Now when he had risen very early, the first [day] of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, out of whom he had cast seven demons.
Mark turns from the empty tomb to the risen Christ, and the first to see Him is a woman He had freed from seven demons. That raises three questions: why her, what the seven demons mean, and whether these last verses are really Mark's.
Only here does Mark tie Mary's name to her past.
Mark has mentioned Mary Magdalene before, but only here does he add to her name, "from whom he had cast out seven demons." The two facts stand together. The Son of God came, as we know, to destroy the works of the devil. He was revealed for that purpose. Jesus had already broken Satan's power over Mary Magdalene. His appearing first to her, as the risen conqueror of Satan, confirmed that defeat still more.
So one woman carries two testimonies.
The one who was a witness to the Lord's power over demons, now becomes a witness to His power over death.
People have long named homes for fallen women after Mary, assuming her past was sexual. One writer answers that Scripture never says so.
People have badly slandered Mary of Magdala, as if she had been an immoral woman. Scripture does not speak of her that way, and neither should we, even though people name homes for fallen women after her. What is written is, "from whom he had cast out seven demons" (Mark 16:9)… Demons had held Mary of Magdala in a special way.
One writer asks why the Lord chose her, and points to what her rescue had done in her heart.
Why does the Lord Jesus single her out for His first appearing? It was her affection put her in the place where the Lord could reveal Himself to her, as He does. Satanic power had held her completely, but Jesus had cast the seven demons out. From that hour she felt the glory of her Deliverer, and remembered what she owed to Him who had delivered her. That bound this dear woman's heart to the Lord Jesus.
He did the same for the other women who sought Him, and one writer draws a promise from it:
The Lord revealed Himself to every one of those beloved women before He revealed Himself to anyone else (compare Mark 16:9)… Let us take it to heart that our faithful Lord will meet everyone who is truly seeking Him. As it is written, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13).
The Gospel accounts of that morning are hard to line up. One writer treats that difficulty as a mark of honesty.
It seems impossible to fit together all the different accounts of the movements of that morning… Should these differences trouble anyone and weaken confidence that the accounts are genuine? Just the opposite. Impostors would have tried to make the accounts agree. But the writers of Scripture were sure that what they wrote was true, so they never tried. On one fact Mark and John agree: the Lord appeared first to Mary (Mark 16:9; John 20:11-16).
This appearance opened a series of meetings packed into one day:
First, the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9); then to her again with the other Mary (Matt. 28:1, 9); to Cleopas and his companion on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:15); to Peter alone (Luke 24:34); to the disciples gathered together (John 20:19). All of them learned the joyful news of the Master's resurrection on the first day of the week.
Verse 9 opens a section that some of the earliest manuscripts leave out, and the debate over it is old. One writer answers from the age of the evidence and from the wording itself.
There is no doubt that this section stood in its present place in the second century — that is, before any surviving witness that leaves it out or questions who wrote it… The thought and the wording point to Mark alone. So it is genuine as well as authentic.
Another writer rests the case on how the ending fits the book.
The closing verses fit the spirit of the whole Gospel perfectly. If that is proved, it is a stronger argument for their authenticity than everything ever produced against them.
- First in bondage. Seven demons once held Mary. The record says nothing more about her past, so neither should we.
- First in deliverance. The One who came to destroy the works of the devil had already broken Satan's grip on her.
- First in sight. Her affection kept her close, and the risen conqueror showed Himself to her before anyone else.
- First in testimony. She had seen His power over demons. Now she sees His power over death, first in a string of meetings that same day.
- First in the record. Mark and John agree on this appearance, and the ending that carries it stands as Mark's own.
*She* went and brought word to those that had been with him, [who were] grieving and weeping.
Mary Magdalene brings the first news of the resurrection to the disciples. She finds them in tears. Two things stand out: the Lord chose her to carry the news, and the people who most needed it were in no state to receive it.
Mark names Mary by her past before he describes her errand. One writer sees the two halves of her story matching each other:
The one who was a witness to the Lord's power over demons now becomes a witness to His power over death. She carries the glad news to the disciples, as they mourned and wept, that the Lord is risen. Sadly, though they heard the message, they did not believe.
She had already felt His power over Satan in her own life. Another writer argues that this is exactly what made her the right person to announce His victory over death:
Here we have a woman, and no ordinary woman: Mary Magdalene. Jesus, now dead and risen, had once cast seven demons out of her. Who then is so fit a witness of the resurrection power of God's Son? The Lord had come to destroy the works of the devil, and she knew this even before His death and resurrection. Who, I ask, is so suitable a herald of it as Mary of Magdala? … She had already proved by experience how blessed the ministry of Jesus was, when He delivered her from Satan's power. She was now about to announce a still more glorious ministry. For Jesus had now, by dying, destroyed Satan's power in death.
What moves her is not duty but attachment. A commentator ties her errand back to how much she had been forgiven:
It is deeply precious to be told that the risen Lord appeared first to a woman. She is the striking picture of a heart completely broken, whose sorrow turned to joy too great for words. We are told here too that the Lord had cast seven demons out of her. She had reason to love much. She became His messenger, and her message should have moved the disciples deeply.
