A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, July 11, 2010
Luke 8:1-3
John 20:1-18
She was Mary from Magdala – usually called Mary Magdalene in the Gospels. But who was she really? A great sinner who was greatly forgiven? A woman possessed by evil spirits whom Jesus freed? One of many disciples who were women? A “shady lady”? Or, secretly the wife of Jesus?
We have only two tantalizing bits of information where Mary is named in the Gospels. She’s introduced in passing in Luke 8:1-3 where she was among the small group of women who supported Jesus and his disciples with their financial gifts. Each was released from demonic possession – she from seven evil spirits. Secondly, we have the Gospel account that Mary was the first witness to come to the empty tomb on a pre-dawn Easter morning to prepare Jesus’ body for burial.
Anything beyond that is speculation. But Mary Magdalene has a bad reputation as a prostitute whom Jesus forgave. That claim comes from a particular reading of Luke 7:36-50, about an unnamed woman who shamelessly anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and then wiped his feet with her hair.
This woman isn’t named, but Luke placed the account just before the verses we read in chapter 8 where Mary’s name is included. Guilt by association perhaps. But there’s more to the myth than that. As one author wrote in a profile of Mary Magdalene a couple of years ago in a news journal:
Few characters in the New Testament have been so sorely miscast as Mary Magdalene, whose reputation as a fallen woman originated not in the Bible but in a sixth-century sermon by Pope Gregory the Great. Not only is she misidentified as the repentant fallen prostitute of legend, (cf. Luke 7:36-50) meditating and levitating in a cave, but she was not necessarily even a notable sinner: Being possessed by “seven demons” that were exorcised by Jesus, she was arguably more victim than sinner.
{cited on Wikipedia} Convington, Richard. “Mary Magdalene was None of the Things a Pope Claimed,” U.S. News and World Report. January 25, 2008
So, Pope Gregory in the 6th Century characterized Mary Magdalene as a prostitute even though scripture doesn’t say so. But why? Several reasons come to mind and all of them have to do with gender and power. First, discrediting Mary Magdalene was intended to protect Jesus’ reputation. Why? Well, for the same reason Roman Catholic priests are all celibate males. If women and men get too close there can be problems. Women are the source of Original Sin according to Genesis.
Pope Gregory, like all other popes, preferred to keep women in their place, which meant as second-class or third-class disciples. After all, if Jesus included women in his circle of disciples might he have actually loved a woman? Might he have married? Might he have been a father? If he was a father then it means, gulp, oooh, we don’t want to go down that road!
So where there’s ambiguity in scripture, early church leaders jumped in to protect Jesus from the suggestion that he was human, and that he had human feelings, desires and dreams.
Some early movements in the church saw this differently. The Gnostics in the 3rd and 4th centuries claimed Jesus was very human and very physical indeed. The lost Gospel of Philip even suggests, though doesn’t specifically state, that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. Early church fathers had suppressed this as well as they could.
Novelist Dan Brown of course, showed that speculation makes great fiction and wrote his wildly popular novel The DaVinci Code a few years ago, suggesting that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and raised a family.
So Pope Gregory first labeled Mary Magdalene as a fallen woman because she was a woman. A second reason he wanted to discredit her is because she had money. And money equals power.
Luke 8 gives us the tiniest sliver of insight into a very important question: how did Jesus and his disciples survive? How could they leave their carpenter shop, their nets, their farms, their families, and just wander around doing good deeds for three years? How did they put bread on the table? How did they survive without jobs?
The Gospels tell us they depended on the generosity of the growing band of followers. And you thought annual stewardship campaigns were a recent invention!
No, the people who heard Jesus’ invitation and turned toward his message wanted to spread the Good News. It makes sense that Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus healed from seven demons, became an instant and devoted follower. And she showed her support by contributing to the common treasury. So did many others – silent partners yet devoted disciples.
In biblical times where would a woman get money? If she were married she might have a small allowance from her husband. If she were widowed she might have received an inheritance under the right circumstances – though this was rare. OR, she might have been a sinful woman who made her money from illicit activity.
Again, Pope Gregory and the Roman Catholic Church thought they could protect Jesus’ reputation (and their own power) by saying that Mary Magdalene was a fallen and sinful woman of the flesh – certainly an object for compassion, but not worthy to be counted among the first followers, the inner circle of disciples to whom Jesus so quickly turned. Read Luke 7 & 8 and see what you think about Pope Gregory’s conclusion.
After Luke 8:1-3, Mary disappears until we reach the day of resurrection. The Gospel of John tells us Mary stood outside the tomb weeping and saw two angels who asked why she was crying: “Because they’ve taken away my Lord and I don’t know what they’ve done with him.” She was thinking grave robbers had done their dirty work. Then another person approached her and asked her the same question: “Mary, why are you weeping?” This time she recognized the voice and cried out “Rabboni, Teacher!”
Both John 20 and Mark 16 tell us Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the risen Lord. That’s significant. But when she went to tell others no one believed her. That’s significant, too. The Apostle Peter followed close behind and when he reported the same thing everyone listened. That’s significant, too.
You’ll learn a lot more by taking an hour and reading all four of the Gospel accounts of how the word spread that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
So, what lessons may we draw from the biblical account of Mary of Magdala?
First, it’s clear that disciples are neither included nor excluded because of gender, race, education, income, or anything else. Any one, any time can answer the invitation to open our heart to the love of God poured into the world through the life of Jesus. That’s what we said together when we voted to become an Open and Affirming congregation ten years ago. That’s what we say each Sunday at the beginning of worship.
There’ve been many chapters when Christians acted as though only some people could follow Jesus and others need not apply. Some Christians still act that way and even claim that’s how God wants them to act.
Not the Jesus I know. He was a boundary-breaker. He repeated his invitation to new life and burden-free living. The only qualification for a follower is the desire to conform yourself to the will of God shown in the life and spirit of Jesus. “Come to me,” he said, “and I will give you rest.”
Second, thinking specifically of Mary Magdalene’s running from the tomb to tell the world the Good News, we remember: when you bear witness to your faith in word or deed some will not believe you and some will think you’re nuts… and some will stop in their tracks hungry for more.
Discipleship is first a matter of our own change of heart. It’s then a matter of you and me meeting others, truly meeting them where they are, and inviting them to come along. That’s why we say the church is the company of believers, each with our own burdens and each bringing our own blessings; called together for a common purpose.
Together we share the promise that Jesus made at the very end of history – that no matter what he will be with us until the close of the age.
And that’s why we gather here, month in and month out, in steamy July and frozen February, standing in line with the First Followers and all who have shown us the way.
Amen.