Mary the Apostle

I read this the other day, and wanted to share it.  Some radical new thought?  No.  This is from a sermon by Lancelot Andrewes preached before King James I on Easter Day 1622.

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The risen Christ gave Mary Magdalene a commission.  'Go' is her mission, and 'tell my brethren' is her commission.  A commission, to publish the first new of his rising, and as it falls out, of his ascending too.

The Father that by this word she was by Christ made an apostle, nay 'an apostle to the apostles themselves.'  An apostle; for what lacks she?  Sent first, immediately from Christ himself; and what is an apostle but so?  Secondly, sent to declare and make known.  And last, what was she to make known?  Christ's rising and ascending.  And what are they but 'the gospel,' yea the very gospel of the gospel?

This day, with Christ's rising, begins the gospel; not before.  Crucified, dead and buried, no good news, no gospel in themselves.  And them the Jews believe as well as we.  The first gospel of all is the gospel of this day, and the gospel of this day is this Mary Magdalene's gospel, the prime gospel of all, before any of the other four.  That christ is risen and upon his ascending, and she the first that every brought these glad tidings.  At her hands the apostles themselves received it first, and from them we all.

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We need to keep hearing this.  Mary was known to be an apostle from the beginning, and that knowledge has never been extinguished.  Nothing new, but continually buried and rising again.  The truth.

As Companions of Mary the Apostle, we continue to preach the gospel "by any means necessary."  However, wherever, whenever we can, we announce the good news of new life in Christ.  Please pray for us to fulfill the commission that we too have sensed in our hearts.  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!