Saturday Sisters: Mary Magdalene

One of the occasional series~~~

Yes, everything else is worthless when 

compared with the priceless gain 

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

I have discarded everything else,

counting it all as garbage,

so that I may have Christ.

                                        --  Philippians 3:8 NLT

  Mary Magdalene is one of those Bible people about whom we don't know as much as we think we do. 

   In Luke 8:1-3, she is first mentioned as one of those "on tour" with Jesus, one of the women supporting Him with their resources. Here also, along with the resurrection account in Mark, we learn that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her.

  These are the only mentions of her early connection with Jesus, but how powerful that connection must have been. 

 No longer incapacitated, she used her new life in service of the Life-Giver.

  She was among the few at the foot of the cross and one of the first at the empty tomb. John's gospel records her sorrow in not finding her Lord's body as expected, and her joy when He appeared to her.

  Jesus commissioned her to tell the disciples of His resurrection. She wanted to stay, and she didn't understand it all.

  Still, she obeyed 

  She obeyed, even though the men didn't believe her far-fetched story.
  Guys coming back from death, you know, that's not the normal human experience.  Obviously the dear woman's grief has deranged her.

  There are tantalizing bits of Mary's story that we might like to know, about her earlier and later life, but we do know what we need to know.

  She met Jesus.
       She decided about Jesus.
              She followed through
                       without looking back.

  What about us?  Can we say the same?

But don’t begin until you count the cost. . . . 

no one can become my disciple

without giving up everything for me.

                        --Luke 14:28, 33NLT

Yes, everything else is worthless when 

compared with the priceless gain 

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

            --  Philippians 3:8a NLT