And she responded by contributing to Jesus ministry out of her resources and following him. Luke says she was a woman of means, like other women who

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1 Peter: I love to tell the story, of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, because I know it s true. So I love to tell the story of Mary Magdalene because it has not been told fairly or honestly by Church leaders who chose, early on, to ignore the full importance of her life to the ministry of Jesus. She was not the prostitute that you read about in Luke 7: Her story begins in Chapter 8: 1-3 which says, Soon afterwards Jesus went through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The 12 were with Jesus as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary, called Magdalene (and she is the only woman in the New Testament to have her full name written, to have her last name spoken) from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna.and Susanna, and many other women who provided for Jesus out of their means. The attempt to put Mary in the background of the Passion Narratives and to erase her as a vital and loving witness to Jesus began well before the 5 th century. It began with the writer of Luke in Acts where Peter and Paul are given center stage as those who preach to the Gentiles, as those who witness to the risen Christ ignoring that it is Mary Magdalene called the Apostle to the Apostles- - who first sees the risen Christ in the garden. It began with the unbelieving male disciples in the Gospel of John who, when Mary returns breathless and excited to proclaim, I have seen the Lord! consider these idle words, almost delirious. Is the author of Acts responsible for this erasure of The Magdalene, as she sometimes is called, or is it part of a wider effort to discredit her authority and put Peter at the head of the new church? In the 6 th - century, Pope Gregory the Great tried to undermine Mary Magdalene s reputation by connecting her story to the story of the prostitute that precedes her story in the Gospel of Luke. But it wasn t fair, because the Gospel of Luke never said that. Luke says Mary was the woman healed by Jesus because he accepted her as a human being and respected her as a woman, and was not afraid to be associated with her because of her demons or touch her, and saw her for all that she was and could be. And she responded by contributing to Jesus ministry out of her resources and following him. Luke says she was a woman of means, like other women who 1

2 followed Jesus. They were not just followers in the passive sense they were disciples. Most likely they were part of the 70 disciples Jesus sent out two by two, pairing one man and one woman together for security purposes, and also because his ministry was not just to men but also women and children. Mary Magdalene followed Jesus all the way to the cross and stayed with him to the end. Even when all the male disciples ran away, Mary remained with several other women. Matthew writes in his Gospel, There were also many women there, looking on from afar who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. In John s Gospel, we see that Mary Magdalene was there along with Jesus mother. These women see everything. They see the suffering Jesus endured, and when he finally dies, they help Joseph of Arimathea take down the broken body and lay it in the tomb. Then they anoint his body with oils and spices with their own hands before the large stone is rolled in front of the tomb. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that a true disciple is the one who knows the suffering of God in this world and participates in it as Mary did. ******* Annie: When I came to the tomb after the Sabbath my hands holding the burial spices I looked within and the darkness hummed with absence. I began to cry, and perhaps that is why I did not recognize the man in the garden. I begged him to tell me where they had taken my Lord, and softly he spoke my name, Mary. Then I saw and tried to touch him. My hand seemed full of grief and hope. But Rabboni told me not to cling or hang onto him as he had not gone to his Father yet. I raced back to tell the others what I had seen, but they did not believe me at first. They cast my words aside like words spoken by someone with too much wine. Now he is gone, I have so much to remember him by. I have his words, which we share during the day but especially at night as we sit around a rough table, breaking bread and drinking wine in remembrance of him, as he told us to do. We share the words like coins passed from hand to hand, as if we could hold them up to the lamp light and watch the glint from the coins. We tell the stories 2

3 because that is what we do, what we are called to do. And whenever we tell them my heart feels like a flame inside. But still, I miss him. I miss his physical body being in the same room with us, walking ahead of us on the path or beside us. I miss being in a boat with him on the Sea of Galilee, although that time when the storm came up was terrifying. Even when he calmed the sea with a gesture to the waves like a parent scolding a child into obedience my heart still hammered inside. It refused to be still until my feet touched ground again, and I vowed not to take any more trips across the Sea of Galilee, even with my beloved Rabboni. The other night the grief of his passing was so great that my body bent over, like a warrior hiding a killing blow. I fell to the ground with it, holding onto the linen purse I wear inside my robe. That is for taking out in the darkness of night or for looking into in the faint light of dawn, before the rest are awake. Here is what I take out, touch gently, and think about: A stone. Unremarkable, to be carrying a stone, but this one is special. It came from the time a few years ago when a woman was caught in adultery, and the men circled her like mad dogs, ready to tear her to pieces for her sin. And Jesus, Rabboni, simply crouched in the dust, writing something with his finger. I never saw what the words were, only his infinite patience as he waited. Then he said in clear words, He who is without sin let him be the first to throw a stone. They all drifted away like leaves before the wind, one by one, then in a quick rush all at once. This is my stone of mercy. Then my fingers find a thread, a dusty brown thread. It seems unremarkable, but it is from the fringe of Rabboni s shawl, the one he wore one day walking with the crowd. Everyone wanted to be with him. Everyone hoped to have their aches and pains, diseases and madness cured by touching him. One woman did just that. I saw her dart forward, face determined to touch the edge of his shawl. Light bloomed on her face afterwards; she sighed, straightened, and I knew she was healed. When Rabboni turned and asked Who touched me? the other disciples were baffled that he could even tell such a thing in the press of the crowd. But the healed woman knew, and came forward to kneel and thank him. This is my thread of healing. 3

