John 20:11-18 (NRSV)
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
A couple of years ago the greatest scandal arose because of Dan Brown's "The Davinci Code" in which Brown suggested the possibility that Mary Magdalene was secretly married to Jesus. Anytime anyone suggests that the Lord Jesus had any kind of love life with anyone, there is an uproar of the worst kind because of how it affects our traditional thinking of Jesus and those with whom he associated. I would be lying if I said that I myself am not still addicted to thinking of Jesus in the way the Catholic church may have taught me to think of him. Fortunately, the Episcopal Church is a little more open to possibilities that may or may not be quite so traditional. A good challenge is never a bad thing.
While we cannot say for sure whether or not Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children, what we can say is that there must have been an extraordinary relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Was it the fact that Jesus looked at someone like Mary Magdalene and saw her as more than a piece of property? That is how women were viewed in that time. Do you think Jesus drew Mary Magdalene because he saw beyond her life as a former prostitute, but saw that she was so much more than a paying man's sex slave? Whatever Jesus saw in Mary Magdalene it is very clear from the stories about her in the Gospels, that Jesus had a profound affect on the life of this woman. Jesus has an amazing way of impacting our lives so that whatever happened when we first meet him, our lives are never the same after.
Why do you suppose Mary Magdalene was among the first women to find Jesus alive after his resurrection? There was something about that relationship that was just awesome. It was love, devotion, a conversion experience, yes. Faith in a way that most of men know about, but perhaps it has to do with Mary's feminine openness to God, that kept her faith so alive as she stood with Mary the Bearer of God and John the Apostle at the foot of the Cross.
One of the most powerful scenes in Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth is when Mary Magdalene goes to tell the hidden and frightened Disciples that Jesus was alive. When all of the men question the accuracy of Mary's story among the things she said was: "Was his death a fantasy? I saw him die. I was there and I wept at his feet. Why then should he not appear to me? He has risen! He told me to tell you, and I have done so."
Mary Magdalene had a faith that was so strong, that when all of the other men fled in their wimpy fear, she stood strong and courageous. Though she must have been terrified and totally heart broken, she stood there and wept at the sight of the man who had forgiven her, bleeding and dying. How interesting though, when she was at the tomb and he was not there, she did not know that he had probably risen. However, when she was at her lowest point it was then that the Savior made himself present to her and told her to go and tell the Disciples. Wow! If that does not fly in the face of our masculine driven society and Church, I do not know what will.
There are those, such as Bishop Gene Robinson who say that it is the fear of women that makes our society and the Church afraid of homosexuality. Because many in society and the Church see women as the "weaker" of the human species, there is the tendency to continue to stereotype women and consequently LGBTQ people in negative ways. When stereotyping is acceptable and as a result such stereotypes become in trenched in the minds of people, they unfortunately become the way people think and behave. I truly believe that this is among the reasons why Scripture is so badly twisted out of context to support the subordination of women, the discrimination of LGBTQ people, people of various races, religions, cultures, classes and challenges. As long as a fifth grade understanding of interpreting the Bible literally remains the weapon of choice for conservative Christians, the violence that occurs towards women, LGBTQ and other oppressed minorities will continue to challenge the Church and society. As long as among the results of Biblical literalism is trying to put God the Holy Spirit and consequently people of different classes, colors, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities/expressions, genders and the like into a Pandoras Box, the Church will continue to minister as though Jesus Christ was still dead in the tomb.
I believe the greatness of Mary Magdalene's faith, was that she knew what new life in Jesus Christ meant. She knew that Jesus Christ gave her the dignity that being a woman meant, and in his life, death and resurrection, he changed her life forever. In recognizing her beauty as a beloved daughter of God, Jesus raised the life of Mary Magdalene up to be a "new person" in Christ. So God does with LGBTQ people who can be beautiful people just as we are, yet, committed to who Jesus Christ is and what he can do for us. God does not ask that we change our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression anymore than he asks a women to cease being a women unless she or he is transgendered. What God in Jesus does challenge us to do, is place who we are, who and how we love, and who we are really meant to be into the hands of God in Jesus Christ so that like Mary Magdalene we too may know the new life of the risen Christ.
Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed from all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Commemoration of Mary Magdalene, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Page 481).
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 11, Book of Common Prayer, Page 231).
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).
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