Yesterday we observed that women were among Jesus’ followers and financial supporters, and they stayed with him until the end. Now we come to the even more shocking part: women were the first to find out about the resurrection – again, confirmation of the historical accuracy of the Gospels.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they [the women] went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵  And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words. (Luke 24.1 – 8, ESV)

The women believed, but the men? Not so much:

Returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. (Luke 24.9 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

I don’t know all the lessons from this, but one things is clear: Jesus likes to turn things upside down. As The Chosen has Jesus telling Peter when Jesus called Matthew: “Get used to different.”

The late Skip Gray said, “Devout Jewish men often prayed, ‘Lord, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.’ The first three converts in Europe (see Acts 16) were a Gentile, a slave, and a woman.”

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11.33, ESV)