By My Hands, For My Sake

Mary Magdalene
Luke 8:2, John 19:25, Matthew 27:55-56

† Iesou, Huios, Soter †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ free you from whatever oppresses you!

Hands once oppressed, and sin filled.

As we have wandered into and out of lives that were involved in the death of Christ, we have seen broken men, the Father of the thief and Barabbas, men who we don’t normally think of as broken, Peter and Nicodemus, and those we don’t think of as being redeemable-  like Judas.

This afternoon, we look at a lady, one identified by name at the foot of the cross in each of the gospels. But to imagine what she had endured, only would leave her more distraught, more feeling abandoned as she stood at the foot of the cross.

Her hands, her sin, would require Jesus’s death, a death she would prepare him for by washing his feet with her tears, and anointing him for burial with the costliest perfume.

Yet to look upon Him, as He hangs on the cross…for her sake.

It is perhaps, one of the most compassionate things in scripture, that she would be the first to see him on Sunday morning…

To understand the importance of her, realizing that Jesus was risen, we need to understand where she had come from, from what she had been rescued.

Who is She?

We know only a few things, her brother and sister’s name, and that she was a prodigal, a lady of the evening who became wealthy, but at a great cost.

Mark’s gospel explains..

⁹  After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. Mark 16:9 (NLT2)

I do not know how this lady became possessed by demons, but it is nothing to dismiss.

A horrid life, full of trauma, full of pain, full of demonic torment. We don’t know if she ever knew love from parents, or a husband. Used and abused by men, full of despair, robbed of all hope.

Most of us have sins that haunt us that most others do not see. Her sin was more visible than others. But all of us are haunted by our sin, all of us had the moments when we dwelt in darkness.

It is that darkness she worried about as she saw Jesus on the cross, it must have been that darkness that fell, even as His blood dripped to the ground. How her anxiety would grow as she watched Him die.

It is has been said that it is always the darkest before dawn.

But what if you do not know dawn is coming. What if it doesn’t come for a few days.

Do we realize the power of sin had over us, as Mary did? Would we more than sickened at the cross, if we didn’t know there was a resurrection coming?

She knew Jesus rescued her from the darkness before—that is why she would show adoration at a pharisee’s house, even though she would be dismissed and mocked.

She knew what Jesus had rescued her from…

Do we?

We look back and know….

We of course know now, not only would she see the risen Jesus, but she would see Him before Peter and John, before all the others, whose hands were involved…

We will hear that story soon…

When we do, remember the feeling now, as we stand with Mary, an realize the depth of the sin that threatens to overshadow us… and know that it won’t..

And adore Him. AMEN!