Sermon 3/18/12
Luke 7:36-50, 8:1-3, Luke 10:38-42, John 12:1-7,
Matthew 27:45-50, 55-61, 28:1
Mary, Mary, Mary
What do
we really know about Mary Magdalene? As usual, not much. But in Mary's case, we
probably think we know more than we do. We assume an awful lot about poor,
misunderstood Mary Magdalene. She is mentioned only rarely in the gospels; in
fact, mentioned only one time outside
of accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In one passage in Luke, there is mention of the fact that Mary Magdalene
had been cured from possession by demons by Jesus, and that she was traveling
with him along with some other women and the Twelve as he was teaching and
preaching. Other than that, Mary Magdalene is only mentioned in the context of being at the scene of Jesus’
crucifixion, helping the women with burial rites, and then, of course, most
significantly, at Jesus’ resurrection, as the first witness, the first teller
of the news. She’s mentioned nowhere else,
despite popular beliefs. Even now you are probably wondering, but what about
this passage, what about that passage? But we have to set the record straight.
Mary Magdalene is not the woman
caught in adultery. She is not
labeled a sinner. She is not a
prostitute. She is not the woman who
anoints Jesus’ feet. She is not the
Mary who is sister to Martha and Lazarus, not
the Mary who is praised for simply sitting at Jesus’ feet. All we know for sure
is that she was following Jesus, that she witnessed his crucifixion along with
other women who were followers.
I’m not
exactly sure how or why these several separate women in the scriptures become
merged into one. It happened very early in church history, that these several
stories began to be folded into one in the Christian narrative. We see evidence
that Jesus was inclusive of women in his ministry – radically inclusive for his
day – he has women who follow along with the rest of the disciples, he speaks
to women in circumstances that were normally considered inappropriate, and he
heals women along with men, commending them for their great faith. But after
the church was born, when the disciples were leading and growing congregations,
women’s roles in the movement began to be suppressed and minimized. By the 6th
century, the Pope, Gregory the First, preached a sermon merging the sinful
woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus,
and Mary Magdalene, together as one person – three women, as one woman. And it
was not until 1969 that the Catholic
Church officially stated that the sinful woman, Mary of Bethany, and Mary
Magdalene were actually three separate women. That’s well over a thousand years
of assuming Mary Magdalene to be not only a sinful woman, but more
particularly, a prostitute, when the scriptures simply tell us no such thing!
Centuries of paintings show Mary Magdalene with bright red hair, worn long,
rather than covered as would have been appropriate. Films and musicals, even my
own beloved Superstar, have portrayed
Mary as a prostitute. Mary Magdalene has been seen as the example of a life
redeemed, a forgiven woman who turned things around. A nice story, just not
based on the truth!
But
then, in the last several years, the tide seemed to turn – people started to
get interested in Mary Magdalene again. And if I had to point to what sparked
the interest, I’d point to Dan Brown’s The
DaVinci Code that was so popular, now almost a decade ago. The book
suggested that through DaVinci’s artwork, you could discover the hidden secret
– that Jesus really married Mary Magdalene and had a child with her, and that
Mary was really the most devoted disciple, whose image had been smeared by
those who were jealous of her and her power and bent on telling a certain
version of Jesus’ story. Interest in Mary Magdalene exploded, even though Brown’s
book was a work of fiction, and people started reading some of the Gnostic
Gospels, writings that were not included in our scriptures, which also pictured
Mary Magdalene as a prominent disciple, though never as Jesus’ wife.
So who
is Mary Magdalene, really? Personally, though I’ve read and enjoyed both The DaVinci Code, and the Gnostic
Gospels, I like to focus on what the biblical scriptures tell us, with what is
really in the text before us, and understanding that, before adding other
sources. So who are these Marys, exactly, and really, who end up so blurred
together? Let’s look at what the scriptures actually say.
First,
Mary Magdalene. We see her at the tomb on Easter morning. But we’re not ready
for Easter yet. The only other place Mary is mentioned is in the other text we
read today: “Soon afterwards Jesus went on through cities and villages,
proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. 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.” This is the only mention of Mary Magdalene other
than at the cross, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. From these few verses
though, we know that Mary and some other women went with Jesus and the twelve
on his preaching and teaching tour. For women in his day, that is a huge and
risky commitment. We know that Mary was healed by Jesus, even though we might
not understand what it means to be possessed by demons. And we know that these
women provided for Jesus and disciples, which suggests that they were women
with some wealth and resources at their disposal to use to support Jesus’
ministry. And that is simply all the scriptures say about Mary Magdalene.
