Jesus included the women and treated them well but that didn’t stop with his ascension—no, they were right there in the Upper Room praying constantly. And on the day of Pentecost they were still “all together.” They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues then Peter reminded the men who heard them that Joel prophesied that God’s Spirit would be poured out on both men and women and that both would prophesy (Acts 2).
Jesus made no distinction between men and women disciples, but what about “the Twelve?” First of all they were set apart from all the other disciples, female or male. But they were all male, so doesn’t that mean that church leadership should be all men? Well, if they are to be our only example then the vast majority of churches are out of compliance unless their leadership is all Jewish and they’ve all been circumcised, unless several are professional fishermen, they’re all uneducated, one is a cheater, another has repeatedly denied the Lord, and another is a betrayer and thief–and let’s not forget the two hot-headed-me-firster “Sons of Thunder.” We don’t know why Jesus chose men for The Twelve (the Bible doesn’t say but he was likely drawing a comparison to the twelve tribes of Israel, since the twelve will “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28) but he chose “the Three” out of those twelve, on several occasions leaving the other nine behind.
Now Mary [Magdalene] stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (“Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:11-18
Jesus appeared first to women after he rose from the dead! Some have said that it was only because they were there doing the “women’s work” of preparing the body—if it was women’s work, then Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were doing women’s work a couple of days earlier when they put spices on his body (John 18:38-31). No, the women were there because their love for Jesus overcame their fear. And God will always honor that.
Jesus told Mary Magdalene and the women with her to “Go and tell my brothers..” but the men didn’t believe her (Luke 24:9-11). A girl I know made that mistake once. Her mother sent her little sister to tell her to come home when she was playing at a neighbor’s house. The girl didn’t want to stop playing—who was this little sister to tell her what to do anyway– so she sent her away. Of course, the younger girl went back to their mother who sent her again. Then the younger sister came back to the older sister saying, “You’d better come, she’s really mad.” She went. The mother told the older girl, “When I send your sister, I expect you to listen; it’s just as if it was me telling you. If you ignore her—you’re ignoring me.” We dare not ignore the Word of God brought by his messenger even if some don’t like the package! But to their credit, Peter and John raced to the tomb so they must have believed something (Luke 24:12)!
Jesus Sets Women Free 