Of all the daring things which Jesus did in connection with his earth career,
the most amazing was his sudden announcement on the evening of January 16:
"On the morrow we will set apart ten women for the ministering work of the
kingdom." At the beginning of the two weeks' period during which the
apostles and the evangelists were to be absent from Bethsaida on their
furlough, Jesus requested David to summon his parents back to their home and to
dispatch messengers calling to Bethsaida ten devout women who had served in the
administration of the former encampment and the tented infirmary. These women
had all listened to the instruction given the young evangelists, but it had
never occurred to either themselves or their teachers that Jesus would dare to
commission women to teach the gospel of the kingdom and minister to the sick.
These ten women selected and commissioned by Jesus were: Susanna, the daughter
of the former chazan of the Nazareth synagogue; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the
steward of Herod Antipas; Elizabeth, the daughter of a wealthy Jew of Tiberias
and Sepphoris; Martha, the elder sister of Andrew and Peter; Rachel, the
sister-in-law of Jude, the Master's brother in the flesh; Nasanta, the daughter
of Elman, the Syrian physician; Milcha, a cousin of the Apostle Thomas; Ruth,
the eldest daughter of Matthew Levi; Celta, the daughter of a Roman centurion;
and Agaman, a widow of Damascus. Subsequently, Jesus added two other women to
this group--Mary Magdalene and Rebecca, the daughter of Joseph of
Arimathea. P.1678
It was at Magdala that the women first demonstrated their usefulness and
vindicated the wisdom of their choosing. Andrew had imposed rather strict rules
upon his associates about doing personal work with women, especially with those
of questionable character. When the party entered Magdala, these ten women
evangelists were free to enter the evil resorts and preach the glad tidings
directly to all their inmates. And when visiting the sick, these women were
able to draw very close in their ministry to their afflicted sisters. As the
result of the ministry of these ten women (afterward known as the twelve women)
at this place, Mary Magdalene was won for the kingdom. Through a succession of
misfortunes and in consequence of the attitude of reputable society toward
women who commit such errors of judgment, this woman had found herself in one of
the nefarious resorts of Magdala. It was Martha and Rachel who made plain to
Mary that the doors of the kingdom were open to even such as she. Mary believed
the good news and was baptized by Peter the next day. P.1680
Mary Magdalene became the most effective teacher of the gospel among this group
of twelve women evangelists. She was set apart for such service, together with
Rebecca, at Jotapata about four weeks subsequent to her conversion. Mary and
Rebecca, with the others of this group, went on through the remainder of Jesus'
life on earth, laboring faithfully and effectively for the enlightenment and
uplifting of their downtrodden sisters; and when the last and tragic episode in
the drama of Jesus' life was being enacted, notwithstanding the apostles all
fled but one, these women were all present, and not one either denied or
betrayed him. P.1680
Standing near the cross at one time or another during the crucifixion were
Mary, Ruth, Jude, John, Salome (John's mother), and a group of earnest women
believers including Mary the wife of Clopas and sister of Jesus' mother, Mary
Magdalene, and Rebecca, onetime of Sepphoris. These and other friends of Jesus
held their peace while they witnessed his great patience and fortitude and
gazed upon his intense sufferings. P.2008
The sandstorm grew in intensity and the heavens increasingly darkened. Still
the soldiers and the small group of believers stood by. The soldiers crouched
near the cross, huddled together to protect themselves from the cutting sand.