Then,
there’s Mary of Bethany. We know she’s not Mary Magdalene primarily because
Magdala and Bethany are two different places! Mary of Bethany is the sister of
Lazarus and Martha. We see her in three significant scenes: We see her sitting
and listening at Jesus’ feet while he was at her home, and while Martha
prepared a meal. Martha was upset with Mary, but Jesus tells her she’s chosen
the better part by listening to him. We see Mary upset with Jesus when Lazarus
dies because Jesus did not arrive quickly enough to heal him. This time it is
Martha who shines in her understanding of resurrection, and Jesus raises
Lazarus from the dead. And finally, we see Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’
feet with costly perfume, and Judas, or in other gospels, all the disciples,
being upset over her wastefulness. But Jesus commends her for her act of
extravagant love.
And
finally, the other woman who is often confused with these two Marys is the unnamed
woman who anoints Jesus’ feet at the home of Simon the Pharisee. She and Mary
of Bethany both anoint Jesus’ feet, and so the two have often been mistaken for
one another, but anointing of feet was not a particularly unusual act. It
probably happened to Jesus many times that aren’t even recorded. And thinking
of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute also probably comes from this passage about
an unnamed woman. This unnamed woman is never called a prostitute, just a
sinner, but wearing her hair down, and the way Simon speaks of her being known
as a sinner suggest that she may have been a prostitute. But there’s no
conclusive proof. So this sinful woman anoints Jesus’ feet with ointment and
her own tears. Simon is critical of Jesus for letting such a woman perform this
act of devotion, but Jesus, with a parable, says that her sins are forgiven,
and because her sins are so completely forgiven, the woman reacts with deeply
loving behavior.
These
are the three woman who have been rolled into one, but their stories are really
quite unique. And there are even other Marys in the Bible – a few actually –
but just mentioned by their very common name. So with their identities
untangled, we then have to ask what we learn for ourselves. I think restoring
Mary Magdalene’s reputation is a worthy endeavor on its own – she deserves to
be remembered for what the gospels tell us she was – a follower of Jesus and
the first witness of the resurrection. But what do we learn from her? As I’ve
said, we’re looking, this Lent, at who we say Jesus is, and what that says
about us. So who does Mary Magdalene say that he is? And who does Mary of
Bethany say that he is? And who, even, does the sinful woman who anointed his
feet say that he is? For each, in different ways, Jesus was quite literally
their savior. Mary Magdalene is healed from something described as
demon-possession. Seven demons, actually. Whatever this meant, it would have
made her ritually unclean and shunned from society. Jesus saves her. Jesus
forgives the sins of the unnamed woman, and takes a burden of guilt from her,
and she responds with such love, such relief, such thankfulness. Mary of
Bethany has her brother returned to life, and finds Jesus’ affirming her
choices of discipleship in more than one situation. Jesus has saved these
women. Who do they say he is? Their savior. And because they see him this way,
their lives change dramatically. Their lives after meeting Jesus are almost
unrecognizable from the lives they led before they met, knew, and followed him.
Last
week, we talked about Pontius Pilate, and his apathy. He recognized Jesus as
someone important, but it didn’t matter to him more than his own power and
status. Who Pilate was was more important to him than who Jesus was. He isn’t
changed by who Jesus is. When we look at Mary Magdalene and these other women,
the questions are the same, and Mary, like Pilate, recognizes Jesus. But the
difference, the critical difference, is in the response. Who Jesus is changes
Mary Magdalene, and the others, because who Jesus is changes how they see
themselves. Mary of Bethany is singled out by Jesus more than once for her
sincere discipleship, and we hear more about her than most of the twelve, which
tells us how significant she was. The ‘sinful’ woman has her sins forgiven and
shows Jesus an act of love, ignoring the insults of a prominent Pharisee. Mary
Magdalene packs up and literally follows Jesus, even supporting Jesus and the
twelve financially, which would enable them to preach and teach without
worrying about their resources. They know who Jesus is to them, and because of
it, their lives have changed.
The
question is still the same for us this week: Who do you say that Jesus is? How
does who he is to you change you? Does knowing Jesus change you? Are you
changeable? We’re well into our Lenten journey now, a time of preparation for
Easter. I believe that Lent is a time to prepare ourselves to be more
changeable on Easter morning. On Easter morning, we’ll see Mary Magdalene in
her most significant role yet – the very first witness to the resurrection. And
on Easter morning, we’ll have to ask ourselves once and for all who Jesus is,
and how it changes us.
I have
shared with you before a question I have heard churches should ask themselves:
“if your church disappeared today, who, besides its members, would miss it? Who
would notice it was gone?” Who would miss this church, besides us, if it was
gone, because of the difference we make? We can ask the same question on a
personal level: How would your
discipleship be missed if you weren’t around? Would your life be any different
than it is now if you weren’t a
follower of Jesus, or would it be basically the same? In other words, what
changes are visible in your life because of who you say Jesus is and what that
means you are called to do? Are you changeable? Are we changeable?
Jesus
saved them. And it changed their lives. Amen.
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