What Happened to the Women Disciples?

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. - John 20:1

On Sunday, Brenna pointed out how Mary deeply loved Jesus and showed up early at the tomb while the boys were all back in bed. In fact, she pointed out, just because everybody knows that Jesus had 12 male disciples (duh) doesn’t mean there weren’t other disciples that were just as important and influential. Joana was there with Jesus at the resurrection, and Luke 8:3 points out that it was she (and other women) who provided the finances for Jesus’s ministry. She gets a lot more airtime than someone like Bartholomew or Simon the Zealot who only show up in the list of the 12 disciples.

And then there’s Mary Magdalene, whose name comes up 25 times in the gospels, which is as many as James (who ended up leading the early church). So what happened to these early witnesses to the resurrection? Why weren’t women given the influence in the early church like they had with Jesus? Apparently just because death has been defeated, it doesn’t mean that the structures of power in religion and society don’t keep pressing on to silence the voices of those whom Jesus revered. There’s a great little illustration that captures this sentiment so well: HERE.

What might it mean for you today to let that resurrection power get so deep within you that you’d be willing to help change how society works so that it’s more equitable?