Holy Love
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church
Luke 8: 1-3, Rev. Marianne Niesen, March 1, 2009
Mary Magdalene has come into her own these days. She has become the subject of numerous stories. Mary Magdalene - the wife of Jesus, the ‘Holy Grail.’ Mary Magdalene - the mother of Jesus’ child. Mary Magdalene - who traveled to Ephesus with Mary, Jesus’ mother, and died there. Mary Magdalene - who became a missionary in France. I have had many folks ask me what I think of the most well known of the recent books about Mary - The DaVinci Code - and my answer is short and sincere. It’s a great novel. It does what a novel should do - entertains and makes you think. But it is a novel. It is fiction. There is no evidence, biblical or historical, that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. We cannot be certain that he wasn’t, of course, but there is no compelling evidence that he was. Still it makes for a great story. And one of the positive things these recent novels about Mary Magdalene have done is that they have helped rescue her from the lies and misinformation that have been spread about her through the years. Mary was an important leader in the early Christian community and was clearly a trusted companion of Jesus - and few people today recognize her prominence. If the contemporary novels help with that, they have done a great service.
You see, very early in the church, scholars decided that the woman who was a ‘great sinner’ in Luke 7 and Mary of Magdala were one and the same. This assumption was made because the story of the sinner who anointed Jesus was in the 7th chapter of Luke and the notice that Mary of Magdala followed Jesus and helped fund his ministry was in Luke 8. (Yes, that’s the only reason!). In the 6th century, Pope Gregory preached a sermon in which he stated that the woman sinner and Mary of Bethany (the sister of Lazarus) and Mary of Magdala were one and the same. He also decided that Mary of Magdala was the adulteress in John 8. (Popes can say that kind of stuff even without evidence!) In other words, from very early in Christian tradition, Mary from Magdala was identified as a great sinner whose great sin was a sexual transgression and from there, identifying her as a prostitute was but a short jump. Just 40 years ago, in 1969, the Catholic Church officially stated that the three women the Pope had decided were the same person, were actually not. But, 14 centuries of gossip and tradition had done their damage. Even in Jesus Christ Superstar, Mary’s heartfelt song I Don’t Know How to Love Him assumes that her great sin was prostitution.
If you don’t remember anything else from this sermon, please remember this . . . there is no evidence in the gospels that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Let me repeat . . . there is no evidence in the gospels that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. In fact, a thoughtful reading of the gospels reveals a quite different picture of this woman from Magdala. It is a picture that is, ironically, more evident in some of the popular recent novels than it has been in centuries of church teaching. Mary Magdalene was a woman of substance.
She came from Magdala, a prosperous city on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, located between Capernaum (where Jesus made the headquarters of his ministry) and Tiberias (an even larger Roman city of commerce and trade.) Magdala flourished through its industries of fishing, fish-curing, trading and shipbuilding. It was a mostly Gentile city although Jews lived there as well. We don’t know how Mary and Jesus met. However, Luke tells us that Mary was one of the prosperous women who financed his ministry. So, perhaps they met on one of Mary’s business travels. Or, perhaps Jesus ventured into the Gentile city of Magdala because he heard about a good woman who suffered terribly from ‘seven demons’ and he thought he could help.
We know he did indeed help her although we don’t know exactly what that illness was - but it was a big one. The number ‘seven’ is often a symbol of completeness or wholeness in the bible so ‘seven’ demons may well indicate that her illness was serious, affecting every part of her body and psyche. But her illness was not her fault - it was an illness - and, she was healed completely by the one person who dared touch her, who dared approach her, who was able to see in her not who she was but who she could become. And she became a faithful companion of the healer, the one she called ‘Lord.’ Just as her illness was total, so was her healing. In fact, she is the only one of the disciples who followed him totally - ‘all the way’ - to the end. And she is the one who, at the end, was sent by Jesus himself to spread the word of his resurrection. Her healing was so profound and her commitment so complete that even the gospel writers could not ignore her. She was a faithful companion and a fruitful follower of Jesus. How did the church through the years get it so wrong?
We don’t know for certain, of course, but it is probably because the prominence of Mary from Magdala was threatening to the developing Christian community. Remember - Mary was a wealthy - and as far as we know - an independent woman, from a Gentile town who was chosen by Jesus to follow him and to lead others. That was not a typcial female role! As Christianity took root, the radical equality between men and women, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile that was at the heart of Jesus’ ministry became watered down, and was adapted to more acceptable norms so Christians would ‘fit in’ better. It’s a normal process and it always has victims. Like Mary Magdalene. Like women in general who have aspired to leadership in the church. Gradually this is changing . . . but, it is slow. Perhaps the story itself encourages us to ask . . .which are the voices we ignore or silence because they are inconvenient or uncomfortable? That is a good Lenten challenge for us!
Still, that reflection is not the only one I want to leave with you on this first Sunday of Lent. I think Mary herself would ask for more. She would remind us, I think, that like her, we too have received a great gift. It is the gift of faith. As followers of Jesus, we have been loved with a ‘holy love.’ We have inherited an intimate relationship with God in Christ that she had. God has loved us and accepted us and forgiven us and made us whole. To be a Christian is to know that. And to live as a Christian is to live with gratitude for that. Just a moment ago, in the monologue, Mary said now I live in continuous thanksgiving. I don’t know if she every really said that - but I do know she lived it. It was her gratitude that overcame her embarrassment as she followed Jesus through the countryside of Galilee as he taught and healed. It was her gratitude that overcame her reluctance as she went with him to Jerusalem where they all knew hostility awaited him. It was her gratitude that overcame her fear as she alone among the disciples followed him on the way of the cross all the way to calvary.
And that’s the point. Gratitude transforms. Fear never does. Peter and the others let fear overwhelm them. Mary allowed herself to be overwhelmed by gratitude and that made all the difference. As we begin Lent this year, Mary invites us to begin the journey from a very different place than we are accustomed. Usually, we focus on our demons - or sins or weaknesses or pain. We are invited to grapple with our failures, our blindness, our narrowmindness. And, certainly, all of that is indeed part of our human condition. But, in a sense the story of the woman from Magdala does for us what Jesus himself did for her . . . it transforms us and challenges us to a life of gratitude. And living with an attitude of gratitude changes everything.
Dare we live with gratitude rather than fear in this world of ours? During this first week of Lent, try it! Consider the gifts in your life and be thankful. And then do something generous in response. Deliberately counter the fear that is so prevalent all around us. It will not be easy - everything around us tells us to be afraid, to be suspicious, to be cautious, to protect our turf. But we can change the tone by becoming people of hope, assuming an attitude of gratitude. Like Mary, we have been loved with a holy love. We have been blessed. And the only proper response is gratitude and generosity. Dare we have the courage of that amazing woman from Magdala? Today she invites us to walk with her ‘all the way’ in the path of Jesus. The choice is ours.
