The Marvelous Mary’s of Easter.

“Christianity can’t be true, because the written accounts of the resurrection are based on the testimony of women — and we all know women are hysterical.”

1. Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus Christ for burial before anyone else had caught on to what was going on. His disciple — student and follower — she loved Him with incredible depth and gratitude.

2. Mother Mary was with him from the Cradle to the Cross and, having initiated his first miracle, she followed Him in ministry and was there at the founding of the early Church (Acts 2). Being commissioned by Jesus to be a mother to the “beloved disciple” John, history and tradition say she was with John in the founding of the church in Ephesus.

3. Magdalene was with Jesus from the time He healed her…she was with him at the cross, followed his burial procession to see where he was laid, and early Sunday morning upon returning to the garden tomb, she was the first to see the risen Christ. Mary of Magdala, or “Magdalene,” is mentioned 13 times in the gospels. (Only the disciples Peter and John are spoken of more often.) She followed him from Galilee, along with many other women who funded his entire ministry. (Luke 8) Considered “the Apostle to the Apostles,” Magdalene was the first to see the risen Lord and commissioned by Him to “Go tell the others that I am alive.”

Ancient Greek philosophers and their societies, like many still, treated/treat women as inferior, only good for domestic duties. When they were/are allowed to go to houses of worship, they must sit quietly, away from men. One Greek philosopher started a school of thought that women were “deformed men.” Other ancients used them as chattel and sold them into temple prostitution.

JESUS CHANGED ALL THAT. Women were His friends, financial supporters, mother, sisters, counsellors and leaders in His Church. They went from temple prostitutes to church saints.

In the middle of Tim Keller’s “Relevant Magazine” piece today, he states:

“…One of the arguments he believed most telling went like this: Christianity can’t be true, because the written accounts of the resurrection are based on the testimony of women — and we all know women are hysterical. And many of Celsus’ readers agreed: For them, that was a major problem. In ancient societies, as you know, women were marginalized, and the testimony of women was never given much credence. Do you see what that means? If Mark and the Christians were making up these stories to get their movement off the ground, they would never have written women into the story as the first eyewitnesses to Jesus’ empty tomb…”

Jesus Christ is the great liberator of women. No gurus, no imams…no one understands, tenderly loves, respects, and lifts up women like the Divine God made flesh: Jesus Christ.