Nobody tells us but Mark, and he makes it sound almost incidental. “Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons” (Mark 16:9 emphasis added). You can’t say it with subtlety or sensitivity—Mary Magdalene had been an evil woman times seven! We can’t begin to comprehend the evil that surrounded this woman’s life and tormented her soul.
But there is no need. It’s past tense. The demons gone, sent on their hellish way by a word from the Lord and Giver of life. To this cleansed woman now possessed by grace—not Peter or James or John—Jesus makes His first resurrection appearance. Indeed, she becomes the first messenger of the risen Christ to the apostles. (John 20:17)
A Hebrew idiom describes sorrow and grief as “evil of the heart.” Mothers and fathers of aborted children sooner or later experience this great evil. To say that they are possessed by this evil does not overstate the case. It often produces unexplained behaviors—uncontrollable weeping, drug abuse, promiscuity, severe depression, and more. When the reality of their “choice” strikes, it torments their souls. They may not be possessed by seven demons, but they often feel beyond hope.
But hope need only be abandoned at the gates of Hell. A resurrected Jesus is a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) that excludes no one. His appearance to Mary Magdalene, a former very evil sinner, speaks of His love and grace for all such sinners today. Those experiencing the “evil of the heart” of abortion, can picture Jesus casting out their evil through His death on the cross and possessing them by His grace. They can picture the risen Jesus standing before them, calling them by name, showing them favor as if they had never experienced sin and evil at all.
I have often talked about post-abortive men and women as “Rachels” based on Matthew 2:18 (NIV), “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.” Such deep grief certainly applies to modern day “Rachels.” The joy of the Church in regard to such men and women, is to move them along from “Rachels” to “Mary Magdalenes.” Only the message of the Gospel of forgiveness applied to them can lift them up from this great “evil of the heart” and stand them cleansed and pure before the living Christ.
There are a lot of “Rachels” sitting in our pews, fathers and mothers of aborted children. They need to hear the hope of the Gospel preached and taught to them and applied to the sin of abortion. They need to be brought to see themselves as “Mary Magdalenes,” the demons gone, sent on their hellish way by a word from the Lord and Giver of life.