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.
Blog Reflection
In 1994 I found myself working in a great congregational church of the United Church of Christ. It was my final year of college. I was also an arrogant 25 year old who thought I knew everything. I had spent six years at Eastern Nazarene College and was considering converting to Roman Catholicism. I was so interested in becoming a Catholic that I was willing to accept everything they taught without much question or second thought. Including the Catholic churches rule about not ordaining women as Priests.
While I was still working there the new administrative assistant who had been a life long Catholic started to talk to me about her disagreement with the Roman churches' rule about not ordaining women. In her comment she said: "You know, women were some of Jesus' best friends. Notice it was a woman who was first at the empty tomb of Jesus. After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared first to a woman."
I struggled with that for many years, even after I became a Catholic. It was not until Jason and I started attending St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in May of 2009 that my understanding of the importance of ordaining women to be not only Deacons and Priests, but also Bishops began to make sense.
Today the Episcopal Church commemorates that first woman who was the first to see Jesus after he rose from the dead.
Mary Magdelene had such great faith.
Mary Magdelene was an assertive woman.
Mary Magdelene reveals that the role of women in the ministry of the Church is more than "receptivity" and "submission" as many conservatives suggest.
Rev. Susan Russell makes an interesting remark in her blog for the commemoration of Mary Magdelene.
It occurs to me that the same people who think they know what the Bible says about Mary Magdelene also think they know what the Bible says about Marriage Equality. I'm just sayin' ...
I would add that the same people who think they know what the Bible says about Mary Magdelene and Marriage Equality, also think they know what the Bible says about the role of women.
In the movie For the Bible Tells Me So, a Jewish Rabbi makes the inescapable connection that the fear of LGBT people is also about the fear of women.
That fear has driven years of ignorance and the ideology that women in the Bible were to be subordinate to men. Women were considered the "weaker" of the human species. Many of the conservative's views of women that are also views about homosexuality, are about the idea of a man taking on the sexual role of what they understand the role of a woman to be. This is a misconception and a misinterpreted. Even today, humanity and Christianity still have yet to recover from the bad stigma towards women and LGBT people.
Mary Magdelene sought to serve Jesus during his life on earth. She devoted her life to giving of the very best to Jesus. Not because she was Jesus' property as women in the Biblical time were known as. Mary Magdelene was assertive in her service of Jesus to the point that she would have a faith great enough to be the first to witness the resurrected Christ.
Mary Magdelene was assertive enough to follow Jesus' request to go to Jesus' disciples and tell them everything she saw and heard. She did not allow the lack of faith of the disciples to steer her away from what she knew to be true. Her devotion and desire was to proclaim Jesus' resurrection through her work and witness of how Christ had transformed her life.
Jesus' ministry to Mary Magdelene overturned the whole "dominant" and "submissive" idea and restored to her a sense of dignity and integrity as a woman of faith and ministry. Her witness tells us that women and LGBT people have a vital role to play in the Church and society.
God calls each of us to be witnesses of the redeeming grace and love of God by accepting other people as they are.
In Jesus, our sins are forgiven.
Through Christ's sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection all have been restored to God's favor to be a dignified and prophetic people who call out injustice, prejudice and violence for what it is.
God calls to each of us at the empty tomb and commissions us to rebuild this world, by working to end oppression and inequality.
Christians cannot remain silent or unconcerned about the severe famine in Somolia.
Those who claim to be witnesses of Christ's resurrection might as well believe that Jesus is still dead if we do not talk about the horrible and violent rhetoric of Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association concerning LGBT people and other religions.
We also need to talk about the violent and untrue rhetoric of Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council who has said that: "We are not in people's bedrooms. Gay people have thrust their bedrooms in to the public square."
Followers of Jesus Christ should not allow ourselves to not be concerned about the measure that legislator's have gone this year to restrict or even stop reproductive health care programs for women. Yet, no one has suggested that our laws should be stronger to protect women from domestic abuse, rape or sexual exploitation.
The equality of women in the work place is constantly up for a vote or part of a political campaign. Women who speak up and take action are all too quickly silenced and/or ruled against because of male privilege. Such was the case with the Supreme Court's decision this past June to deny class action law suits against Wal-Mart over equal rights for women.
The faith and assertiveness of Mary Magdelene tells us that the vocation of women is very important. Women have a crucial role to play in the ordained ministry of the Church. Women live out their vocation in all of society as they remind us to respect each other as equal people. Women rightfully call out men for our chauvinism. That same chauvinism is as much connected to the equal rights of LGBT, people of other races, cultures, nations of origin, immigrants, etc as it is about women.
May the Church and society as a whole continue to be sanctified by our Mother the Holy Spirit, to grow in our respect and appreciation for the role of women.
Prayers
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. (Book of Common Prayer, page 242).
God chose to be our mother in all things
and so made the foundation of his work,
most humbly and most pure, in the Virgin's womb.
God, the perfect wisdom of all,
arrayed himself in this humble place,
Christ came in our poor flesh
to share a mother's care.
Our mothers bear for us pain and for death;
our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.
Christ carried us within him in love and travail,
until the full time of his passion.
And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy,
still all this world could not satisfy the power of his wonderful love.
All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God,
for the love of Christ works in us;
Christ is the one whom we love.
(Canticle R: A Song of True Motherhood, Enriching Our Worship 1, page 40)
No comments:
Post a Comment