Why would Jesus’ first resurrection appearance be to Mary when her testimony wouldn’t be legally valid?

 13 Jun 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One

Readings:

Ezra 3

Ezra 4

Ezra 5

John 20

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons (Mark 16:9). 

Why would Jesus’ first resurrection appearance be to Mary when her testimony wouldn’t be legally valid?

Jesus fulfills His own words about death and life. John writes, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:18). After Jesus defeats death He first manifests Himself to Mary. As a dedicated follower, she comes early to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body for burial (John 20:1). She is honored for faithfully following Jesus; however, a woman’s testimony isn’t considered valid according to the law of the land. (Observe how Paul doesn’t include Mary in his legal defense of Jesus’ resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.) Yet the Lord honors Mary, who honors Jesus. 

Employment Point: Loyally follow Jesus, who is no respecter of persons, to be richly rewarded.

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Reflections

The Lord honours our hearts, regardless of who we are, male or female, Jew or gentile. If we honour Him, He will honour us.

“Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices.”Ezra‬ ‭3‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• “despite their fear”. We all ought to do what is right despite our fears. For who is greater than the Lord? We should fear no one, except Him

“With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.”Ezra‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• The past may be glorious, unmatchable but the present is far more important. Rather than cry over spilled milk, it is better that we rejoice for the present and look forward to the future.
• At the same time, the past is a reminder how much they have fallen to have caused the destruction of the previous temple. Weep they may perhaps more for the things that were undone which were supposed to be done. But let us not dwell in the past for whatever glory there may be, is all left to past. Look forward to what is set ahead of us and move towards that instead.

“Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

‭‭Ezra‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Not sure what to make of this opposition from the enemies. Perhaps it was a test or something else we are not sure of. But the enemies succeeded in halting the rebuilding works of the city.
• sometimes we too, may not understand why the Lord may allow certain things to happen and stop us in our tracks. Perhaps there was something that is still to be done or perhaps there is something which we need to pause and reflect. Whatever it may be, it is important not to give up hope and continue to seek the Lord.

“Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.”Ezra‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Praise the Lord that whatever His will, nothing and nobody can stop Him!

“This is the answer they gave us: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished.”Ezra‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.”Ezra‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• I love how they answer the messengers and wrote to the king, all with due respect and yet also declaring who their loyalty belongs. Not forceful, wise and with reverence to whom it matters. This is indeed something I want to learn so that I can speak this way too.

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).”John‬ ‭20‬:‭1‬, ‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• The Lord sees our hearts and we can see from these two verses how Mary placed the Lord first in her life, even though he had ‘passed away’. She was the first to the tomb (when it was still dark). If we ask ourselves, to be up and reach a place before dawn means we need to wake up real early to set off to the place. It takes not just effort but an intentionality to want to do this and the Lord honours her efforts by appearing to her first before anyone else. 
• Others may not understand but to the Lord He doesn’t mind whether this person is man or woman. Or whatever she said may be discounted because of her gender. 
• A fine reminder to myself that we should not be bothered by what others may say to us that may discourage our efforts for the Lord. So long as He commands it, we should follow. We don’t need a fellow human to validate God’s call but do pray for discernment or seek godly counsel if unsure, so that we do not end up something that is of our own will.

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.””

‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭19‬, ‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• The words “Peace be with you” were repeated twice in the short 3 verses. It just seems to remind us that as children of God, we have peace from every side for this is not a peace that is achieved by our own means but a peace that is given by the Lord. Praise You Father!

“If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.””John‬ ‭20‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• it’s a bit strange to read this as His call for us is to forgive everyone. But if we do not forgive, then they are not forgiven. Yet, we are to forgive as the Lord has forgiven us. This seemed to be like a warning, that we have to extend this grace and mercy to the others, just like how He extend His grace and mercy to us. It is definitely not for us to choose if we want to forgive others or not but a command for all to follow.

“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””John‬ ‭20‬:‭27‬-‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• There will be many instances in our life where we encounter the Lord. Sometimes we hear it from others, just like how Thomas heard it from his other friends. But do we also believe like Thomas, only having seen it to believe?
• Here, the Lord has told Thomas to stop doubting and believe. We too, are in a similar situation. We claim that we believe but we ask to see. We are then no different from Doubting Thomas.

“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• A lot of times we truly see in order to believe. But faith is not like this. It calls for us to believe without seeing. We do not live in ancient times where we saw Jesus amongst us. We read all these in the bible. But I’m sure we have all experienced God’s goodness and love in our lives to help us in believing. Blessed are the ones who believe even though He had not open their eyes for they seek Christ out of pure heart.

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Getting There (3)

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

June 13

…come, follow Me. —Luke 18:22

Where our individual desire dies and sanctified surrender lives. One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you— and His experiments always succeed. The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.

If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, “Come,” then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s “Come.” That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.

Have I come to Him? Will I come now?

Ezra 6-8; John 21

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be.

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Reflections

In Him is where we find the well of living waters. Something which continuously feeds us wisdom, refreshed revelations and fresh ideas. It is indeed like what Oswald has shared, He will share creative experiences with us, and uniquely us because it would be something we understand and something that truly speaks to us personally and perhaps also intimately..

When we dedicate ourselves to the Lord, we are telling Him, yes here I am. I am all Yours. Let Your will be done. It is no longer our will, no longer our choices but an abiding life in Christ Jesus. When we surrender all into His hands, He takes over, including our gifts and talents. He uses those gifts and talents creatively. Sometimes, we don’t even know we can do something until we are placed in a position to do it, much to our own amazement and wonder. 

We have to keep trusting that this Abba Father of ours has the ability to turn the impossible to possible. Let’s not forget what is impossible with men, is possible with the Lord. But what is impossible in God, is definitely impossible with men. 

You and I may not have the ability to know how we can serve the Lord but by trusting Him and obeying His leading will eventually lead us to the place He wants us to be. We just need to be willing vessels, surrendered all into His hands. Father, take the wheel, it’s all Yours now.

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord and heavenly Father, help us to be willing vessels, lifting up our hands to surrender our all to You. This, is our living sacrifice to You, Almighty Lord, that we give ourselves as a service to You, our whole life that is for You and meant to honour You. Use us as You will it and help us to be able to fully abide. May we all bear good witness to You and bring glory to Your name. In Jesus’s most mighty name we pray. Amen 🙏🏻