St. Mary Magdalene: The First Witness
of the Resurrection

Freed and Faithful

Mary Magdalene takes her name from Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee. The Gospel of Luke introduces her among the women who followed and financially supported Jesus's ministry out of their own means, describing her specifically as a woman "from whom seven demons had gone out" (Luke 8:2). Scripture says nothing more specific about what that affliction was, but it marks her, like several of Jesus's closest followers, as someone whose devotion grew directly out of having been profoundly healed.

Present When Others Fled

Mary Magdalene is named in all four Gospels among the women who stayed at the crucifixion, watching "from a distance" as Jesus died, at a moment when most of the male apostles — with the exception of John — had scattered in fear (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25). She is also recorded among the women who went to the tomb early on the third day to anoint Jesus's body, and who found the stone already rolled away.

The First Witness of the Resurrection

The Gospel of John gives the fullest account: Mary Magdalene, weeping outside the empty tomb, turns to see a man she assumes is the gardener. He speaks her name — "Mary" — and she immediately recognizes the risen Jesus, crying out "Rabboni," Hebrew for "teacher" (John 20:11-16). Jesus then commissions her directly: "Go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" She did exactly that, going to the apostles and announcing, "I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:17-18) — becoming, by Scripture's own account, the very first person entrusted with proclaiming the central fact of the Christian faith.

"Apostle to the Apostles"

Because she was sent by the risen Christ himself to carry the news of the Resurrection to the Twelve, early Church writers going back to figures like Hippolytus of Rome gave Mary Magdalene the title Apostolorum Apostola — "Apostle to the Apostles." In 2016, Pope Francis formally elevated her liturgical memorial (July 22) to the rank of a Feast in the Roman Missal, the same rank given to the apostles, explicitly citing this title and her role as the first witness to the Resurrection.

A Long-Standing Confusion, Corrected

For much of Western Church history, Mary Magdalene was popularly identified with the unnamed sinful woman who anoints Jesus's feet in Luke 7, and with Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus — a conflation traceable in part to a homily by Pope Gregory the Great in AD 591. The Eastern Church never adopted this merging of three distinct women, and modern Catholic biblical scholarship has largely set it aside as well, restoring Mary Magdalene to what the Gospels actually and consistently describe: a woman healed by Jesus, faithful through his crucifixion, and the first witness of his Resurrection.

Sent to Tell the Truth

Mary Magdalene's place in the Gospels is not incidental. She is present at the two moments the male disciples were least present for — the cross and the empty tomb — and Christ chose her, not any of the Twelve, to be the first to see him risen and the first sent to announce it.

Helper

Reflection Questions:

1. Mary Magdalene stayed at the cross when most of the apostles had fled. Where in your own life does fear make it easier to stay away rather than stay present?
2. She was healed of something serious before becoming one of Jesus's most devoted followers. Has your own experience of being helped or healed ever turned into devotion, or has gratitude faded without changing anything?
3. Jesus spoke her name before she recognized him. Do you expect to recognize God mainly through argument and reasoning, or are you also listening for him to call you by name?
4. She was sent to tell the truth to people who might not have believed her at first. Is there something true you know you should say, even if you're not sure it will be well received?
5. Centuries of confusion blurred who she actually was in Scripture. Where else might you be carrying an inherited assumption about faith that is worth checking against the actual text?