for the basic facts of the resurrection accounts. The Gospel writers did not soften the awkwardness of the choice. They reported it because that is what had happened.
2. The choice fits Jesus’ pattern
Throughout His ministry, Jesus had been giving His most dignifying attention to people the culture overlooked: a Samaritan woman at a well (John 4), a hemorrhaging woman in a crowd (Mark 5), a Syrophoenician mother (Mark 7), a centurion’s faith (Matt. 8), tax collectors and sinners (Luke 19). The resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene is consistent with the whole arc. The pattern did not end at the cross.
3. Mary becomes the first apostle of the apostles
Jesus says to her, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). The Greek word for to send (apostellō) is the root of apostle. Mary is sent with the news, by the risen Jesus, to those who would themselves later be called apostles. The early church recognized this and called her “the apostle to the apostles” — Augustine and other church fathers use the phrase.
4. The recognition comes by name
The single most affecting detail is that Mary does not recognize Jesus when she sees Him standing in front of her. She recognizes Him only when He says her name. The same shepherd who said “my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27) has just said Mary, and she knows.
That detail is doing real theology. The resurrection is not first an idea to be believed; it is first a Person who calls people by name.
What this teaches us
A few things, gently.
The gospel is news for people whose testimony the culture discounts. If you have ever felt overlooked, marginal, or unfit to be a witness, Mary Magdalene’s commissioning is your reassurance. The risen Lord still entrusts His most important news to the people the world would not have chosen.
The resurrection meets us by name. The general truth of Christ is risen is enormous; the personal moment of Mary is what makes the truth land in a particular life. Christian faith is not first an assent to a doctrine; it is first the experience of being known and named by the One who is Risen.
And the call is still the same as Mary’s. Go and tell. The pattern of the resurrection is that those who have met the risen Jesus are sent to tell those who have not. The first commission of the resurrection morning is also, in some sense, the last word the church receives at the end of each Gospel.
Reading John 20 in context
For more on this passage — the historical setting in first-century Judea, the cultural status of women’s testimony, the early church’s reading of Mary Magdalene’s commissioning, the four Gospels’ harmonized accounts of the resurrection morning, and the Greek behind apostellō (to send) and Rabboni, The Context Bible opens up five lenses on every verse. Open it in your browser or download free.
“He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” — John 10:3 KJV
