Luke 8 introduces a woman who did take Jesus' invitation seriously. Luke identifies her as "Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out." She, along with other women "who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases," traveled with Jesus as he proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom of God (vv. 1-2).

If Scripture is true, demons are real. If evil spirits "come out" of people, they also go in. Further, demons make horrific tenants. Once allowed in, they take over. They torment - torturing, battering, deceiving, exploiting. They enslave and destroy. A demon-possessed person cannot, in his or her own power, evict the abusers.

In Matthew 12:43, Jesus described demons as constantly seeking rest and never able to find it. A person ruled by demons cannot find rest either.

In Galatians, Paul wrote to Christians, whom Jesus had freed, yet who were again inviting demonic oppression. These people hadn't become drug addicts, nor had they toyed with the occult. Rather, they began to believe the lie that living the Christian life means keeping a certain set of religious rules. The Galatian Christians turned from hearing the voice of God and obeying him in the power of the Spirit to the seemingly easier (but actually utterly exhausting) method of adopting a certain group's biblically-based checklist and working hard to check all the boxes. In so doing, they quenched the Holy Spirit and opened themselves to evil spirits. Aghast, Paul asked:

"How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? . . . In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods. But now that you know God - or, I should say, now that God knows you - how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?" (Gal 3:3; 4:8-9 GNT).

Mary called Magdalene didn't make the same foolish choices as the Galatian believers. Tormented and enslaved by seven demons, she could have expected nothing more than darkness, despair and death. But Mary came to Jesus. He sent all seven demons scurrying.

Trusting the One who had delivered her, Mary took the yoke Jesus held out to her - and never turned back. Matthew 11:28-30 in The Message renders Jesus' invitation this way: "Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

At Jesus' invitation, Mary Magdalene went where he went. Just the fact that she and the other women kept company with him was scandalous. Even today, rumors continue to fly. Sometimes it's whispered, sometimes trumpeted, that Mary called Magdalene was the mistress and/or wife of Christ.

Undaunted by the gossip, Mary stayed in the yoke that kept her neck-to-neck with Jesus. The result was holy intimacy - audacious yet utterly pure. Not rebellious nor defiant nor immoral, Mary did what flew in the face of tradition, religion and culture - and highly honored God: She literally walked and worked with Jesus.

Luke 8:3 says, "These women were helping to support them [Jesus and the twelve] out of their own means." In a day when women generally didn't own property (but rather were considered to be property), these women could have expected someone else to support them. Instead, blessed with "means" enough to help Jesus' whole entourage, and (even more amazing) having the authority to decide how their property and possessions were to be used - Mary Magdalene and friends invested in the one man the religious leaders most wanted dead.

One day, the religious leaders got their wish. Jesus was crucified. Mark 15:40-41 says, "There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene . . . . When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him" (NASU).

The Greek verb translated "follow" means "to accompany (specially, as a disciple)." The Greek verb translated "minister to" is diakoneo. It means "to take care of, by rendering humble service to," "to be responsible for financial aspects of an enterprise," and "to serve God in some special way, such as a deacon."

Formerly demon-possessed, Mary became both disciple and "deacon." She is named first by the Gospel writers in every listing of the women connected with Jesus' ministry, except one list that includes Jesus' mother. Trusted with responsibility, treated with respect, Mary Magdalene served Christ from a place of continual inner rest.

Even when it all seemed to come to an abrupt and brutal end, Mary and the other women disciples didn't scatter. We find them at the cross. We find them at the tomb when Jesus' body is placed there and the entrance sealed. We find them returning to the tomb on resurrection morning, in hopes of anointing the body.

How amazing, how wonderful, that Mary Magdalene kept coming to Jesus even when it seemed for all the world that his claims were false and his mission aborted. Why watch the torture of the cross? Why attend the hasty burial? Why go back to the grave with spices, when a large stone and armed guards blocked the entrance?

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote, "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. . . . For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve" (vv. 1,3-5).

Here, Paul identified three key events of the gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised. Subsequently, he appeared to witnesses. While hundreds of people saw the risen Christ (and everyone who believes in him encounters him), the Gospel writers make clear that very few people witnessed Jesus' death and burial and resurrection. None of the apostles did. (The scriptural record places John alone at the cross and not even he at the burial.)

Who, then, did God choose as eyewitnesses to all three events Scripture describes as "of first importance"? A handful of women who kept coming to Jesus when it seemed hopeless and pointless to do so - among them, Mary Magdalene.

Horrified, they watched Jesus die. Heart-broken, they saw him buried. Then, hallelujah!
The risen Lord appeared first to them! The women made two choices that positioned them to meet Jesus outside the empty tomb: (1) They never stopped coming to Christ, and (2) they rested when the Lord said to rest.

"The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment" (Luke 23:55-56).

Mary and the other women disciples didn't succumb to the lie that resting gets in the way of accomplishing. Even though their task seemed urgent, on Sabbath they rested as God had commanded. If they had not, if they had hurried to the tomb Saturday morning, they would have left the tomb still desolate. Instead, they arrived too late to anoint a dead body. Yet they left overjoyed! For God had an entirely different assignment for them from what they'd supposed. He ushered them onto the scene exactly on time to watch him unveil the most glorious, most important miracle in the history of the world.