The mother of John and others watched from a distance where they were somewhat
sheltered by an overhanging rock. When the Master finally breathed his last,
there were present at the foot of his cross John Zebedee, his brother Jude, his
sister Ruth, Mary Magdalene, and Rebecca, onetime of Sepphoris. P.2010
While all this was going on, the women were hiding near at hand so that they
saw it all and observed where the Master had been laid. They thus secreted
themselves because it was not permissible for women to associate with men at
such a time. These women did not think Jesus had been properly prepared for
burial, and they agreed among themselves to go back to the home of Joseph, rest
over the Sabbath, make ready spices and ointments, and return on Sunday morning
properly to prepare the Master's body for the death rest. The women who thus
tarried by the tomb on this Friday evening were: Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife
of Clopas, Martha another sister of Jesus' mother, and Rebecca of
Sepphoris. P.2013
The women who went on this mission of anointing Jesus' body were: Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of the Alpheus twins, Salome the mother of the
Zebedee brothers, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and Susanna the daughter of Ezra of
Alexandria. P.2025
They were greatly surprised to see the stone rolled away from the entrance to
the tomb, inasmuch as they had said among themselves on the way out, "Who
will help us roll away the stone?" They set down their burdens and began
to look upon one another in fear and with great amazement. While they stood
there, atremble with fear, Mary Magdalene ventured around the smaller stone and
dared to enter the open sepulchre. This tomb of Joseph was in his garden on the
hillside on the eastern side of the road, and it also faced toward the east. By
this hour there was just enough of the dawn of a new day to enable Mary to look
back to the place where the Master's body had lain and to discern that it was
gone. In the recess of stone where they had laid Jesus, Mary saw only the
folded napkin where his head had rested and the bandages wherewith he had been
wrapped lying intact and as they had rested on the stone before the celestial
hosts removed the body. The covering sheet lay at the foot of the burial niche.
P.2025
As these women sat there in the early hours of the dawn of this new day, they
looked to one side and observed a silent and motionless stranger. For a moment
they were again frightened, but Mary Magdalene, rushing toward him and
addressing him as if she thought he might be the caretaker of the garden, said,
"Where have you taken the Master? Where have they laid him? Tell us that
we may go and get him." When the stranger did not answer Mary, she began
to weep. Then spoke Jesus to them, saying, "Whom do you seek?" Mary
said: "We seek for Jesus who was laid to rest in Joseph's tomb, but he is
gone. Do you know where they have taken him?" Then said Jesus: "Did
not this Jesus tell you, even in Galilee, that he would die, but that he would
rise again?" These words startled the women, but the Master was so changed
that they did not yet recognize him with his back turned to the dim light. And
as they pondered his words, he addressed the Magdalene with a familiar voice,
saying, "Mary." And when she heard that word of well-known sympathy
and affectionate greeting, she knew it was the voice of the Master, and she
rushed to kneel at his feet while she exclaimed, "My Lord, and my
Master!" And all of the other women recognized that it was the Master who
stood before them in glorified form, and they quickly knelt before him.
P.2026
After these women had recovered from the shock of their amazement, they
hastened back to the city and to the home of Elijah Mark, where they related to
the ten apostles all that had happened to them; but the apostles were not
inclined to believe them. They thought at first that the women had seen a
vision, but when Mary Magdalene repeated the words which Jesus had spoken to
them, and when Peter heard his name, he rushed out of the upper chamber, followed
closely by John, in great haste to reach the tomb and see these things for
himself. P.2027
Peter at first suggested that the grave had been rifled, that enemies had
stolen the body, perhaps bribed the guards. But John reasoned that the grave
would hardly have been left so orderly if the body had been stolen, and he also
raised the question as to how the bandages happened to be left behind, and so
apparently intact. And again they both went back into the tomb more closely to
examine the grave cloths. As they came out of the tomb the second time, they
found Mary Magdalene returned and weeping before the entrance. Mary had gone to
the apostles believing that Jesus had risen from the grave, but when they all
refused to believe her report, she became downcast and despairing. She longed
to go back near the tomb, where she thought she had heard the familiar voice of
Jesus. P.2027
In viewing the prominent part which Mary Magdalene took in proclaiming the
Master's resurrection, it should be recorded that Mary was the chief spokesman
for the women's corps, as was Peter for the apostles. Mary was not chief of the
women workers, but she was their chief teacher and public spokesman. Mary had
become a woman of great circumspection, so that her boldness in speaking to a
man whom she considered to be the caretaker of Joseph's garden only indicates
how horrified she was to find the tomb empty. It was the depth and agony of her
love, the fullness of her devotion, that caused her to forget, for a moment, the
conventional restraints of a Jewish woman's approach to a strange man.
P.2029
When the apostles refused to believe the report of the five women who
represented that they had seen Jesus and talked with him, Mary Magdalene
returned to the tomb, and the others went back to Joseph's house, where they
related their experiences to his daughter and the other women. And the women
believed their report. Shortly after six o'clock the daughter of Joseph of
Arimathea and the four women who had seen Jesus went over to the home of
Nicodemus, where they related all these happenings to Joseph, Nicodemus, David
Zebedee, and the other men there assembled. Nicodemus and the others doubted
their story, doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead; they conjectured that
the Jews had removed the body. Joseph and David were disposed to believe the
report, so much so that they hurried out to inspect the tomb, and they found
everything just as the women had described. And they were the last to so view
the sepulchre, for the high priest sent the captain of the temple guards to the
tomb at half past seven o'clock to remove the grave cloths. The captain wrapped
them all up in the linen sheet and threw them over a near-by cliff.
