Christians are noted for singing the sweet story of love but I wonder why the story of love of Mary Magdalene is not common in our lips. Mary Magdalene was a demon-possessed woman who received deliverance at the hand of Jesus Christ. From the moment of deliverance in her life, she never departed from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mary Magdalene, the former demon-possessed woman was the only person recorded in the Bible that stood in the gap of love with an unparalled perseverance. According to the mercy of the Lord and His matchless grace, what would have become a missing link about the resurrection of Jesus Christ was revealed unto her because of her matchless affection for our Lord Jesus Christ through the three crucial stages of Jesus Christ mission on earth.

She never departed from the Lord when Jesus Christ was Son of Man in His coming in and going out with sinners, healing our infirmities and showing us the way to heaven. She was the woman who anointed the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ with precious oil from an alabaster box and wiped His feet with her hair. (Luke 7:37-38Luke 7:37-38
37. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
38. and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.  Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfum on them. ; Luke 8:2Luke 8:2
2. and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out;)  She was there watching Him helplessly in His travail in the hand of Pontius Pilate, Pharisees and Sadducees and the community of Jews that served as powerful instruments in the hand of Satan when they shouted "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" She was in the company of the precious women that were watching Him in sorrow, from a distance in the Place of Golgotha, amidst His mockers. "Among these women were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Jones and the mother of Zebedee's sons." (Matthew 28:55-56 NIV) They followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs.

Mary Magdalene who loved Jesus while He was with us on earth, who loved Him dying for us on the cross, who loved Him even when He was buried in the tomb, was at Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week while it was still dark. She saw that the big stone had been removed from the entrance of the tomb. She ran back to the disciples to inform them of what happened. The disciples came and Peter went into the tomb. He only saw the strips of linen lying and the burial cloths. They all went back to their houses, but Mary stood still.  At the outside the tomb she was weeping and wondering what might have happened to the body of the Lord. With this heavy heart she bent down to look into the tomb again and she saw what was not revealed to Peter and the rest of the disciples who went into the tomb.

She saw two angels in the tomb that asked her "Woman, why are you crying?" As she turned around, she saw Jesus standing. At first she thought he was the gardener, she did not realize until Jesus Christ revealed Himself to her. She cried out in Aramaic, "Raboni." Jesus replied, "Do not hold onto 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."

Because of her love for Him, and the extra miles she walked in love and in faith with our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, the "once upon a time seven demon-possessed woman," the wretched sinner like you and me was blessed with a rare experience. She beheld a living Jesus Christ at work in His ministry of reconciliation on earth. She beheld a dying Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary among the centurions who confessed His divinity when they said, "Truly He is the Son of God." She beheld the buried Jesus in the sepulchre covered with a big stone and being watched by the governor's soldiers. She beheld the empty tomb. And once again she took a second look at the tomb and the heavenly hosts were revealed to her. She was the first person in this wide world to behold the beauty of Jesus Christ in glory when He was resurrected.

Reflect on this:

Elisah walked extra miles with Elijah.   He had double portion of the power of Elijah (II Kings 2:2,4,6, 8-15II Kings 2:2,4,6, 8-15
2. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.
4. Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho." And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.
6.  Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan." And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.
8. Elijah took his cloak, rolledit up and struck the water with it.  The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
9. when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.
10. "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours - otherwise not."
11. As they were walking along and talking together, suddently a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
12. Elisha saw thsis and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsement of Israel!"  And Elisha saw him no more.   Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.
13. He pick up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
14. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" he asked.  When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
15. The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha."   And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.)  The miracle always happen within the extra mile we walked, within the extra time we spent whole heartedly with God. Ruth walked extra mile with Naomi, her mother in law.  She said, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried." (Ruth 1:16-18Ruth 1:16-18
16. But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.   Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.
17. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.   May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
18. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.) And her miracle happened.  She was one of the earthly great, great grand parents of Jesus Christ. Boaz later married Ruth.  She gave birth to a son named Obed.  Obed was the father of Jesse the father of King David. Begin your extra mile with God today in righteousness.  Be still and discover the miracle that will accompany your faithfulness in Him!

 

Genesis 18:1-8Genesis 18:1-8
1. The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
2. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby.  When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3. He said, "If I have found favor in you eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.
4. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
5. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way - now that you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do as you say."
6. So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread."
7. Then he ran to the heard and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
8. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them.  While they are, he stood near them under a tree.

