Mary Magdalene
John 3:1-17 (I recommend the RSV)
The story of Mary Magdalene is a both magnificent and tragic. She, along with several other women, traveled with Jesus and the disciples during the some two to three years of Jesus ministry. Many of the earliest Christians were probably from the families of those whom Jesus healed or helped. I cannot imagine having someone in my family being healed of leprosy and then saying to Jesus, “OK. Thanks. See ya later”…and sending him on his way. Instead, they would have committed to ways, great and small, in which they could have supported Jesus’ ministry. It seems to me that Mary Magdalene would have been classified under this category.
Luke tells us that Mary Magdalene had seven “demons” driven out of her by Jesus. We do not know exactly what that meant because in the rise of the belief in “demons” that occurred in the Judaism of the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, no clear definition of what demons were nor where they came from ever achieved a dominant position. So by Jesus’ time, demons were blamed for everything from a bad rash to total insanity.
So we are only told, in a vague sort of way, that something absolutely horrible had happened in the life of Mary Magdalene. But we are told in no uncertain terms that Jesus transformed her suffering into something wonderful. And for that, she was eternally grateful. Who wouldn’t be?
(NOTE: The idea that Mary Magdalene was a “woman of the night” is complete and utter hogwash. Pope Gregory I was desperate for a new sermon theme in 591 AD and so he created this idea out of thin air and even thinner biblical scholarship. So every time I see the result of his assault on Mary’s character in a movie, I’m the one you hear putting my tongue between my lips and blowing air to make that PHAAT sound.)
OK, back to our story. In the 8th chapter of his gospel, Luke tells us the women who traveled with Jesus and his disciple…“Mary Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna, and many others.” Luke also tells us that these women covered the expenses of Jesus’ journeys and traveled with them as well.
In Jesus’ day, women could inherit wealth from deceased husbands or even from their fathers, especially if there were no male heirs. If a woman was industrious and bold enough, she could also create her own wealth through industry, farming or manufacturing the way any man could. We do not know where Mary got her funds, but they were hers and she apparently did not have a husband or father to hold back her generosity.
What this also means is that Mary Magdalene was also there to hear what Jesus taught, both publicly to the crowds and privately to the disciples. She was there to witness the healings, the miracles and the unbelievable. And it seems that all those things took root more deeply than any of the disciples. Because when things got deadly, the disciples vanished and Mary stayed the course. If she was there at Calvary, then she was probably there for Pilate and Herod and the violence Roman soldiers inflicted upon Jesus.
The women at the foot of the cross were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the wife of Clopas and Salome (not the dancer, but the daughter of Mary and Clopas) The women at the tomb on Easter morning were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the wife of Clopas. It was no accident that Mary Magdalene was present for both these events.
It also was no accident that it was to Mary Magdalene that the Risen Christ first manifested himself. After the women found the tomb empty…after Peter and John ran to the tomb to confirm their story (and then went back into hiding)…and after everyone had left the Garden…Mary stood alone weeping because she thought that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. In that moment, her grief was most profound. She believed that she had lost Jesus a second time. But then Mary hears someone softly speak her name. She instantly recognized the voice. Jesus could have appeared at any time along that series of events. But Jesus waits until Mary is alone to reveal himself.
Something makes me believe that in that moment, Jesus used the exact same tone of voice he had used in speaking to Mary after he had driven away the demons that had haunted and tortured her life. In that miraculous moment when she realized that her birth into a demon-free life was indeed real, Jesus awakens her from the shock by simply saying her name tenderly and confidently. That sound would have been burned into her deepest memories. As she heard it again that morning in the Garden, her shock and sorrow was instantly changed into that same peace and joy she had experienced at the moment of her release. And she again experienced a new birth, but this time it was a birth into a new reality…the reality of the world of the Risen Christ.
Tradition holds that Mary was the leader of the female disciples of Jesus in the same way that Peter was the leader of the male disciples. The difference between them was two-fold. Firstly, as bold a life as Mary lived, she was still a woman in the first century AD Judea and seems to have stayed primarily in the background quietly serving her Lord and continued to do so after the resurrection. Secondly, and more importantly (IMHO), Mary seems to have received the power of the Holy Spirit long before Peter and Company did. She did not run. She did not hide the way the disciples did.
Centuries later, as we saw with Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene’s life was hijacked into the Holy Grail legends. These legends claimed that she had ministries and then died in the south of France as well as the south of Britain. And although they make for interesting cinema, there is virtually no evidence of truth to be found. What I believe is more likely is that she cared for Mary, the Mother of Jesus, until her death.
My prayer for you all, my brothers and sisters in Christ who may have demons haunting your own heart and soul, is to listen for and hear the Voice that heals. The Voice that restores. The Voice that assures that our new life in Christ is indeed real and powerful. The Voice that continually calls us into the work of Christ.
Blessings and Joy,
Jim McGrath
