Daily Blast - Easter: Day 3
Scripture
“Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.”
Reflection
Who is Mary Magdalene? The majority of her appearances in the bible are around the final days before the crucifixion of Jesus and the time of his resurrection.
There is very little information about Mary’s life before meeting Jesus. As seen in the scripture above, She had experienced the healing power of God, as Jesus had healed her of seven demons. After this, she decided to become a committed follower of Jesus.
Mary Magdalene left her home behind and joined Jesus’ ministry, following him from place to place sharing the amazing word of God and the story of her of miraculous healing. She did this as she knew first hand about Jesus’ great mercy, grace and love and wanted others to experience it too.
She had quite an important part of Jesus’ crucifixion. Mary was alongside his mother at the foot of the cross. In Mark 15:46-47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph witness Jesus’ body being wrapped and placed in the tomb. Most importantly, she was the first person to see Jesus after he rose from the dead.
Mary Magdalene was not the only woman with an interesting past that played a vital part in the key themes of the bible. For example, just like Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman, Tamar and Rehab all had questionable pasts but played a critical part in God’s plan of rescuing humans like me or you. If God could use these women (who at their time were seen as insignificant and of little status) and considering their imperfect past, I wonder what he can do through you and me.
Mary Magdalene gave up her life to follow Jesus and tell others the news of God’s awesome rescue plan. She was never disqualified because of the choices she had made and played a vital role in the setting up of the early church.
Challenge
Today's challenge has two parts. Part 1 - Spend some quiet time with God, listen to his voice, is there anything you are holding onto from your past that is stopping from spreading the good news of God in the present. If so, bring it to him.
The second part is, think about creative ways you can spread the good news of God’s rescue plan to the people around you, in this time when we can’t talk to one another face to face. Let us know your ideas by tagging us @ccwyouth on Instagram.