OBEDIENCE - Genesis 12:1-4Genesis 12:1-4
1. The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.
3. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4. So Abram left, as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him.   Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

Obedience is the first step that we should take in order to walk righteously with God.  This is very glaring in the life of  Abraham.  In Ur of Chaldes, his home town, God called him to leave his kindred and go to that place he will show him.  Abraham did not look back, regardless of the fact that he did not have any premonition of where God wanted him to go. He got himself ready waiting for the directive hands of Almighty God and he followed the finger of God.

FEAR OF GOD - Genesis 22:9-12Genesis 22:9-12
9. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.  He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
12. "Do not do anything to him.  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

The Bible says, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.  It was also the yard stick to measure how much Abraham counted upon God.  Abraham excelled in the test of faith and the convenant of God with Abraham was reaffirmed.

FAITHFULNESS - Hebrew 11:8-12Hebrew 11:8-12
8. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
9. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age - and Sarah herself was barren - was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
12. And so from this one man, and he as good a dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

In the list of the faithful Hall of Fame in the Book of Hebrew Chapter 11, Abraham was very prominent. It was said of him, that by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country . . . for he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builders was God.

ZEALOUSNESS IN KINDNESS - Titus 2:14Titus 2:14
14. Who gave himself  for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

In the walking of Abraham with God, there is something that is unique about Abraham.  In the 18th Chapter of Genesis there are four place where the word that is close to 'swiftness' was used to describe the actions of Abraham.  It was a clear indication of zealousness in doing good that characterized those swift actions.

He hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet the three strangers standing nearby, he bowed low to the ground and offered them an invitation of humility mingled with kindness that a right thinking individual who know the value of honor, will not reject.  "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.  Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.  Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way . . ." They responded as expected, "Very well, do as you say."

Abraham hurried into the tent to set in motion his plan of hospitality.   He told Sarah, "Quick, get three seahs of fine flour, and knead it, and bake some bread.  He ran to the herd and selected a choice,  tender calf and gave it to a servant to prepare it.  The word "choice" and "tender" are qualifying the best that Abraham selected for entertaining the strangers.  He thought he was giving the best to a stranger, little did he know that he gave the best to God. Beloved, relate this to the sacrifice of Abel.

He brought milk along with the food he ordered to be prepared for the three strangers - what a choice drink in the hot sun in the desert encroached region.

Above all, the Bible revealed that while they were eating, he stood near them under a tree waiting on them! He did all these in good faith, with no ulterior motive, not knowing that he was entertaining the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Compare and connect the actions of Abraham  here with the conversation that Jesus Christ had with the Jews ". . . if you were Abraham's children" said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did.  As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, that I heard from God.   Abraham did not do such things."  (John 8:39-40John 8:39-40
39. "Abraham is our father," they answered.  "If you were Abraham's children." said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did.
40. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who had told you the truth that I heard from God.   Abraham did not do such things. )  In other words, Jesus Christ was testifying to Abraham's characters "when I visited your father Abraham, he was not as hostile as you were. From the testimony of Jesus Christ about Abraham you will now know that the Lord was among the three strangers that honored the invitation of Abraham, even if Bible did not reveal that it was the Lord.  His walking extra mile in kindness provided a pronouncement of blessing of a child for Abraham in his old age, even though they thought it was not possible because of their old age. 

When the men got up to leave, Abraham did not stand by at the door of his tent to bid them goodbye.  He walked along to see them off on their way.   (Genesis 18:16-17Genesis 18:16-17
16. When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
17. The the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? )  Let us pause and think.   Whenever we apply a finishing touch on the kindness we are opportuned to share, something always happen.  It was when Abraham was applying this finishing touch that the Lord revealed Himself to Abraham and the plan of God concerning the two wicked cities - Sodom and Gomorrah slated for destruction.  This revelation gave him more opportunity to walk along with the Lord in righteousness and to intercede and negotiate for Sodom and Gomorrah who could not meet the minimum criteria of mercy of God.  You know the rest of the story.

Reflect on this:

Cast your bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many days.  (Ecclesiastes 11:1) Some think because of the ingratitude of many, people feel weary in doing good.  Be ye encouraged today, that God appreciates those little kindness that seems to go unnoticed especially when that bread is cast upon the water with a compassionate mind.  You will surely find the goodness of God when it is least expected.