As I have mentioned before, I have been on a journey for a number of years now to discover the qualities of Mary Magdalene’s heart that would move Christ to reveal himself to her first after the resurrection. She obviously loved him in a way that stood above the crowd of normal followers, and because she so honored Jesus with a heart passion for him, He honored her in return by appearing to her first. What I want to do now is to go back to the beginning and discover where and how her heart first got wrecked for Jesus. Luke chapter 7 tells the story of Mary Magdalene’s first encounter with Jesus, and I believe it is there that she was infected with First – Love, and it was an infection that she never recovered from.
Mary had sadly been living the life of a prostitute. When she heard that Jesus was dining at the house of a Pharisee named Simon, she entered and brought with her an alabaster vial of perfume, and verse thirty-eight says that she was standing close behind Him. In His presence, she found herself weeping, and at some point, she began to wet His feet with her tears, wiping His feet with her hair, and then she began kissing His feet, anointing them with the perfume. I believe this was the moment when Mary Magdalene’s heart was ruined for anything other than Jesus for the rest of her life. In His presence, she experienced for the first time in her life the unconditional, relentless, burning love of God. Luke 8:2 says that Mary Magdalene was set free from seven demons, and I think her deliverance and healing took place in the presence of Jesus that day in Simon the Pharisee’s home. As Mary Magdalene was worshiping Jesus so extravagantly at His feet, Simon began to question the authenticity of Jesus as a true prophet because he thought to himself that if Jesus were a true prophet, he would know what kind of person this was that was touching Him.
Jesus addressed Simon’s questions by telling him that the extravagant actions of love poured out by Mary Magdalene on Him was because she knew how much she had been forgiven, and Jesus stated it simply by saying “… I say to you, her sins, which are many had been forgiven. Therefore she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little.” At that point, Jesus says directly to Mary Magdalene, “Your sins have been forgiven!!” He then told her, “your faith has made you whole; go in peace(go forth in wholeness).”
The word “forgive” in the original language the Scriptures were written in literally means “to put away; to send away,” but it means even more than that because the word forgiveness is tied to the idea of redemption, and redemption means “to restore and overrule for good all the loss occasioned by sin.” In summary, the biblical concept of forgiveness is that we will never look at your sin again and therefore you are beyond reproach concerning your sin, therefore you can now go forth in wholeness, because your sins can no longer define your past, or who and what you can be in the future because you are no longer the person that you were before you were forgive. You are now a whole person, so go forth in wholeness. True forgiveness is a total game-changer because it redefines a person’s past, identity, and future. It means everything about you has been redeemed.
Colossians 1:14 NASB
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 1:7 NASB
In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
It is in this context of experiencing the massive love of God in Christ in the atmosphere of forgiveness and the redemption forgiveness brings, that because Mary Magdalene hopelessly fell in love with Jesus, and the truth is it was a love she never fell out of.