THIRD QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #13
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024
"THE RISEN LORD".

 

The Sunday lesson makes the logical point that Jesus rested on the Sabbath after His crucifixion. Also, the disciples and His mother and Mary Magdalene rested on the Sabbath, which is strong evidence that Jesus never sanctioned changing the Sabbath from the 7th day to Sunday worship prior to His death. 

Adventists have always been excellent at making very strong arguments from the Scripture to support our doctrinal views. But, unfortunately, that emphasis of thinking has led us, at times, to being as “dry as the hills of Gilboa.” The real truth of the Sabbath has not been that it’s the 4th of the 10 commandments that must be kept. Rather, it is a reminder or symbol of the rest that God wants us to have from our sinful flesh while abiding by faith in Him. It is an everlasting sign of the covenant that God has made with mankind, that our only hope for righteousness is in Him alone and not in our own works. 

Among His followers that rested that Sabbath, Mark names specifically three women. The first is His mother, Mary. The second is Salome, who we don’t have much information about, other than that she accompanied the other two ladies, both in going to the tomb after the Sabbath and in buying spices with the intention of applying those spices to Jesus’ body. This has led some Bible scholars to guess that she was a wealthy lady who had given all to follow Jesus. The third lady mentioned is none other than Mary Magdalene. This Mary had been a constant minor story point throughout Jesus’ ministry. Why does Mark spend so much time devoted to what Mary saw and did that resurrection weekend? I would suggest that the Bible is written primarily for the common man and is written to appeal to all of us. And it turns out that Mary’s story is really closer to all our stories than we might want to admit. 

First, he notes that she was around the cross of Jesus as it was raised up from the ground and His nakedness was put on full display in an attempt to discredit and humiliate His ministry. It is interesting to note that it appears that Jesus had, at one point, a possibly naked Mary Magdalene thrown at His feet by the religious leaders in an attempt to trick Him into condemning her in John 8:3-4 (Quick disclaimer. Some people do not agree this is Mary.  However, at the very least Jesus understood her extreme embarrassment):

“Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act’” (KJV here and throughout).

How embarrassing! How humiliating! Exactly part of the experience of the cross that Christ went through for us, Himself stripped naked. And Mary was there to sympathize and support Jesus in His experiences because of the unconditional love Jesus had shown her in front of her accusers.

“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” 

What a burden of guilt and shame Jesus lifted from Mary. She was set free from sin! So, when she came to the tomb and found it empty, she was crushed and began to cry. Because of her love for Jesus, the very least she wanted to do was to embalm His body. She was surprised in her intense grief by the words of a man saying, “Woman, why are you crying?” (John 20:13), I have wondered why she didn’t immediately recognize Him, but I think in our humanness, when we really know someone has died, we aren’t in any way expecting to see that person the next day in front of us. But as soon as He spoke her name, she knew His voice and that it was Jesus. Because of her personal experiences with Jesus, she knew His voice! 

As humans we are always trying to be first to do something. Because when you are the first to do something, there’s never another first. Dennis Tito paid $20 million dollars to be the first private person to go into space. What would you give to have been the first person to see and speak with Jesus after His resurrection? There are billions of angels and beings on other worlds. Billions of people have been born in this world and who does Jesus give the honor of seeing Him first after His resurrection? Mary Magdalene. But part of the reason was the reciprocal love Mary had for Jesus that compelled her to be at His tomb at the break of dawn. Forever throughout eternity, Mary will have that honor! Mary Magdalene - first human to speak with and worship Jesus after His resurrection. She immediately recognized and believed it was Jesus when He spoke to her! She did what He said and went and proclaimed that He was risen and immediately was met with unbelief by all of Jesus’ closest followers. 

Could that happen again? Here is Mary, an obvious fellow believer, and they flatly rejected her testimony. I wonder how discouraged she was? But Jesus eventually appeared to many more and according to Mark 16:14 “He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart.” Wow! Jesus had to scold his disciples severely. 

In Mark 16:15 Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” What is this Gospel that Jesus was referring to? It is the birth, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s a message of Christ and His righteousness. A message that Ellen White refers to in the 1888 message: “The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; It invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family. All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” —Ellen G White, Testimonies to Ministers, p 91.

This is the heart of the 1888 Message. It is our Committee’s purpose and more importantly, it is the purpose of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And the premiere story that illustrates the power and truth of the Gospel is the story of Mary Magdalene’s life. It was the truth of what Jesus had accomplished for her that motivated her. That love compelled her to sell everything because she had to purchase a gift. That alabaster flask of very precious ointment was given to Jesus in a spectacular display of seemingly wasted extravagance. But what Jesus saw was an act of love that He said was just right. And that love motivated her to not be concerned for her own welfare or reputation, but to publicly identify with Jesus at the Cross when almost all humanity reviled and abandoned Jesus. Is that the love we need to have to make it through the time of trouble? It got her up early in the morning that Sunday to mourn and anoint His body with spices. At Jesus’ resurrection she was the first to see a risen Jesus, who is the Gospel. So, as we “go into all the world and preach this Gospel,” let’s remember personally and publicly the story of Mary and the words of Jesus: 

“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (Matthew 26:13). Because it’s a story of every truly converted person and it shows the true power of the Gospel to save us from the bondage of sin.

 

~Donn LaTour