"First to the Tomb"
I came upon an old picture once while I was cleaning. It portrayed a young girl in high school—someone full of life and happy but not whole. She was active in her school, and she thought she knew what would make her happy, so she planned out her life accordingly. But that girl was searching, missing something in her life. She was wrapped up in materialism and selfishness. The girl in the picture was me.
Looking back, I can see how the Lord has changed my life as a 21-year-old college student. He made me totally new in Him.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
We all have evidence of sin from birth. How can someone so unworthy as this girl be miraculously changed and made whole? It’s by grace! Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”. I am a miracle. We, of the body of Christ, are all miracles through Him.
Another lady, Mary Magdalene, comes to my remembrance as a miracle. She was a woman possessed of seven devils, which were all cast out by the Lord Jesus. She didn’t have the chains of death and terror any longer. She had life, peace, contentment, love, and freedom from fear. No longer did she wake up in bondage to the old master because she had a new Master. A Master who wanted to use her life for good, not leave her enslaved to sin. New creatures are liberated because their lives are free from the bondage of sin.
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
-2 Corinthians 3:17
Just like I could look back and see the change the Lord made in my life from that 21-year-old girl in the picture, we can also see a few changes in Mary Magdalene’s life: she was made whole and clean from sin. First of all, she followed her Master wholeheartedly. After Mary Magdalene was set free by Jesus, she followed and ministered to Him and the other disciples. She left her old life and followed her new Master. The Bible even tells us in John 20:1, “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.” Mary was first at Jesus’ tomb after the crucifixion. Her master had changed her life, and to Him, she owed everything. Mary was at the tomb before dawn because there was someone she loved in that tomb. She wanted to be near Him.
Mary wasn’t just the first to arrive at Jesus’ tomb, but we also see that she stayed. Mary stayed at the tomb even after John and Peter had returned to their own house, seeing the Lord Jesus was not there. Others left the tomb, but not Mary. She remained. She stayed where she last saw Him. She stood weeping. And because she waited, she received the blessing of seeing the resurrected Lord. Once He spoke her name, she knew who He was, calling Him master.
Think back to who you were before salvation. Stir into remembrance, look back to what He has done in your life, and ask yourself these questions: Do we hunger and thirst for the One who changed our lives? Do we come early to see Him? Do we linger, staying where we last felt His presence, longing to be with Him again? If we hunger and thirst for Jesus and weep for Him, if we stay around Him and His Word and long to be in the presence of our Savior, we will see Jesus. Mary’s gratitude and love manifested itself in devotion to Christ. She owed much, gave much, loved much, and served much.