Event New Testament
Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
Weeping outside the tomb, Mary Magdalene saw two angels and then Jesus Himself, whom she took for the gardener until He spoke her name. He sent her to tell the disciples, and she became the first to announce that she had seen the Lord.
Why it matters. The first appearance of the risen Jesus is to a woman whose testimony the disciples had not yet believed, which the church has long noted as a mark of the accounts' honesty.
- Primary passages
- Witnesses
Chronology confidence: medium
John narrates the meeting in the garden in full. Mark 16:9-11 also records that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, but Mark 16:9-20 is absent from the earliest manuscripts, so FaithGraph rests the event on John and treats Mark's longer ending as a secondary witness.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
Connections
The empty tomb is discovered precedes Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe narratives place these in this order on the cited verses.
Evidence:Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene precedes The road to Emmaus
Explicit in ScriptureMedium confidenceThe narratives place these in this order on the cited verses.
Evidence:Jesus participates in Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe text names Jesus in this event at the cited verses.
Evidence:Mary Magdalene participates in Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceThe text names Mary Magdalene in this event at the cited verses.
Evidence: