“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached
in the whole world, what this woman has done
will also be told as a memorial to her.”
(Matt 26:13, NKJV)
We concluded the previous teaching with Matt 27:61, which in fact indicated the crossover from the third to the fourth prototypical woman – “And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.” We have already looked at the symbolic value of “the other Mary”, but we will now discuss Mary Magdalene. Few Biblical women have garnered such secular interest as this enigmatic woman. Perhaps only Mary, the mother of Jesus, has received more attention. But as we have seen it is not clear whether it in fact was Mary Magdalene who had anointed Jesus.
This act, anointing Jesus’ head, had greater significance than anointing his feet. A person’s head was only anointed when they became king (Judg 9:8; 1 Sam 15:1; 1 Kin 1:34; 19:15 etc). The anointing thus implied that Jesus was not only the Saviour, but also the Anointed One, the one about whom the Old Covenant had prophesied, the Christ (Matt 16:20; Ps 2:2; Isa 61:1) [We will discuss this mystery in greater detail later.] For this reason Jesus’ statement in the opening scripture of this teaching singles out this individual from among all the others. Ironic and meaningful that it is not addressed to a woman who is identified with a specific name and identity.
But getting back to business – we are currently looking at the fourth prototypical woman with whom Jesus had a specific relationship. After her deliverance Mary Magdalene becomes a faithful follower of Jesus. She was one of “many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him … looking on from afar” (Matt 27:55). It is then interesting to note that she saw Him on the cross (Matt 27:57), was part of the party who went to his grave, when his body was laid to rest (Matt 27:61), and when the Sabbath was over, she had gone to buy spices to anoint Him (Mark 16:1), and then “prepared spices and fragrant oils” (Luke 23:56) for his body.
And late after the Sabbath, when the sun was again rising, by the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave in the garden (Matt 28:1). It is very important that John 19:41 points out that “in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.”
Like Eve had lost her innocence in the garden (Gen 3:24), and had thus become “a garden enclosed” (Song of Songs 4:12), her life (personified in a feminine manner) had become as Joel 2:3 aptly describes – “A fire devours before her, and behind her a flame burns, the land is like the Garden of Eden before her, and behind her a desolate wilderness”. And here, in the primordial garden, the collective Eve looks for Jesus, who had died for her transgression. And He is no longer there! “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him'” (John 20:1-2). Peter and one of the other disciples run to the grave with Mary Magdalene, and the disciple runs faster than the others and arrives there first. He sees that the stone has been moved, and sees the cloths in which Jesus had been wrapped lying on the floor. Then Simon Peter arrived, entering the grave and seeing the cloths; the cloth which had been on Jesus’ head he does not see with the other cloths, instead it has been rolled up and placed elsewhere. John 20:9 remarks that they did not yet understand the Scripture which stated that He would rise from the dead.
The disciples returned home, but Mary Magdalene stood outside his grave crying, and while she cried she bent down towards his grave and saw two angels sitting there, wearing white, one where Jesus’ feet would have been, another at the place of His head. Please note – the first disciple had looked into the grave and had not seen the angels, and Peter did not see them either – they had only seen the cloths. But when Mary Magdalene entered, she sees two angels, at his feet and at his head, the two places where Jesus had been anointed by the two women! The anointing opens the eyes (Eph 1:18; 2 Cor 4:6).
“Then they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’ Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know it was Jesus” (John 20:13-14).
And here we see one of the most beautiful tales in the Bible about man’s return to God unfold, through Jesus as the Anointed One. John 20:15 – “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ She, supposing Him to be a gardener …”
The gardener? Yes, indeed, the Gardener, the only One who could unlock the enclosed garden, who could restore the fallen garden. It is as if the entire Song of Songs (the ultimate climax of all songs, the Highest of the Highest, the Holiest of the Most Holy) was written specifically for this – “Awake, o north wind, and come, o south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices my flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits. I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, o friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, o beloved ones! My beloved has gone to his garden, to the bed of spices, to feed his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.” (Song of Songs 4:16; 5:1; 6:2)!
But still the prototypical Eve does not fully understand, and asks – “‘Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him way.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him, ‘Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher)” (John 20:15-16).
The history of humanity is concluded from garden to garden. Isa 5:7 had prophesied – “the men of Judah are His pleasant plant”. In Isa 51:3 it is rejoiced – “For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.” And in Isa 58:11 the promise of restoration is made – “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
And considering the restoration which Jesus had brought, Isa 61:11 announced the new dispensation – “For the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before al the nations.” When Jesus begins his public ministry the book is open at Isa 61, and He starts to read (see Luke 4), saying “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me …” And then, verses 20 and 21 – “Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to then, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'”
“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
- Sela: Pray about and ponder the importance of the garden of Gethsemane.
- Read: Ex 23-28
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Ex 26:31 (Tip: Heb 10:20)
