Home Learning
Women in the Bible |

Mary Magdalene

 Helen Jacobi talks about her favourite saint Mary Magdalene 
Rev Cate Thorn

Only logged in users can comment on a video.

Mary Magdalene

Transcript
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight. O God, our strength and Our Redeemer. Amen. Who was she this woman who appears fleetingly on the pages of our gospels and then, pours out her love and her grief at the tomb. Mary, she is named Mary of magdala. Now, there are lots of Mary's in our Bible, so just to be clear, she's not Mary the mother of Jesus, she's not Mary of Bethany, who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus. She is also not a couple of unnamed woman who have been associated with her and conflated with her over the centuries. She's not the unnamed woman, a sinner, who washes Jesus feet with her hair in Luke's gospel. Nor is she the woman caught in adultery and Once gospel, and she's most definitely not a prostitute. We have Pope Gregory from the 7th Century to thank for the tradition. That she was a prostitute, as he conflated her with those other women. And so for centuries, she was merged with those unnamed woman, right down the ages and medieval art and writing show her in that way and medieval art and writing often contrasted I stood Mary the mother of Jesus, the unattainable Virgin with Mary, the Haw forgiven but if a penitent and ever submissive, those were the two options available to women virgin nuns or penitent. Sinners But this was not how it was for Mary of magdala, Mary is named Magdalene for the place that she came from. It was a town on the shores of the of the lake Galilee a Jewish Town under Roman occupation. Like so many of the towns in Jesus time, it was a vibrant place of trade and commerce. Lots of people passed through there and Jesus certainly did. Mary is not named though for a man, she's not named as the wife of or the daughter of, or the sister of like most women in the Bible are. If they get names, she stands alone in her own, right? Mary is mentioned 14 times in the gospels, which is a lot for one person. And whenever there is a list of women given her name appears first. So for example, in the Spell of Mark, we hear they were also women looking on from a distance locking onto the cross among them were Mary Magdalene. And Mary, the mother of James, the younger, and of, Josie's and salomi. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. Luke says that Mary Magdalene has been healed of seven demons. And then, he proceeds to remove her name from the list that the other gospel writers use. So the equivalent passage to the mark one. I've just read in Luke reads this way, all his acquaintances, including the woman who had followed him From Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. So I think Luke wasn't such a fan of Mary Magdalene. Every character in Our Gospel stories is at the mercy of the writers pain, and then also subsequent editors and copyists. As each version got copied and handed down, I want to say, come on, Luke Mary wasn't an acquaintance of Jesus, but even with this editing, she remains on the pages of the gospels, as a leader of woman, a woman of some means supporting herself and the disciples and a woman of Courage remaining at the cross and then going back to the tomb. But it's in John's account that we see even more, we see in John's account that she is a disciple, a companion. And someone who loved Jesus, very deeply. Now, despite the storytelling of Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, and many other writers. I do not think Mary was married to Jesus, some people have argued that she was and it is possible to get quite a reasonable argument along that line. But I think that diminishes her stature as much as making her a prostitute did. She did not need to be married to Jesus to have a place in his life. She was a disciple and a leader of the disciples. And the poignant and beautiful scene at the tomb. We see Mary's love for Jesus. She's Weeping at the loss of him at his death, and at the loss of his body, she wants to care for the body anointed and see it properly buried. She searches for him, like the woman from the Song of Solomon searching for her lover. I will seek Him, whom my soul loves. And then she turns around and sees him. But in her grief, she doesn't recognize him until he says her name Mary. Makes us think of the other passage in John's gospel about Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who calls his Sheep by name, and they recognize his voice. He says her name and she recognizes him and Mary responds to Jesus with the word rabboni, which is like Rabbi and means teacher. So if he is her teacher, then she is his student, his disciple. She has sat at his feet for instruction and learning like Mary of Bethany. Learning at the feet of a rabbi was reserved for men, of course, in Jesus day Martha of bacony of Bethany, rebukes her sister Mary for it and Jesus sides with Mary and that story and the same way, Mary Magdalene was a disciple. She learnt from him. And when she sees Jesus at the tomb, she wants to go back to the way things are rabona, I come and teach us some more. And so she reaches out to touch Jesus to take his hands to be reassured like the woman in the Song of Solomon reaches out and touches her lover. But unlike Thomas, who was instructed to touch, Jesus, Jesus says, do not touch me. Do not try and hold on to me. I'm no longer your teacher as I was Now, he says, you have a task a vocation, it's to go to the others and tell them what has happened. You will be the Apostle to the apostles. You are the one whom I choose to send Apostle means the one who is sent. Mary is the Apostle to the apostles It's extraordinary really to send a woman because a woman's testimony was not allowed in court. A woman's word, was definitely not to be trusted Luke sees as much and has version of the Resurrection. He says it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told this to the apostles, but these words seemed to them and idle tale and they did not believe them. Mary though, does, as she is asked, she Begins the work of the Gospel, she begins to share the good news. She says, I have seen the Lord. Now we don't know what happens to Mary Magdalene after this. Many many Legends have been woven but the rest of the Bible remains silent nothing in the book of Acts nothing and the letters of Paul plenty of other women are mentioned as leaders of the early church. So obviously women's leadership continues, but frustratingly Mary Magdalene is not mentioned There is though another group of gospels gospels that did not make the final cut. When the church fathers, came up with the definitive list of what was to be included in our scriptures. There were many more gospels written than before that we have today, by the time athanasius and 367 published, his list of the Bible, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Thomas, Have either been lost or ruled out F and Asia's doesn't mention them. So probably they have been lost but these gospels and other writings which were discovered only in the last 150 years, all mention Mary Magdalene They've each been discovered hidden amongst other ancient texts. And these writings show, Mary Magdalene continuing as a teacher and a leader in the early church who leadership is debated and challenged. We heard in our order of service, one of the opening Parts, where Peter asks her to teach them. But then later on after she's done some teaching Peter responds did Jesus then speak with a woman in private without us knowing About it. We to turn around and listen to her. Did he choose her over us? But then her leadership is affirmed and the Gospel of Philip we read. There were three women who always walked with the Lord, Mary his mother, and her sister and the Magdalene the one who was called His companion. The recent movie, Mary, Magdalene paints, a wonderful picture of Mary Magdalene that is consistent with these gospels of Mary and Philip, as well as the biblical texts. The last seen the resurrection scene is straight out of the Gospel of Mary and she's portrayed as the leader of the women followers of Jesus. And you can see kind of how that would have developed in the movie. The reviewers didn't like the movie much, but I really liked it, I thought it was great. Mary Magdalene is I think a saint for our time? She is a woman who despite best efforts could not be silenced her devotion and her love of Jesus, and her vocation to speak out is not silenced in our world where we daily see the truth, twisting and turning in the wind, Mary stands with those who wish to speak out Mary stands with those who will not be silenced. Refugees in camps, mothers separated from their children. The women of the me to movement People silenced by poverty in our city. Mary says to them and to us. Do not weep and be distressed nor let your hearts be irresolute. For his grace will be with you all and will shelter you rather. We should praise His greatness for. He has prepared us and made us true human beings. Or as the poet rilke says. He wished to make of her the lover who needs no more to lean on her, beloved is Swept Away by joy and such enormous storms, she mounts even Beyond his voice.