God used the witness of women—unlikely and unbelieved—to compel Peter to search for the risen Christ. Their witness has compelled countless generations to know that the story of Christ’s resurrection is true. We see this theme of women witnesses in a different story in John’s gospel.

On Easter, I read the account of the resurrection in Luke’s gospel. Maybe you’ve heard the argument that the resurrection of Christ really happened because of whom the first witnesses were. Women.

Historically speaking, in the world of the New Testament, a woman’s testimony was legally insignificant. According to Jewish laws, a woman’s testimony counted as much as a robber’s would in court. The Talmud states, “Any evidence which a woman [gives] is not valid (to offer), also they are not valid to offer. This is equivalent to saying that one who is Rabbinically accounted a robber is qualified to give the same evidence as a woman” (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 1.8). In other words, if you lived in those days and you wanted to prove something had happened, a woman’s testimony would only hurt your case.

You get a glimpse into this world in Luke’s retelling when the women returned from the empty tomb: “Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:10–11).

The women weren’t believed. We could say much about this in our modern world. But we are going to set that aside and look simply at the time and place of the New Testament. Women weren’t believed, and yet all four Gospels include women in the story of the resurrection.

It stands to reason that if all four Gospels included women as the first witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, it is included in the story because each writer cared deeply about telling the truth. They were not writing a narrative to convince you that something happened. If this were their motivation, women would not have been included in the retelling. Instead, the Gospel writers were writing to tell you what did happen.

Furthermore, the nature of Christ is revealed to us in this text. He moves outside cultural constraints and stigmas. He chose sinners, tax collectors, roughneck fishermen, and women to be his witnesses. Christ is in the business of redemption, and his work of redemption is not dependent on popular opinion or gender biases. As Eve was the first to eat of the fruit in the garden, daughters of Eve would be the first to witness the risen Savior who had crushed the enemy’s head (Gen. 3:15). 

Jesus Redeemer.

As I sat in the indignation of women being disbelieved in this passage, I found something deeper at work. “. . . [the disciples] did not believe [the women]. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened” (Luke 24:12). The women may not have been believed, but their story still moved Peter to go see for himself.

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