“ ‘Do not hold on to me,’ Jesus told her, ‘because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.’

“So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her.” (John 20, 11-18)

After studying about the times of Jesus, we can say without doubt that in Jesus’ time nobody could have even imagined the things Jesus did after his resurrection. Jesus makes a woman - Mary Magdalene - the messenger of his resurrection to his disciples! Following Jesus with other woman of Galilee Mary Magdalene has fully, absorbed the values, the ideals and the attitudes of Jesus. So, Mary Magdalene without any hesitation or doubt can courageously give the message of Jesus to his disciples.

In Jewish society the place of a woman was at the bottom. No one paid attention to her opinion. Women were confined to their houses. But Mary Magdalene knows well that Jesus has overcome these traditional beliefs and customs and that he has given to each man and woman without any distinction equality and dignity. So, Mary takes the message to the disciples, a thing they could never have imagined. Mary Magdalene experiences only enthusiasm and happiness in delivering the message.

Mary Magdalene has experienced a wonderful change in her life as a result of her meeting and long association with Jesus. The meeting and association with Jesus cannot fail to bring similar changes in one and all. St Paul is a typical example of this. In the letter to the Galatians, St. Paul says, “I have been put to death with Christ on his Cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2, 20)

Mary Magdalene can also say like St. Paul “that it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.”

With her self-surrender and service Mary Magdalene has become another Christ. Mary Magdalene appears nowhere in the Bible after the story of her encounter with the risen Christ. All the same, we can believe that after the Ascension when the disciples and other followers of Christ were gathered in Jerusalem Mary Magdalene must have also been with them in the upper room where all were gathered in prayer. ‘The Acts of the Apostles’ says, “They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary the Mother of Jesus and with his brothers.” (Acts 1, 14)

We can easily imagine that Mary Magdalene must have been there with the Mother of Jesus and the other women. Mary Magdalene’s meeting and long association with Jesus transformed her from a weak woman to a strong one. Moreover she became the very first witness of Jesus’ resurrection and also his first messenger of the resurrection. The encounter with Jesus and association with him transforms a person. Mary Magdalene is a great example of such transformation for good.

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