4 My fingers touch the other things very softly, as they are fragile and liable to crumble to dust if I am not careful. There is a nubbin of hard bread, not quite round. It came from the flat loaf he broke that day when the people who had come to be taught were fainting from hunger and thirst. Rabboni lifted up one loaf of bread, blessed it and broke it. Everyone had gotten into small groups, as he said, and the baskets went from group to group with no one grabbing, all sharing. He fed everyone with his words and his hands. This is the bread that satisfies all hunger. The last thing in my linen pouch is a short fragment of rope, worn and frayed. It is not remarkable either. But it comes from the naked demoniac who used to leap over the tombs at Gerasene; nothing made by man could hold him or tie him down, not even a strong rope or a chain. Everyone was terrified of his madness. But not Rabboni, who beckoned the demoniac to come to him a short, decisive gesture and the man came creeping over the tombs. His hair hid his face, and his skin was pierced by thorns and briars. Blood dotted his skin. Rabboni reached out to touch him, commanded the demon to depart, and suddenly the man was still as if whatever had been in him had flown away into the hot sky. Although I did see a herd of pigs rush madly down into the sea. Now the calm man sat, pushed back his hair so he could see, and his eyes were clear. This is the rope of cleansing. I could not bear to take anything from the last day no thorn from the evil crown; no shard of wood from the cross; none of the blood which fell to the ground beneath. No love, no matter how fierce, could stand to hold such things. But at night and in the early morning, I touch the remnants of the man I knew, the man whose light touched and healed all of us- - I can hear the sound of his voice, can feel the touch of his hand on my arm, can remember sitting beside him at table and sharing wine. And a warmth enters me like a lamp flame within I remember, I love, and I believe. **************** Peter: Early on Easter Sunday morning Mary Magdalene is the first to see the Risen Lord! She is the first Apostle because she is the first to witness to her Risen Lord. She is the Apostle to the Apostles because she is the first to proclaim the good news that Jesus is alive. Then, as time passed, the early Christians became 4

5 afraid of proclaiming and affirming Mary in this leadership role. Afraid, they turned and rallied around Peter as the Apostle to the Apostles, and the stone upon which the Christian Church would be built. And over time, Apostolic Succession and Ordination of the clergy became the prerogative of men. But I believe the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John challenge us to ask the question: What would the Christian Church have been like had it been built upon the shoulders of Mary Magdalene? I think a Christian Church built upon the shoulders of Mary Magdalene would have allowed women to be ordained. I think it would have allowed men and women who were married to be ordained. I believe the Church doctrines and theology would have reflected the feminine side of the divinity and the feminine heart of God as our Mother. I think the women of the Bible would have been fully recognized as disciples, and women s roles in the Church would be fully equal to those of the men. To make that possible, two thousand years ago the Church would have had to educate women equally with the men so they too could read the Bible and preach the Good News. And I believe this Church would have looked more and more like our church here in Haydenville today. The story of Mary Magdalene is a hard story to tell a painful story to even speak about. It brings tears to our eyes, the way Mary s role and gifts have been set aside and almost forgotten, although we know how close she was to Jesus, how beloved she was by him. We must tell this story to our children and our children s children for we still live in a relatively patriarchal culture. For the sake of Christianity and our church, we all need to know the truth about how Jesus related to women, especially to Mary Magdalene. We can take heart at the courageous witness of this woman who did not flee at the sight of her beloved Jesus hanging on the cross; who did not abandon her Lord; and who with burial spices in hand was the very first to see the empty tomb, meet the risen Christ, and run back to tell ALL of us Christ is risen indeed. Truly, she is the Apostle to the Apostles as much then as she is now, to us, the new apostles. LET THE PEOPLE SAY AMEN! Copywright/ A. Turner & Peter Ives 5