It's Easter morning. It's early — the text says "while it was still dark." And two women are walking toward a tomb. Not toward a celebration. Not toward a sunrise service. Toward a grave.
They showed up.
The first human being to see the risen Jesus wasn't Peter. Wasn't John. It was Mary Magdalene.
And the first human being commissioned to go preach the resurrection — to go announce the most important news in the history of the universe — was a woman.
Let that sit with you. She carried the news.
"I thank God I was not born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman."
And then Jesus shows up.
Naming someone says: you matter. You are seen. You are part of this story.
Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him,along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.—Luke 8:1-3 NLT
If women weren't supposed to lead — why were they the ones funding the mission?
Watch how Jesus moves through the Gospels:
He's walking through a crowd — a huge crowd — and a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years reaches out and touches the hem of his garment.
He stops. He turns. He finds her.
And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (Mark 5:34 NLT)
He called her daughter. In public. In front of everyone.
He didn't just heal her body. He restored her dignity.
And then there's the woman crippled for 18 years.
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!”Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God! But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13:10-16 NLT)
He was saying: She belongs here. She has always belonged here.
And then there's the Samaritan woman at the well.
Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him. (John 4:27-29 NLT)
She preached. She witnessed. She led people to Jesus.
This is the heartbeat of Jesus.
IN Genesis 1. Both male and female are made in the image of God — the imago Dei. Not male alone. Both. Together. The image of God is reflected in both.
And then what does God say immediately after creating them both?
"Let them have dominion." Plural. Not "let him." Them.
Then the fall happens. And the fall introduced hierarchy, domination, and pain. The fall described a world where women would be dominated. But that description was not the prescription of God. It was the diagnosis of sin.
And then the whole biblical story becomes God working to undo the fall.
And that undoing runs through women.
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly groveling in the dust as long as you live.And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15 NLT)
The beginning of Exodus centers on 7 women rescuing Moses
Deborah — judge, prophet, military leader of Israel.
Abigail — rescuing David from his anger and lack of self-control.
Huldah — the prophet the king calls when he needs a word from God.
Priscilla — who, with her husband Aquila, pulls Apollos aside and teaches him the way of God more accurately. Her name comes first in most manuscripts, by the way.
And then. Romans 16:7.
"Give my greetings to Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did."
Junia. A woman. Called an apostle by THE Apostle Paul.
And he says one word. Mary.
That's it. Her name. He says her name.
And then he commissions her. He says: "Go find my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
"I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18 NLT)
She was the first preacher of the resurrection.
Jesus sees you. You matter — hugely!
You are not the supporting cast.
You never were.
He saw you before anyone else did. He stopped in the crowd for you. He called you His daughter. He named you. He healed you. He commissioned you.
The culture around Jesus tried to make you invisible. And Jesus kept making you visible. He stopped for you in the crowd. He called you daughter. He commissioned you to preach. He trusted you with the news of the resurrection when he couldn't trust the men who kept falling asleep.
Jesus repeatedly, consistently, counter-culturally lifted women. He elevated them. He stopped for them. He taught them. He commissioned them. He entrusted them with the sacred.
Honor her by building a world — and a church — that reflects the way Jesus treated women.
