Even in this age of the near-instant spread of news on social media, it still matters to journalists to report news first – especially if the news has long term significance. “Scooping” a big news event is still vital for newspapers and news networks, and a big scoop can bestow great prestige on the reporter. Being first with the news conveys the fact that the news bearer knows what is going on and is a trusted source of news. That has always been the case, and it can be seen as far back as some 2,000 years ago, when a woman who would soon become one of the world’s most famous reporters was first to break an incredible story:
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb… she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her… “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her” (John 20:1-18).
And so it was that Mary Magdalene broke the news to the assembled disciples and was the first person to report one of the most important events in biblical history. The amazing thing is that given the social strictures of Jewish society at that time, the person entrusted with carrying this news was, incredibly, a woman. And not only a woman, but viewed from the religious perspective of the day, a woman with a highly questionable past (Mark 16:9). Yet despite the perspective of that age, God clearly knew what He was doing in giving the story to a woman – even this woman.
It is surely significant that in releasing the world-changing news of the resurrection, “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). In choosing someone viewed as an insignificant member of society, God turned human society upside down. In choosing a person with a questionable spiritual background to report His story of redemption, He also turned human religion upside down. News was made in more ways than we might immediately realize, yet the implications of the story and its reporter were doubtless not lost on the disciples.
This had been, after all, the stress of Jesus’ work throughout his ministry – to bring the good news of God’s working with humanity to the weak and the broken (Luke 4:18) – so it should not be surprising that one of those same people was chosen to deliver the first report of what had been accomplished. The news Mary Magdalene announced was not only that of the resurrection – amazing as that story was – but also that she herself, as the reporter, was proof of a new structuring of the world that God was effecting. It was proof that previously denigrated individuals such as women and the socially undesirable were on an even footing with the powerful and socially favored (Galatians 3:28).
Mary Magdalene, as reporter, broke the news that was not only of unparalleled spiritual importance for all humanity, but also – as the one chosen to deliver the message – a message of special significance for the downtrodden and spiritually broken who would eventually hear the news and be transformed by it.
“… one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (John 19:34).
This small but graphic detail of the crucifixion of Jesus carries more meaning than we might presume, and there are both historical and scriptural reasons why we need to understand it.
John’s account makes it clear that the Roman soldiers wanted to make sure the crucified individuals did not continue alive into the Sabbath day. When they came to Jesus, they found him apparently already dead – so one of the soldiers pierced his side, doubtless with an intent to puncture his heart, to make sure he was no longer alive (John 19:31-33).
John’s account of the event is important in our knowing that Jesus was truly dead and that the imaginative reconstructions of those who surmise Jesus was perhaps not killed by his crucifixion are not based on fact. But what John records is important in another way.
First, we should understand what the blood and water were. Anyone mercilessly whipped by “flogging,” as Jesus was, could go into hypovolemic shock caused by loss of blood. The medical symptoms of this condition are exactly consistent with John’s description of the crucifixion. For example, the victim could collapse due to low blood pressure (John 19:17); the kidneys could shut down and the victim would experience extreme thirst as the body could not replenish lost fluids (John 19:28).
There is also another symptom of the body’s natural reaction to the extensive laceration by flogging that we should understand. The hypovolemic shock Jesus inevitably experienced would cause sustained rapid heartbeat and fluid would gather within the pericardium, the membrane forming a sack around the heart. This gathering of fluid, called “pericardial effusion,” explains why, after the soldier thrust a spear through Jesus’ side to reach his heart, blood and water came out as John recorded (John 19:34).
But the significance of this careful recording by John goes beyond establishing that Jesus was, in fact, dead. The Book of Hebrews tells us, regarding the establishment of the Sinai covenant between God and ancient Israel:
“Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people…” (Hebrews 9:15-19).
The scarlet wool and hyssop branches were not sprinkled on the congregation. They were the instruments – symbolic of sacrifice and cleansing respectively – used to sprinkle the blood and water on the people. It was the sprinkling of the blood and water that ratified the Old Covenant. In the death of Jesus, the blood and water that flowed from his side were the manner in which the new covenant was inaugurated – a covenant made not just with one nation, but with all of humanity.
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