Mary Magdalene - another great character to reflect on this week. I really enjoyed digging through some of the historical interpretations of Mary and then pull together a sermon from the biblical texts.
I picked the sermon title in haste, and then figured out how to work"go" into the sermon, but probably would have picked a different sermon title if I had done so when the sermon was done!
“Go” August 23, 2020, SAPC, Denton; Luke 8: 1-3; John 20: 11-18; Richard B. Culp
John 20: 11-18 But Mary [Magdalen] stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look[a] into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,[b] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Introduction: We continue our preaching series, “people Like Us.”
this week we meet Mary Magdalene - another character who has more stories outside of the biblical canon than in the biblical canon. She is also known as one of the most “misinterpreted” characters in the Bible (see Women in Scripture, ed. Carol Myers, 120-123 for more of the history of how Mary Magdalene has been interpreted through the years)
If you want, you can go find information about the about the gnostic understanding of Mary, which has some interesting ideas about male and female issues.
Or you could go and read about why in the third century and beyond some theologians called Mary Magdalene the apostle of all apostles.
Or, how traditions about the disciple Peter and Mary Magdalene clashed in the early church.
or, you can read the different arguments for what Magdalene means.
If you are of a certain age, you probably hear Mary Magdalene and think of her as a prostitute since that was once an assumption about her based on the the Luke passage we read following closely the story of the sinful woman, whose sin might have been prostitution. Since Mary’s name was mentioned in the next passage, as assumption was made about her that the text does not confirm.
This morning, I invite you to see Mary Magdalene as someone who encountered Jesus and from those encounters was able to go on to new life. And maybe see yourself as one whose encounters with Jesus invite you to go out on to new life.
Move 1: After meeting Jesus, Mary can go and be freed n several ways.
a. Physically, Jesus frees Mary magdalene from demons.
1. Not sure what that means in a precise medical way.
2. Perhaps the demons manifest themselves in a mental health condition.
3. Perhaps she had convulsions.
4. We do not know how the demons manifest themselves in her life, but we know she was a prisoner to her health issues.
5. jesus frees her from those seven demons.
b. jesus also frees her from the constraints she faces in the world in which she lives.
1. In part, this story goes against the stereotypes and patriarchal society in which Mary Magdalene lived.
2. The opening verses of Chapter 8 in Luke are a powerful passage for women.
3. The passage comes on the tail end of story of sinful woman (tradition has it her sin was prostitution) who falls at Jesus’ meets and washes them with her tears before pouring ointment on them.
4. The Pharisee, in whose house this happens, challenges Jesus for letting this sinful woman touch him and share this gift with him.
5. Jesus announces that the sinful woman has been forgiven and her gracious act is her response to such love.
6. The Pharisees get hung up on Jesus saying he could forgive sins.
7. they miss the point that a sinner’s life has been transformed.
7. They do not see God’s deep and abiding desire for sinner to have new life, so strong a desire that God sends Jesus to forgive their sins, even the sins of a woman.
c. after that story, the text immediately lists by name other women whom Jesus had healed: Mary called Magdalene; Mary, called Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza; and Susanna.
1. Lifting up women by name, women who are typically ignored or forgotten.
2. Ignored by society, but not by Jesus.
3. As I read this passage, I am reminded of a story told by Rev. Melissa Sevier.
Years ago, she went to a conservative seminary in the Reformed tradition, to get a degree in Christian education. A good thing that I didn’t want to be a pastor at that point, because that school didn’t even allow women to enroll in the Master of Divinity program.There were about a dozen women in a school of 250 or so students.
When a female friend and I decided to take a summer Greek intensive course, some of our male colleagues protested to the administration. “Why should women be allowed to study Greek? What are they going to do with it, since they can’t preach?” I’m not sure what discussions went on in meetings, but we were allowed to take the class. The professor was very kind and treated us the same as he did the guys.
The following semester, she and I enrolled in a Greek exegesis class, studying texts and their meaning in the original language. Same prof, many of the same students—more than 50 of us. One day this text rolled around. After Jesus had forgiven a woman who was “a sinner” and who was intruding on a men’s meal, we have a seemingly offhand comment about some other women.
