Ah, I remember those fun days when we were raising teenagers. Our daughter knew that I could be a little rigid, while my wife was a pushover.
So, she would sometimes call our land line to ask permission to do something with her friends. She hoped to talk with her mom, but if I answered the phone, she would disguise her voice and say, “Hello, is Sharie Johnson there?” And I would reply “Bethany, I know it’s you, so what do you want?”
I sometimes felt like a person I know from Scripture – a nobody from a no nothing town.
The town was called Magdala, situated on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Pisa has its Leaning Tower, while Magdala had its reeking tower – a fish tower. This tower had many open-aired tiers to it where fishermen would leave the catch of the day to dry.
Magdala was the hometown of Mary Magdalene. She may have been a prostitute, but Scripture doesn’t say. We do know, though, that Jesus passed through the town one day, met Mary, and removed seven demons from her (Luke 8:2). Seven? She must have been a mess!
But Jesus reached out to that nobody woman from a nothing town and changed her life.
She left home to follow Him. Luke said, “…He (Jesus) went on through towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and disabilities: Mary (called Magdalene), from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Cuza (Herod’s household manager), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources” – Luke 8:1-3.
She traveled with Him and helped to support Him and his disciples financially and perhaps by preparing food. She joined His behind-the-scenes support team. This was not a hard transition for a person who was used to being a nobody.
We don’t read much more about Mary in the Scripture until the cross.
She was there at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. Mark wrote, “There were also women, watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they had followed him and given him support. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were there too” – Mark 15:40-41. Every disciple except John was hiding but Mary was there. Mark made note of the fact that she had served in a supportive role.
She accompanied Jesus’ lifeless body to His tomb (Mark 15:47). Mary was also one of the first to return in the morning to finish preparing His body for burial (Mark 16:1).
Fascinating! Once Jesus had risen from the dead, He made sure that it was to Mary, the former nobody, that He first presented Himself (Mark 16:9). She was the first, not Peter, James or John – it was a nobody of a woman from a fishy smelling place called Magdala.
And why did Jesus choose to reveal himself to her first? Maybe because Mary had consistently served Him, even in ways that we might deem as lesser expressions of service. She continued to do so all the way to His tomb, and was, therefore, rewarded with a Supreme privilege.
What we sometimes deem little, the Lord deems great. Nobodies do not exist in the family of God. And every act of service we might render registers with Jesus – even those we regard as insignificant.
Jesus is aware and appreciates the woman who has worked in the church nursery for the last 13 years, and the man who mows the lawn for the widow down the street. He is moved by the teenage girl who sits with and cares for her dying neighbor.
He is aware and appreciates what you do as well!
A PRAYER: Lord, we want to serve You, even in what others deem lesser ways.
This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com
May the grace of our Lord be with you
Scripture passages are taken from the NETBible.com
Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson 