Over the past few weeks, We have been listening to the unfolding of the revelation of Mary Magdalene who she was and who she is or who she should be to us today. Mary of Magdela or the Magdalene has been reduced to the prostitute, the sinner, the unclean woman who followed Jesus, and yet, who she was truly. . .is being slowly revealed to us.
Rev. Bob has told us that. Magdela was a fishing community on the Sea of Galilee, three and half miles from the city that Herod Antipas founded—Tiberius. It was a small fishing community. Yet we know from Luke’s Gospel that. “Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources."
Imagine woman traveling the country side of Jerusalem freely with a group of fisherman proclaiming radical news.
Woman in those days had their freedoms severely limited by Jewish law and custom, as they were in essentially all other cultures in that time. Generally speaking: woman were restricted to roles of little or no authority, they were largely confined to their father's or husband's home, they were considered to be inferior to men, and under the authority of men –
either their father before marriage, or their husband afterwards.
Women were not allowed to testify in court trials. They could not go out in public,
or talk to strangers.
When outside of their homes, they were to be doubly veiled.
"They had become second-class Jews, excluded from the worship and teaching of God, with status scarcely above that of slaves."
Their position in society was defined in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the interpretation of those scriptures.
A woman could be arrested, beaten, raped and/or killed for the slightest display of impropriety
and yet, here with Jesus, the Magdalene walks freely as an equal and provides for the ministry of Jesus and the disciples.
I still wonder who this woman was. . . I mean to provide for twelve men on the open road in places where they were under suspicion. . . The men themselves were under suspicion for being associates of Jesus.
What does this make this woman, this woman who walks freely as a follower,
This woman who has the means and the wherewithal to listen and to learn from Jesus,
Who is this woman?
The first time we hear of Mary she is referred to as the woman who had seven demons cast out of her. You may recall that Pastor Bob stated “Whatever her trauma was, Jesus exorcized her of the pain and memories that traumatically scared her.
We don’t know the events that led Jesus and Mary to cross paths, but Jesus met with her in a ministry of exorcism and healings of unclean spirits.
Such afflictions of unclean spirits had to be dealt with in the inward, spiritual personality.
Jesus believed that God’s Spirit was far more vital than spiritual possession. He preaches, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the reign of God has come to you.”
There were very few quick fixed exorcisms. The description of Mary possessed with seven unclean spirits indicates that Jesus exorcism took place over a period of time, perhaps months or even up to a year.
It meant replacing each expelled demon or unclean spirit with the divine Spirit. He anointed her with oil as a symbol of installing the Spirit of God within her psyche and her soul.
He prayed over her many times, and it was a struggle for her to become emotionally and spiritually free.
As she grew in emotional and spiritual health, she finally became free and a committed disciple of Jesus.
In fact, Mary became the living embodiment of the power of the Spirit. “
I understand that seven is a magical number in the scriptures and it usually refers to something of god or in a perfect form.
In the Gospel of Mary she is asked to teach what she knows for peter, peter who later would be named the head of the church, says to her, a woman;
“Sister, we know that the savoir loved you more than all the other women. Tell us the words of the savoir that you remember, the thing s you know
The things we don’t know because we haven’t heard them.”
Mary begins to teach of the assent of the souls and when the soul reaches the fourth power she states speaking of the soul
“It had seven forms. . . “
She lists these forms as darkness,
desire,
ignorance,
a zeal for death,
the kingdom of the flesh (or earthly desires)
foolish wisdom
and the last is a wrathful or vengeful wisdom
she describes these as the seven powers of Wrath”
I believe these are the demons that Mary was exorcised of.
I believe she, somehow must be a rich widow and that her loss, perhaps it was loss of her children, loss of her husband, or just the brutality of the world around her had made her a dark, vengeful and hateful woman
and when her path crossed with that of Jesus’,
Jesus, as bob said, over time healed her of these things and taught her of the soul, taught her of love, and of blessed spirit and generosity.
She was brought in and taught things that no other man or woman was taught.
So now we have an image of a woman, who is somehow well- to- do and independent,
a woman who is not afraid to break with all tradition and understanding of her time and be taught, healed and anointed, by a man who is despised by the reigning Jewish powers and feared by Rome.
We really don’t know if she walked with him for three years or just the final year but, the point is, she walked with him.
She walked and stood with him at the cross when the others had fled.
As it was said, and as I can testify to, as can anyone here who has walked with a loved one on their path to the next life.
