3 Interesting Facts You Need to Know About Women and the Resurrection

Jesus intentionally chose women to proclaim the resurrection first. This is the only proof we need of women being able to proclaim Jesus to men and women. Many good men of God fight against this, but there are a few great men who see it the way Jesus did.

My amazing husband was the first man I encountered who believed in the voice of women and actually made a place for women to preach. He wrote a paper for his New Testament Masters class about the role of women in the resurrection. As he was studying for this, he shared several things with me that I had not known. Jesus was the greatest champion of women who ever lived. The more you see this in the resurrection, the more you will feel loved and solidified in your ability to proclaim the Gospel. 

Today, I will be sharing bits and pieces from the paper, but I have also linked the entire scholarly thesis below if you would like to dive into a more academic view of the resurrection.

Let’s start with his one paragraph summary:
It has been there from the start. The passionate gospel proclamation of women and the coinciding dismissiveness of men. There was no gap between when women, divinely visited by God, proclaimed what they saw and when their words were summarily dismissed as “nonsense.” Both elements were there day one. From the angelic visitation and nuance of the Greek verb for “telling” that communicates their proclamation was to go on and on, there are multiple proofs that women were intended to be divine witnesses.

3 Interesting Facts You Need to Know About Women and the Resurrection:

1. Women were the only ones to see, firsthand, all 3 foundational elements of our faith take place…death, burial, and resurrection. 

   • They saw the crucifixion (Luke 23:49): Most of the male disciples scattered and were nowhere to be found as Jesus hung on the Cross. But the women were there. The women stayed. 

   • They saw the burial (Luke 23:55): None of the male disciples offered Jesus a proper burial. It was the female disciples who took it upon themselves to anoint the body of Jesus. 

   • They saw the empty tomb (Luke 24:3): The women were the ones who had the bravery and care to go to the tomb. The disciples only went to investigate after they heard the report from the brave women.

2. Women were the first to know of Jesus’ birth and of His resurrection (and the first to be dismissed as well). 

• God chose Mary to carry the Lord Jesus and Elizabeth to carry the forerunner, John the Baptist. Both experienced the supernatural and gave songs of praise documented by Luke. If it weren’t for an angel showing up to Joesph, he would have divorced her. 

• When Mary told the men what she had seen and heard, they dismissed it as nonsense. Out of all the disciples gathered Luke only records Peter running to the tomb to investigate.

3. Women were divinely commissioned to herald the news of Jesus’ resurrection as God established their credibly as witnesses. 

• A woman’s testimony was regarded as rubbish. She was not allowed to read the Torah in the synagogue or even recite the Shema (considered the most essential declaration of the Jewish faith). God intentionally chose a woman, who would be further unbelievable, because she was known to have 7 demons cast out of her. 

• God could have spoken to Peter at the tomb or sent an angel to confirm Mary’s testimony but He chose not to. God was making a statement here. A woman’s testimony was ENOUGH. 

• God has divinely chosen to appear to women on many occasions. They were credible enough for God to send an angel to appear to them. Hagar had no witness there to collaborate. Mary had no witness to collaborate. The biblical account of each comes from them alone with no male witness. Why would we take their word on this and put it in the Holy Scriptures but ignore the preaching of women who declare the good news of salvation through Christ? 

When you read the resurrection accounts in each Gospel don’t be confused at the different variations of women who were recorded. Historically speaking, the more sources that are found for an event, the higher the probability that the event in question occurred. Each of the gospels record women as the first to receive the amazing news of Jesus’ resurrection although they included different details.

Synthesis

The Luke narrative highlights women from start to finish. We have an angelic appearance to start the book and another to end the book. Both are of utmost importance. The birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus were both heralded by angels and were both to women alone. Joseph was not there when Mary saw Gabriel and heard the Messianic announcement. Peter and the other apostles were not there when the women saw the angels and heard the explanation of the resurrected Jesus. Based on the strength of these undeniable facts, why would we limit women from declaring the gospel? Why would we stop them from simply telling of what they have seen and heard from the risen Jesus? If their devotion to Him has brought them to a place of revelation, why would we deny them the ability to proclaim? 

If you’d like to read Joel’s entire paper I will link it here.

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