Their tears were real, but they no longer matched the facts. Mary found the whole group out of step with the day:
The hearts of His disciples, His followers, are broken, hurt and hopeless. Nothing but gloom seems to settle down on them. Think of this, too: the apostles, the men Christ chose and sent, are not in tune with the occasion at all! They stand in perfect contrast with that glorious day. They are all in the darkness of uncertainty. The gloom of death and the grave covered their spirits, even though the resurrection had come and Jesus was alive again for ever.
Mary's report should have ended the mourning on the spot. Instead it met a wall, and Mark records the failure without softening it:
It is very remarkable how simply the Gospel writers report the proofs of the disciples' unbelief. No one tries to cover it up. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell it out plainly. They did not know the Scriptures, says John, that He must rise from the dead. They saw the fact, but did not take in how it fitted with what God had purposed and said again and again.
That refusal did not end with them:
There, in very few words, you have the facts about Mary and the effect of her testimony. No one believed her. Now there is something very solemn in that… Nothing could be more blessed than the message she carried. It is so solemn to feel it was not believed. And it is not believed today.
Mary does not keep the sight to herself, and neither do the two who later walked to Emmaus. One writer draws the rule from their hurry back to Jerusalem:
They must return at once, and let those at Jerusalem who had been mourning and weeping know what they had to tell. Spiritual joy is unselfish. There is the desire that others should share in it.
- Rescued. Jesus had cast seven demons out of Mary. The woman He freed from Satan's power is the fitting witness that Satan's power in death is now destroyed.
- Loved. She "had reason to love much." Her broken heart was the first to see the risen Lord, and her sorrow turned to joy too great for words.
- Sent. She goes straight to those who had been with Him. Spiritual joy is unselfish: it wants others to share it.
- Mourning. She finds them weeping on the most glorious of days. Their sorrow had outlived its cause.
- Unbelief. They heard and did not believe. The Gospel writers hide none of it, and the same message still meets the same refusal today.
And when these heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, they disbelieved [it].
Mark's last chapter records something strange: Mary brings news that Jesus is alive, and the people who loved Him most refuse to believe her. Why did they refuse it, and why did the Gospel writers keep that refusal on the record?
Mark pairs Mary's name with the seven demons Jesus had driven out of her. One writer sees a purpose in that pairing.
Mark has mentioned Mary Magdalene before. Only here does he add to her name the words "from whom he had cast out seven demons." The two facts stand together. The Son of God comes, as we know, to destroy the works of the devil. He appeared for that purpose. Satan's power over Mary had already been broken. That defeat was confirmed still further when the risen conqueror of Satan appeared first to her.
The same qualification that made her fit to testify made her easy to dismiss. What she had once been is precisely what the record refuses to hide.
Her earlier deliverance and her present errand are read as one line of testimony.
The one who was a witness to the Lord's power over demons, now becomes a witness to His power over death. She carries the glad news that the Lord is risen to the disciples as they mourned and wept. Sadly, though they heard the message, they did not believe.
They were not short of evidence. They were short of Scripture.
It is very remarkable how simply the Gospel writers report the proofs of the disciples' unbelief. They make no effort to cover it up. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell it out plainly. They did not know the Scriptures, John says, that He must rise from the dead. They saw the fact, but did not take in its link with the repeated counsels of God. They believed it on the strength of the evidence before their eyes. They had not yet entered into it by faith, as they soon would.
Mary's rejection was not the only one. One writer notes what happens when the Lord's own people carry the message, and what happens when He speaks Himself.
We see then that in each case the testimony given through His own fails. That could leave us cast down, except that the value of His own direct word shines out by contrast. So long as He is glorified, that is all we want... Then He adds those memorable words, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Notice now the result of His direct speaking to them. "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them … they went out and preached everywhere." What a contrast! And has it no lesson for us?
Their slowness has an unexpected value. One writer points to what it proves about the men themselves.
Mark, too, tells of the Lord's appearing to Mary Magdalene, and afterwards to the eleven. Up to that point they had firmly refused to believe the testimony of those who said He was risen. So we are not dealing with men who would believe anything. We are dealing with men who needed to be truly convinced of a fact on which so much depended.
Mary carried a message the Lord Himself had given her, recorded in John 20. One writer says the refusal of that message did not end with those first disciples.
That is the short account of the facts about Mary and the effect of her testimony. They did not believe her. There is something very solemn in that, if we remember the message which the Lord gave her in John 20. Nothing could be more blessed than the message she carried. It is so solemn to feel that it was not believed. And it is not believed today. Very few believers today have real faith in the message that Mary Magdalene carried at that time.
- Chosen — the woman Jesus had freed from seven demons was the first to see Him risen. His victory over Satan showed in the messenger He picked.
- Deaf — they heard the news, but they did not know the Scriptures that said He must rise. The fact reached their eyes and not their faith.
- Recorded — none of the four Gospel writers hides the disciples' unbelief. All four tell it plainly.
- Credited — that stubbornness makes them reliable witnesses. Men this hard to convince would not believe just anything.
- Spoken — every report passed on by others falls flat. When the Lord Himself speaks, the same men go out and preach everywhere.