There are two points which are integral in understanding what Easter means for Christians.

The blood of Jesus Christ was shed to free humanity: The blood of Jesus Christ is the blood that frees us from the curse over Adam’s sin.  It is the blood that allows us to enter the new covenant with God and it is the blood that permits us to receive the heritage promised to our father Abraham.

Jesus Christ’s victory over death: After Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life on the cross, he went to the tomb to defeat death for us.  After three days in the tomb, Jesus Christ rose up from death. What this now means for us all, is that anyone confessing Jesus Christ will also have victory over death and receive eternal life.

What do these two points mean for Christians?  Put simply, they concern our deliverance, and this Easter we would like to take the example of Mary Magdalene in the following passage, to see what role we all have in our own deliverance.

John 20:1-17

The Empty Tomb

¹Early 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. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes, ¹¹but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Mary Magdalene was someone who followed Jesus and worshipped him without hesitation.  She loved Jesus and he knew that.  Her deliverance began when Jesus drove seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2).  After this, she did not return to her past life as a prostitute, she did not fall back to her old ways and was confident in her faith.

The life of Mary Magdalene is a clear example of the two basic steps to the deliverance of any person.

1. Jesus Christ is the first step to deliverance – Confessing the blood of Jesus Christ and acknowledging him as our Lord and saviour.  Prayer from God’s servants is also included in this first step.
2. The second step is our own part in the deliverance – Like Mary Magdalene, we shall follow Jesus-Christ, love him and attach ourselves to the truth that is the Bible, the Word of God.  With all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our spirit.

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