Women as First Witnesses of the Savior

June 26, 2018

I think it is instructive to note how often the Lord chose for a woman to be a first witness of the Savior on the earth.  The first person to be told that Jesus was coming to earth was a woman, Mary.  The angel revealed to her, “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:31-32).  She knew before any male Jewish leader that the Savior would be coming among them.  She of course was there as the first witness to His arrival on earth as a mortal.  After Jesus was born to Mary, the first (informal) missionary for Jesus that we know of after His advent in mortality was a woman, Anna.  After Jesus was born and she saw Him she “spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).  It was Mary again who was the primary witness to his first miracle that we know of when He turned the water into wine for her at the wedding feast: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory” (John 2:11). 

               Other events in the Savior’s life showed that women were often there first.  The first declaration that we have by the Savior that He was the Messiah was given to the woman at the well: “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he” (John 4:25-26).  The first time that we have recorded that he raised someone from the dead was for a woman, the widow of Nain: “The Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.  And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.  And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother” (Luke 7:13-15).  She was the first witness to His power over life and death.  The other two events when He raised the dead were similarly witnessed by women—He raised the daughter of Jairus in front of her mother, and He raised Lazarus from the grave with Mary and Martha as primary witnesses.  And, of course, it was to a woman, Mary Magdalene, that the Savior appeared first when He was resurrected, telling her, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).  It was to this woman that the Savior showed His resurrected body and to whom He gave a charge to tell others.  For Jesus women were no second-class members of the kingdom but were worthy of the greatest of spiritual blessings.