I believe that Jesus revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene first, to give women the respect they deserve. I remember when I was the pastor of a church, in France, at one point, its oversight needed a replacement, as one of the brothers of it, moved away. Among the members that I presented to the Church membership, for his replacement, was a very faithful dedicated woman. The astonishment of the majority was amazing, in that Roman Catholic country, and it proved my point. When the vote was carried out, she was adopted by the majority. This is not a century ago, at the time of writing it is around twenty-five years ago! Nobody can evangelise, preach, or teach the people of God without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and it is the Lord that gives these ministries to His Church. I have been, for many years, a minister in the Assemblies of God, both in the United Kingdom, and France, in the main, with the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit, which God restored to the Church in 1904, it pleased the Lord to anoint women as well as men to the ministry of the word.

Therefore, I believe that it was not accidental, that Mary was just there, it was planned by the Lord. While she continued crying, thinking she was talking to the gardener; after Jesus asked her: ‘Why are you crying?’ Secondly: ‘Dear Lady: ‘Who are you looking for?’ It appears that she did not recognise His voice. Did Jesus want it that way? Or was it that in her agony, she did not imagine, that it could be Jesus talking to Her, it was the last thing she would think possible? It could be a bit of both; for it is when Jesus said to Her: ‘Mary!’ the way she was used to hear it, and the tone of His voice, that she realised that it was the Jesus Christ, alive! risen from the dead! that she exclaimed and: turned towards Him ‘and cried out in Aramaic, ’Rabboni!’ (Which means Master, Teacher) She obviously hugged Him tight, or holding on to Him so: ‘Jesus said to Her; Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet returned to my Father. (John 20: 16-17) 

In other words, Jesus said, before I continue, I have to go to my Father in Heaven, where I must return alive and victorious! What a victory, the greatest and unique miracle that the world has ever known to this very day!! Psalm 24 reveals what happened when Jesus entered heaven victorious, over Satan, sin, and death, it is written: ‘Lift up your heads O you, gates; be lifted up, you, ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The lord strong and Mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. (7-8) By what the Lord said to Mary it appears that He went to heaven as soon as she lost sight of Him? Obviously, we are dealing with a dimension we know nothing about. Angels appear and disappear in the twinkling of an eye. So, we have to accept that we do not know everything about the unseen, but it is very real! 

Jesus chose the first day of the week to start a series of revelations. For after appearing to Mary Magdalene, He also appeared to the women that were returning from the tomb, that they found empty. As we read what the four evangelists wrote about the first hours of the Sunday, we get a fuller picture of what actually happened, and find that the women lived through revelations of heavenly beings, which opened their eyes to another realm, unseen, but very real. I am not surprised that they were frightened, for suddenly they were going to discover that they belonged to a spiritual world. There are reasons for all their dismay. For they were living an experience that will change their whole outlook to living for Jesus. They were Jews, women, and men, who were used to live lived according to the law, and had very little instruction, or experience, of anything else. Their teachers were Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests, who had different views of life beyond the grave. The Sadducees did not believe in life after death, in angels, or in the resurrection! Who knows if Jewish women were taught at all. It is clear that the Lord’s attitude to them was very different.