This sermon was preached at St John's Purbrook on the Feast of Mary Magdalene - 22 July 2018.
There are rather a lot of Marys to be found in the
Gospels. Mary was a very popular name in
1st Century Israel and Judea.
We know, of course, of Mary the
Mother of Jesus. Then there’s Mary of
Bethany (who is sometimes confused with Mary Magdalene, but who was the ‘sinful
woman’ who anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair).
There is another Mary – literally called ‘the other Mary’ - whom
Matthew lists as part of the group of women who were witnesses to Jesus’
burial. In fact, I rather imagine that –
in those days - if you were to stand in the street and call out ‘Mary!’ you’d
get quite a few responses!
This makes the task of teasing out the story of Mary
Magdalene a little bit of a challenge.
So let’s review what we know – and a little bit of the legends which
have accreted around her.
Mary was a Jewish woman, who according to all four Gospels
travelled with Jesus as one of his followers.
She was a witness to his crucifixion, burial and resurrection. According to Matthew, Luke and John’s
Gospels, Mary was the one who told Peter and the other male apostles that Jesus
had risen from the dead. So, she is
often referred to as the ‘apostle to the apostles’.
Mary is actually mentioned by name twelve times in the
gospels – more than most of the apostles, in fact. Her ‘surname’, of Magdalene, most likely
meant that she came from the fishing town of Magdala, on the shores of the Sea
of Galilee.
Luke’s Gospel list’s Mary as one of the women who travelled
with Jesus and who helped support his ministry out of their own resources. That indicates that she was probably a
wealthy woman. The same passage also
states that seven demons had been driven out of her. Seven is a symbolic number in Scripture –
meaning completeness. So to say that someone
had seven demons in them was to say that they were completely consumed by
whatever illness or malady was afflicting them.
Clearly, therefore, Mary had reason to be very grateful to Jesus, for
the healing that she had received.
And that, frankly, is all that we really know about Mary in
factual terms. During the middle ages,
there were many other tales told about her.
For a start, as I’ve already said, she was often mixed up with the
sinful ‘Mary of Bethany’, or even with the woman caught in adultery (whose name
we don’t know…but it was probably Mary as well!). Even more elaborate medieval legends tell exaggerated
tales of Mary’s wealth and beauty, as well as her alleged journey to Southern
France. There were even speculations,
somewhat fuelled by various second and third century Gnostic writings, which
suggestively described Mary’s as Jesus’ wife, or lover. Maybe even the mother,
by Jesus, of the line of Merovingians! But there is nothing in Scripture to
support such an idea. Not that this
stops the likes of Dan Brown from creating some highly entertaining stories
about the possibilities.
So if you don’t mind, I’d like to focus on what we DO know
about Mary – and to ask ourselves what we can learn from her real story.
I think there are two words which we can hang an
understanding of Mary on. They are ‘wealthy’
and ‘witness’. Let me see if I can break
those down for you.
As I’ve already said, Mary was clearly independently
wealthy. We don’t know why. Perhaps she was the widow of a wealthy
man? But clearly, she was wealthy enough
not to have to work for a living, and to have the leisure to travel around with
Jesus. More than that, as I’ve said, she
was one of those who supported Jesus’ ministry out of her own resources. We must not miss this detail. It’s tempting for us to imagine that Jesus
and his first followers didn’t need money.
Perhaps we imagine that Jesus would just ‘miracle-up’ some food every time
they were hungry, or some new clothes when their old ones wore out. But Jesus’s ministry was rooted in the real
world, just as ours is. And we know that
the Disciples carried a purse – in fact Judas seems to have been the Honorary
Treasurer for their little group.
And so, right at the beginning of the story of the church,
the way in which we use our wealth becomes an important issue. Mary Magdalene used her wealth to support and
enhance Jesus’ ministry. She understood
that the work of God needs money to be invested in it. It is part of God’s way of working with human
beings that he chooses to work through us. We are God’s hands and feet to a world in
need. God uses our hands to touch the
world, our feet to spread his good news, and our wealth to build his Kingdom on
earth. Mary understood that. I wonder whether we really do? I wonder what the church of today would look
like if all its members really understood what sacrificial giving for the work
of God looks like. Perhaps we would
spend much less time holding jumble sales to keep the roof on, and much more
time devoted to sharing God’s love with our neighbours in need.
So Mary Magdalene can be an inspiration to us in terms of
the way we use our wealth. And the
second word I suggest we hold in our minds about her is the word ‘Witness’.
I’ve already mentioned that according to Matthew, Luke and
John, Mary was the one sent to the male
apostles with the news of the Resurrection.
We must not miss the significance of this. According to Jesus law, women were unreliable
witnesses. Anyone from Jewish society of
the time who heard that a woman had
been sent by Jesus to tell men the
news would have struggled to get their head around it. Even at the moment of his greatest triumph,
it seems that Jesus was still keen to declare that in his Kingdom there was no
room for old fashioned, patriarchal, misogyny.
The word ‘apostle’ means ‘someone who is sent’. By being the first witness to the news of the
Resurrection, Mary, despite her gender, became the first ‘one who was sent’ –
and so, effectively, the first Apostle.
Now I realise of course that as a church which has recently
experienced the ministry of woman, thanks to dear Connie, St John’s Purbrook is
not likely to be holding on to out-dated notions of male and female roles in ministry. But it is our task to make sure that we use
each and every opportunity to tell others that Jesus is never concerned about
our gender. Our value to God has nothing
to do with whether we are male or female, or perhaps even trans-gender. Each of us is
equally loved and regarded by God. And each of us is called, like the
Magdalene, to be a witness to the world.
Each of us, in some sense, is an apostle – for we are sent out with the
good news of God’s love for the world on our lips.
By meditating today on Mary of Magdala, may you come to know
how much God wants to partner with you in the work of building his Kingdom on earth
as it is in heaven. May you learn the
joy of releasing your wealth to that task, and the joy of knowing that you too
are ‘one who is sent’ for the work of God.
Amen.
