Lent 2025 Day 47

Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles
Luke 8:1–3 | John 20:1–18
 
Mary Magdalene’s name echoes through the Gospels like a whisper turning into a shout. She was one of Jesus’ most faithful disciples, a woman who walked with him not only in the days of healing and teaching but in the hours of his crucifixion and burial. She stood at the foot of the cross when others fled. She waited at the tomb while others locked their doors. And on Easter morning, she became the first to see the risen Christ and the first to preach the resurrection.

Mary Magdalene’s tradition is rich and contested. Over the centuries, she has been misidentified as a prostitute, dismissed as hysterical, spiritualized beyond recognition, and yet, through it all, she remains: apostola apostolorum—the apostle to the apostles. The Gospels tell us she was delivered from seven demons. Whether this meant physical illness, trauma, or social stigma, it is clear she was a woman who had known death and found new life in Jesus. Her faith was not theoretical—it was embodied, costly, and courageous.

In Luke 8, we learn that she traveled with Jesus, supported his ministry, and stood alongside a community of women who made the kingdom possible. In John 20, we see her at the tomb—grieving, weeping, seeking. And it is to her, not Peter, not John, that Jesus first speaks. He says her name. He entrusts her with the message. “Go to my brothers,” he says, “and say to them…” And she goes.

This is why we tell our stories of faith: because resurrection is not a one-time event. It is a rhythm. A revelation. A reality we enter again and again.

Each person’s journey includes moments of death—grief, betrayal, failure, illness, endings we didn’t choose. Mary Magdalene shows us that the path of discipleship includes the cross and the tomb—but it doesn’t end there. Through the love of Christ, we are called by name into new life. We are met in the garden of our tears and sent with good news on our lips. We are not abandoned. We are transformed.

This Lenten journey—Stories of Faith: From Death to Resurrection and Everything in Between—has led us through the wilderness of grief, the work of justice, the fire of transformation, the weight of the cross, and now to this moment of morning light. Mary Magdalene’s story is the perfect ending and the perfect beginning. She reminds us that resurrection doesn’t erase the wounds—it reveals that love is stronger than death.

Today, we join her in announcing: I have seen the Lord. We tell our stories because they matter. Because God meets us in the middle of them. Because someone else might be waiting at their own tomb, hoping that dawn will break. And because Christ still comes to the weeping ones, calling us by name, and sending us with joy.

Reflection:

• What moments of death or grief in your life have also held seeds of resurrection? 
• How does Mary Magdalene’s witness shape your understanding of who gets to proclaim good news? 
• What story of faith are you being called to share—of death, of waiting, of new life? 

Breath Prayer: Inhale: I have seen the Lord… Exhale: And I will tell my story.

Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.