Mary Magdalene

The travelling company has more members than the twelve, and Luke is quite specific about who helps pay its way. Mary, Joanna, Susanna, and many others minister of their substance. That last word keeps the sentence firmly on the ground. Proclaiming the kingdom through cities and villages involves actual resources, and these women contribute theirs. They are not scenery behind the men. They are named participants in the work.

Mary's introduction also gives a terrible fact about her past: seven devils had gone out of her. It does not supply a sexual history. Luke neither calls her a prostitute nor identifies her with the unnamed woman in the preceding chapter. Seven spirits are not seven sins, and an affliction is not a profession. Her account already has enough weight without borrowed scandal.

The movement of the paragraph matters. It begins with people who have received healing and ends with people providing support. Mary is not left permanently inside the description of what once oppressed her. Alongside the twelve, she belongs to the company accompanying Jesus. Luke records both what she was delivered from and what she now takes part in.

The spices are ready. The question of the stone is not. Mark leaves that practical imbalance exactly where it belongs, on the way to the tomb. These women have made provision to anoint a dead body, not arranged a celebration for a risen one. Their question is about access. The obstacle they expect is heavy, physical, and entirely real.

That is why the last clause of verse 4 is so well placed. Mark says the stone has been rolled away and only then adds that it was very great. The explanation of its size comes after the discovery that it no longer blocks the entrance. Their concern was not foolish; it has been overtaken by something they did not do.

Mary Magdalene's presence also connects this morning with the burial. Mark 15:47 has already named her among those who observed where Jesus was laid. She has not wandered into an unfamiliar cemetery looking for a likely tomb. The account holds together through the people who were actually there. Yet familiarity with the place does not supply understanding of the event. She knows the tomb. She has come carrying the expectations of a funeral.

The words Touch me not are followed by a task, not a dismissal. But go to my brethren. Recognition does not end with Mary remaining at the tomb; Jesus gives her something to carry from it. The message concerns his ascent and the disciples' relationship to the Father. She is entrusted with more than the news that an entrance is empty.

The wording holds together closeness and distinction: my Father, and your Father; my God, and your God. Jesus brings the disciples into the message as brethren without simply flattening the sentence into "our Father." The two expressions belong beside each other. So do the command about touch and the command to go. Later in the same chapter Jesus invites Thomas to reach toward his wounds, which prevents this moment from becoming a general rule that the risen body cannot be approached.

Mary has now carried two reports in one morning. In verse 2 she reports that the Lord has been taken away. In verse 18 she reports that she has seen him. The same witness, a radically different claim. She does not merely revise the location of a body. She announces an encounter with the living person who has spoken to her.