Mark 16:9
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, and the verse names the day as the first day of the week, not the Sabbath. Mary Magdalene is the woman from whom He had cast seven devils. Satan had controlled her, and seven times she heard Jesus rebuke the demons that controlled her. He forgave her and broke their power, and she loved her Master for breaking their power. Strengthened by Him she overcame sin and was transformed from one regarded as a great sinner and deeply degraded by sin into one close to Him through learning and service.
After rising He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, making her the first person He greeted that morning and honoring her as the first witness of His resurrection, an example of His mercy. She was first at the tomb after the resurrection and remained weeping beside it full of sorrow and grief after Peter and John, the other disciple, had come to the empty sepulcher and left for home. Looking in she saw two angels, one at the head and one at the foot where His body had lain, who asked why she wept, and she answered that her Lord had been taken away. Turning from the angels to find someone who could tell where the body was, she saw Jesus through tears without knowing Him, supposing Him to be the gardener, and asked where He had laid Him.
In His familiar voice He called her Mary, when she recognized the living Christ, answered Rabboni, Master, and sprang toward Him as if to embrace His feet. He raised His hand forbidding her touch because He had not yet ascended to His Father, and sent her to His brethren with word that He ascends to His Father and their Father and His God and their God. Her weeping ended and her heart was filled with joy and rejoicing. She went and told those who had been with Him while they mourned that He was alive and had been seen by her, thus first proclaiming that He was risen, but the disciples did not believe her report.
The verse therefore does not show that the disciples observed the day as a celebration or holy day, and it gives no authority for celebrating the first day as the Christian Sabbath. Using the resurrection to require Sunday observance is an insinuation of Satan to set aside the true foundation for Sabbath observance and make the fourth commandment of no significance in the minds of men. Under pretence of honoring Christ it tears down God's great memorial and turns minds away from the Creator in false zeal for a spurious institution, just as false zeal for the Sabbath led the Jews to reject Christ the Lord of the Sabbath. Her history of deep need did not prevent her from receiving new life, showing that Christ's grace can rescue even people deeply degraded by sin. Because she first proclaimed the risen Jesus, her example shows that women can help bring others to the truth through missionary service.