No matter how much she believed she was prepared for the death of Jesus. Jesus whom she loved, Jesus the one who has freed her from pain and suffering and handed her a new life, and lovingly taught her how to pray and become intimate with Abba God. No matter how prepared she thought she was,
She could not be fully prepared for the grim reality that awaited Jesus. Then, after being a witness to all he went through, to stand there, at his feet, and wait and watch for 3 hours as his life force slowly waned to be carried off and laid in a tomb before sunset.
I tell you with every bone in my body I know she walked away numb lost in total shock unprepared for the emotions that were running through her. She would play and replay the events over and over again in her mind right through to the morning that she started that long slow walk to the tomb to anoint and care for the body. (Play Video)
Now, imagine her heartache and fear at finding the tomb opened and empty. I
t was not uncommon for tombs to be vandalized but even more uncommon was for a criminal to be granted a tomb to begin with,
So you can understand her fear that the body may have been stolen and even destroyed, for even in death, by being granted a tomb, Christ broke with tradition.
Now imagine seeing what she supposed to be the gardener and asking him if he knows anything please tell her.
I am sure there was much fear and desperation in her voice,
She would do almost anything just to know where they had taken her beloved teacher,
Where they had put him, and yet,
all He has to do is say that one word with all the love and compassion that she had ever heard it,
“Mary”,
Every heartache, all the memories of the past days,
all the pain,
just melted away,
her soul was washed anew with one word. . .
“Mary”
and she responded loud, joyous, practically Giddy, “Rabboni!”
and she lunged at him, wanting to hold him close, but Jesus says “Don’t hold on to me.”,
or “Don’t Cleave to me” which is the same word used in the second story of genesis when it is said; “that a man leaves his mother and cleaves to his wife.”
But it is also the same word used in Jewish mysticism which means
To have an experience of inseparable attachment in prayer and meditation, a link between the human and the divine.
Prayer is a powerful thing, is it possible that Mary, with her training and spiritual knowledge was holding Jesus back with her prayer?
That her love and their spiritual relationship was so strong that she could actually bind him to this plain?
I don’t know.
but what Jesus is saying is you have to let me go, and you must Go now proclaim my resurrection to the others and to the world.
In all four Gospels Mary the Magdalene is the first witness. In all four Gospels it is Mary who proclaims the news of the resurrection.
Without Mary Magdalene, without that witness,
the witness of a women hurt, a woman hurt that was made whole,
a woman who stood outside of all tradition ,
a woman who could do as she pleased in a society that frowned on women doing anything at all,
Mary the Magdalene was chosen by Jesus to be the first witness,
the very First to proclaim the good news.
The first to run to the 11 and the other men and woman and say;
Christos Anesti (Christ is Risen)!
Without Mary Magdalene’s proclamation there is no Easter Sunday.
Jesus who lived outside the norm,
Jesus who reached out to the marginalized and outcast of society, intentionally chose the least of all his followers.
Well the one who would be considered least by tradition, culture and society.
Yet it was Culture, society and the majority ruling class that chose to stigmatize, marginalize and exclude the one person who could embody
and carry on Christ’s message of salvation and redemption for all.
Yet, what is interesting, in other cultures Mary remained an important and pivotal preacher and teacher.
If it wasn’t for Mary’s unique position we would not have dyed eggs at Easter.
For centuries, it has been the custom of many Christians to share dyed and painted eggs, particularly on Easter Sunday.
The eggs represent new life, and Christ bursting forth from the tomb.
Among Eastern Orthodox Christians (including Bulgarian, Greek, Lebanese, Macedonian, Russian, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian) this sharing is accompanied by the proclamation
"Christ is raised!" (In Greek "Christos anesti") and it is followed by the response "Truly He is risen!"(In Greek - "Alithos anesti").
One tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, she used her position, as a influential woman, to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius.
When she met Tiberius, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is raised!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it.
Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house. [33]
The challenge before us today is to ask ourselves where have we perhaps judged, pigeon holed or even ignored the Gospel being proclaimed because of the source?
Could we have assumed someone to be something other than they are because society has proclaimed it?
Are we afraid or suspicious of other religions?
Perhaps we are afraid of other manifestations within our own community;
maybe we just choose to pay no attention to the needs of the young or the old.
Perhaps we discount someone because they are transgender or perhaps they live a leather lifestyle?
We as a community of believers are being called by the one who was excluded and pushed aside,
we as a community are being called by the one who made it possible for us to be here today.
We are being called by the Magdalene to look at ourselves and to listen to the good news that is being proclaimed from all corners of civilization,
The good news that is being proclaimed from all corners of our community
Christ is risen, all are forgiven and all are loved children of God!
Christos Anesti (Christ is Risen) Alithos Anesti ("Truly He is Risen!" Or “He is raised indeed”)
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