P.2030
"Men and brethren, all this time you have served me in accordance with
your oath to me and to one another, and I call you to witness that I have never
yet sent out false information at your hands. I am about to send you on your
last mission as volunteer messengers of the kingdom, and in so doing I release
you from your oaths and thereby disband the messenger corps. Men, I declare to
you that we have finished our work. No more does the Master have need of mortal
messengers; he has risen from the dead. He told us before they arrested him
that he would die and rise again on the third day. I have seen the tomb--it is
empty. I have talked with Mary Magdalene and four other women, who have talked
with Jesus. I now disband you, bid you farewell, and send you on your
respective assignments, and the message which you shall bear to the believers
is: `Jesus has risen from the dead; the tomb is empty.'" P.2030
From the time of the morontia resurrection until the hour of his spirit
ascension on high, Jesus made nineteen separate appearances in visible form to
his believers on earth. He did not appear to his enemies nor to those who could
not make spiritual use of his manifestation in visible form. His first
appearance was to the five women at the tomb; his second, to Mary Magdalene,
also at the tomb. P.2031
The third appearance occurred about noon of this Sunday at Bethany. Shortly
after noontide, Jesus' oldest brother, James, was standing in the garden of
Lazarus before the empty tomb of the resurrected brother of Martha and Mary, turning
over in his mind the news brought to them about one hour previously by the
messenger of David. James had always inclined to believe in his eldest
brother's mission on earth, but he had long since lost contact with Jesus' work
and had drifted into grave doubting regarding the later claims of the apostles
that Jesus was the Messiah. The whole family was startled and well-nigh
confounded by the news brought by the messenger. Even as James stood before
Lazarus's empty tomb, Mary Magdalene arrived on the scene and was excitedly
relating to the family her experiences of the early morning hours at the tomb
of Joseph. Before she had finished, David Zebedee and his mother arrived. Ruth,
of course, believed the report, and so did Jude after he had talked with David
and Salome. P.2031
They all wanted to rush off to the city to tell the doubting apostles about
what had happened, but James restrained them. Mary Magdalene, only, was
permitted to return to Joseph's house. James forbade their publishing abroad
the fact of this morontia visit because of certain things which Jesus had said
to him as they conversed in the garden. But James never revealed more of his
visit with the risen Master on this day at the Lazarus home in Bethany.
P.2032
The fifth morontia manifestation of Jesus to the recognition of mortal eyes
occurred in the presence of some twenty-five women believers assembled at the
home of Joseph of Arimathea, at about fifteen minutes past four o'clock on this
same Sunday afternoon. Mary Magdalene had returned to Joseph's house just a few
minutes before this appearance. James, Jesus' brother, had requested that
nothing be said to the apostles concerning the Master's appearance at Bethany.
He had not asked Mary to refrain from reporting the occurrence to her sister believers.
Accordingly, after Mary had pledged all the women to secrecy, she proceeded to
relate what had so recently happened while she was with Jesus' family at
Bethany. And she was in the very midst of this thrilling recital when a sudden
and solemn hush fell over them; they beheld in their very midst the fully
visible form of the risen Jesus. He greeted them, saying: "Peace be upon
you. In the fellowship of the kingdom there shall be neither Jew nor gentile,
rich nor poor, free nor bond, man nor woman. You also are called to publish the
good news of the liberty of mankind through the gospel of sonship with God in
the kingdom of heaven. Go to all the world proclaiming this gospel and
confirming believers in the faith thereof. And while you do this, forget not to
minister to the sick and strengthen those who are fainthearted and fear-ridden.
And I will be with you always, even to the ends of the earth." And when he
had thus spoken, he vanished from their sight, while the women fell on their
faces and worshiped in silence. P.2033
Of the five morontia appearances of Jesus occurring up to this time, Mary
Magdalene had witnessed four. P.2033
This entire quote is from the Urantia Book.