HONORING MARY MAGDALENE
Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
9th Sunday after Pentecost, July 21, 2024
Rev. Dr. Ritva H. Williams
Today we meet the disciples returning from the mission Jesus sent them on two weeks ago. After they report back, Jesus invites them to come away to a deserted place alone where they can rest and recharge. Their hopes of solitude and rest are dashed as the townspeople who run ahead to meet them on the opposite shore. Jesus sees they are sheep without a shepherd, has compassion, teaches and heals before setting sail. When they reach Gennesaret, Jesus is met by crowds of people bringing their sick him. This scene is repeated at every farm, village and city as people lay their ailing loved ones in the marketplaces.
Heading south from Gennesaret Jesus goes to Magdala. It is highlighted on this map of the Sea of Galilee. The images surrounding the map are renderings based on archaeological finds showing that Magdala was a prosperous little town with a very active harbor. In some ancient writings the town was referred to a Magdala Nunayya, meaning “tower of fishes.” Greeks and Romans called it Tarichaea or “fish processing place.” Fish were salted and pickled here for export throughout the Mediterranean region. Archaeologists have uncovered a large marketplace with 28 shops, 4000 ancient coins mostly minted in Jerusalem, 300 fishing weights, and 40 pools many of which were used for pickling fish. The discovery of 1800 glass pieces and bits of waste metal point to glass and metal manufacturing as additional industries. Magdala was the only town in first century Galilee to have a synagogue with frescoes, mosaics, and a stone table with a menorah carved on its side.
It is here that Jesus encountered a remarkable woman whom we know as Mary Magdalene. She is perhaps the most maligned and misunderstood figure in early Christianity. Since tomorrow is her feast day, I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
Scripture tells us that Jesus healed Mary Magdalene of seven demons (Mark 16:9-11; Luke 8:2). In the world of Jesus, a person was accused or diagnosed of demon possession based on behavior perceived to be peculiar, deviant, or dangerous. Biblical examples of such behavior include fever, skin diseases, blindness, deafness, paralysis, extreme lethargy, seizures, uncontrollable rage, and self-harm.
Demon possession is a charge or diagnosis that is in the eye of the beholder. Contemporary cross-cultural studies of alleged demon possession find that this phenomenon is much more common in hierarchically organized, patriarchal, authoritarian cultures. The persons most often charged, diagnosed, and labeled as demon possessed are women, adolescents, slaves, and strangers. Deeper analysis indicates that the behaviors regarded as evidence of demon possession are almost always rooted in traumatic experiences. Physical and emotional neglect and abuse, sexual abuse, household dysfunction, domestic violence, separation from and/or the death of caregivers, war, natural disaster are among the most common sources of trauma that are catalysts and triggers for behaviors ancient peoples interpreted as signs of demon possession. The ancients were correct in thinking that some form of evil was the root cause. They just didn’t have the knowledge and tools to diagnose it correctly.
We have absolutely no way of knowing what Mary Magdalene’s specific symptoms were, any more than we can identify the original traumatic experiences that caused them.
So what do we know about Mary Magdalene? Based on what we have learned about how charges of demon possession worked, we know that before her meeting with Jesus, Mary Magdalene was much more likely to have been the victim of someone else’s sins, than a sinner herself. We know that having been diagnosed as demon possessed, she would have been marginalized and shunned by family and community. We know Jesus healed her and welcomed her into his circle of disciples. We know that she is never identified as Mary daughter of … or Mary sister of … or Mary wife of … or Mary mother of, as was normal in the ancient world where a woman’s status depended on her relationship to some male person. She is always identified as Mary Magdalene, Mary from Magdala, the town where she was born and grew up. We know, therefore, that she was a single woman, either never-married, divorced, or widowed, but independent and in control of her own financial resources which she uses to support Jesus’ ministry.
We know that Mary Magdalene was a disciple and follower of Jesus, and above all the primary witness to the final events of his earthly life. When the male disciples abandoned Jesus, Mary Magdalene led the women disciples to the cross, the grave, and the empty tomb. In John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene is the first human to discover the empty tomb and encounter the Risen Christ. She is the first person to whom the Risen Christ speaks, calling her by personal name, instructing her to go and tell the other disciples that he is risen. We know that Mary followed through, thus becoming the first apostle, evangelist, and proclaimer of the good news of the resurrection. The early church fathers recognized and honored her as “the Apostle to the Apostles.”
We know with absolute certainty that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute nor a public sinner. That idea cannot be found anywhere in scripture because it is a lie, first uttered (perhaps with malice, perhaps out of honest ignorance) by Pope Gregory the Great on September 14, 591. That story still carries the day in western Christianity, in spite of the Catholic Church’s admission of error in 1969, Pope John Paul II restoration of her ancient title, Apostle to the Apostles in 1988, and finally in 2016 Pope Francis’ elevation of her annual memorial to a feast of equal rank with the male apostles. In contrast, the eastern Orthodox Church has always honored Mary Magdalene with the titles, “Myrrh-bearer,” "Apostle to the Apostles,” and "Equal to the Apostles.” On the Lutheran calendar of saints, Mary Magdalene is identified simply as Apostle.
Early Christian writings witness to faith communities growing up around Mary Magdalene’s ministry. Mary Magdalene is portrayed as understanding Jesus’ message better than Peter who is jealous and antagonistic toward her. Written decades and even centuries after Mary and Peter were dead, these writings reflect growing tensions over women’s roles in the early church. One legend credits Mary Magdalene with presenting herself before Emperor Tiberias with an egg in hand to illustrate the good news of the resurrection. The emperor, mocking her, said that Jesus had no more risen than the egg in her hand was red. Immediately, the egg turned red. This is why Orthodox Christians paint their Easter eggs red. A fragment of the Gospel of Mary has been found which gives us a taste of her teaching to the apostles:
All creatures are interconnected, and find resolution in their own roots (1.22).
There is no sin out there, sin happens when we forsake our true nature and roots (1.26)
Christ is within you; therefore, seek Christ within (1.34-36).
Go out and preach the good news, but don’t become lawgivers (1.38-39).
Mary Magdalene’s story shows us how Christ welcomes, affirms, celebrates, and empowers those who don’t easily fit in, those who have been wounded and demonized by the world. Mary Magdalene invites all of us without exception to find our roots in Christ and to grow in Christ.
Let me close with this short poem composed by Malcolm Guite, English poet, songwriter, and Anglican priest (malcolmguite.wordpress.com)
Mary Magdalene,
Men called you light so as to load you down, and burden you with their own weight of sin,
A woman forced to cover and contain those seven devils sent by Everyman.
But one man set you free and took your part, one man knew and loved you to the core.
The broken alabaster of your heart revealed to him alone a hidden door into a garden
where the fountain sealed, could flow at last for him in healing tears.
Till, in another garden, he revealed the perfect Love that cast out all your fears,
and quickened you with love’s own sway and swing as light and lovely as the news you bring.
