Peter And Mary Magdalene
Mark 16:7
Mark 16:7 has long been one of my favorite texts of Scripture. Peter, no doubt, thought things could never be the same between him and the Master again. “How could a man who has behaved so vilely as I have ever again enjoy the sweet smile of his face and the blessed embrace of his grace,” the fallen disciple must have thought to himself. But the Son of God takes great care that Peter be told that nothing had changed, would change, or could change between them! What grace! What mercy! What forgiveness! What a Savior! He who is God our Savior forgives his people of all their sins absolutely and without qualification.
Certainly this
is evident in the heart of every sinner who has experienced it. It is evident
in his many gracious displays of grace and forgiveness set before us in the
gospel narratives. But I think there is no better picture of forgiveness than
that we have before us in the Lord’s dealings with the apostle Peter and “Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven
devils.”
The Lord Jesus did not first appear to his mother Mary, or to John the Beloved. No. “He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” This seems to be to be a remarkable fact, full of instruction; and he sent an angel to her with a specific message of mercy for Peter.
Here the Holy
Spirit shows us by example what we are taught throughout the Scriptures. – Salvation is a matter of absolute,
free, unconditional grace. Because salvation is, in its entirety, a matter
of free grace, in no way conditioned and dependent upon, or determined by us,
all who are saved by grace stand upon an equal footing before God.
In Christ there
is no difference between saved virgins and saved harlots, saved scholars and
saved sots, saved Pharisees and saved pushers, saved princes and saved paupers.
“God is no respecter of persons.” In
Christ, we are all equal. The last is first and the first is last. We are all
forgiven of all sin. We all possess perfect righteousness. We all have all
grace. Christ is all in all to all who believe (1 Cor.
The fact that
our Lord Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene also teaches us that God honors those who honor him (1
Sam.
Our Lord appeared first to Mary to teach us that He is the Savior of needy sinners. Christ came into the world to save sinners. And when he saves sinners, he saves them! The Son of God makes great saints out of great sinners. Those who were once filled with seven devils, he fills with his Holy Spirit. Those who were once far off, he brings nigh. Those who were the filth and off-scouring of the earth, he makes to be the sons of God. Those who once sat as beggars in the dung heap of fallen humanity, he lifts by his grace and sets them among princes. Our sins and iniquities he remembers no more.
Don Fortner