The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. [From Luke 8]
After some Greek study, our professor read these few verses aloud in English. Then he leaned across the lectern with his hands on the edges, his elbows sticking out to the sides, and used a tone I only heard come from him this once as he said, “And, gentlemen, they weren’t just making the sandwiches.”
“What do you mean?” someone asked.
“Well, they appear to have been an integral part of the followers of Jesus.”
“What did their husbands and fathers and rabbis think?”
“I have no idea.”
“What are you saying?”
“The question is,” the professor said, “what is Jesus saying and what shall we learn from this?”
Then the class was over. As I walked out, I saw some angry students lined up around the professor to challenge what he’d said (https://melissabanesevier.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/more-than-sandwiches/; Melissa Bane Sevier | June 7, 2016
“More than sandwiches,” from blog Contemplative Viewfinder
c. Jesus heals us.
frees us from our sins;
Jesus invites us to move beyond anything that keeps us from being the new creations God calls us to be.
1.You know the challenges you face in your life; you know the constraints placed on your life.
2. Jesus knows the person God calls you to be.
3. Jesus frees you and invites you to go and live into that new life.
Move 2: That is what Mary Magdalen chose to do - Go and follow Jesus.
a. We do not know what happened between Jesus healing Mary Magdalene and her final appearance at the resurrection.
1. The passage in Luke gives us a clue that she was part of a group of women who traveled with Jesus and his disciples providing resources and hospitality.
2. I suspect if we limit Mary Magdalene to just being a good host for the disciples, we do not give her enough credit.
3. We do not know what her exact role was with the disciples and Jesus, but we know she was still there by his side through those final days.
2. We know that when most of the other disciples have disappeared; or betrayed Jesus as Judas did; or denied Jesus as Peter did; Mary was still there.
4. As Frederick Buechner describes her: she seems to have teamed up with Jesus early in the game and to have stuck with him to the end. And beyond. (https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2018/7/28/mary-magdalene?rq=mary%20magdalene)
b. I suspect she was still there with Jesus because he gave her a chance at a new life.
1. A chance to live into the hopes and dreams he had for her and she desired.
2. A chance to continue to grow in her faith and work at her discipleship.
3. such is the gift Jesus gives us.
4. An invitation each day to follow Jesus; to serve him; to work at our discipleship.
Move 3: Mary Magdalene also has an encounter with the resurrected Christ that makes her Go back into the world.
a. The gospels are unanimous that women re the ones who discover the empty tomb.
1. in three of the gospels, Mary Magdalene is mentioned specifically by name as being one of the women.
2. As we hear the story, she did not expect the tomb to be empty, but she was still there. Her service to Jesus continuing even after his death.
3. As the Gospel of John tells the story, she is the first one to tell someone else that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
4. She did not know the implications of what that meant, but she was there in the moment.
b. She also is the first one to see the Risen Christ in the Gospel of John.
1. She mistakes him for a gardener, until he calls her by name.
2. Then, she recognizes him, and begins to realize that her life has been changed again:
she whose life already had been changed when Jesus healed her;
she whose life had already been changed when jesus invited her to follow him;
She now has her life transformed by God’s power to resurrect as she stands before the resurrected Christ.
3. her first instinct is to grab hold of him, but Jesus tells her, “Don’t hold on to me.”
4. A new phase of her relationship with Christ begins - she cannot hold Christ there with her because he is soon to move on to his place in the heavens with God;
but she, whose life has been touched by resurrection power will go into the world and live as a follower of the resurrected Christ.
Conclusion: Milton Brasher-Cunnigham A number of years ago, Ginger, my wife, and I were in Greece as they were celebrating Orthodox Easter. When we got to our hotel, the concierge greeted me by saying, “Christos anesti.” Then he leaned over the desk and said, “And you must answer, ‘Alethos anesti.’ Literally Christi is Risen and the response, “Truly risen.”
Concierge’s translation: I am saying, ‘Christ is risen,’ and you answer, ‘He really did it.’” (http://donteatalone.com/lenten-journal/they-were-terrified; Milton Brasher-Cunningham, blog Don’t Eat Alone “they were Terrified,” April 1, 2018)
Jesus really did heal Mary Magdalene and give her new life.
Jesus really did invite Mary Magdalene to follow him as he lived among the people.
Jesus really did touch Mary Magdalene with the power to resurrect.
Hear the good news: her story is our story. Amen.
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