John 20:1-9
- A young pastor was telling his congregation how bad women are. He stated that a lot of the trouble in the world was due to women. He went on and on about women and the problems they cause. After the message the pastor was greeting the people as they left church. An older husky woman came up to the pastor and, as she was shaking his hand, she squeezed it quite unmercifully. He cried out, "That hurts." She asked him, "What was the telephone number of the Garden of Eden?" He said, "I don't know." She continued to squeeze his hand even harder. She again asked the question and once again he said, "I don't know." She said, "The telephone number of the Garden of Eden is 'ADAM ATE ONE, TOO.'" (Adam-8-1-2) (1) My guess is that this pastor was careful what he said about women from that day forward.
But Mary Magdalene was not only a woman. She was from a town with a bad reputation. Magdala was a town so steeped in sin and wild living that rabbis later attributed its fall to licentiousness. "Why would God entrust such important news to a woman from a wicked town?" asks this commentator. And finally, Mary Magdalene had once been possessed by seven demons. (Luke 8: 2) Although Scripture does not clearly say so, many theologians assume that Jesus healed Mary of her demon possession. That would account for her great loyalty to Him. "So why," asks this commentator, "did God entrust such an important message to a woman with a reputation for demon possession who came from a town known for its great sinfulness? Who," the commentator continues, "would believe her?" (2) Who WOULD believe Mary from Magdala? And yet the first person who met Christ after his resurrection was this woman with a questionable background. Perhaps God is saying something very powerful to us through Mary Magdalene about the meaning of Easter.
On the western shore of the Sea of Galilee there is a large stone said to mark the burial place of Mary Magdalene. (3) The village where she grew up is now called Madjel. It was once known as Magdala. And, yes, Magdala did have a bad reputation.
Magdala was a small village, northwest of the Sea of Galilee. The Romans chose Magdala as a place to build one of their fortifications. Magdala was known for the soldiers who were stationed there. It was also known for its prostitutes who hung around the soldiers. Maybe that is why tradition has painted Mary Magdalene with a scarlet letter. Maybe that and the fact that she is described as a woman who was possessed by seven demons. Now we have to be careful here. When the New Testament speaks of demons it can be describing either a mental disorder or an immoral lifestyle. We don't know which referred to Mary. Popular tradition, however, has chosen the latter.
There is no record that Jesus ever visited Magdala. But he did visit the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). Simon probably lived in Capernaum, which was not far from Magdala. While Jesus was visiting Simon's house, a woman who, Luke tells us, "had lived a sinful life" brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood at Jesus' feet weeping, began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she stooped down and wiped his feet with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Jesus said to this woman, "Your sins are forgiven." Was this woman Mary Magdalene? Many scholars believe it was. No one knows for certain. Within the context of this story, Jesus says that a person who has been forgiven much will love much. Maybe Mary was a living example of such a person. Certainly she loved Jesus.
The reason that some scholars think this woman may have been Mary Magdalene is that immediately after describing the scene at Simon's house Luke tells us about those who followed Jesus. He says that there were the disciples, of course, but also a group of women who, he says, "had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities." And he names them. The first name he mentions is Mary Magdalene who, he says, was delivered from seven demons. Then Luke adds two other names: Joanna, wife of a man named Cuza, one of Herod's officials, and a woman named Susanna, about whom we know nothing else. These women, says Luke, were helping to support Jesus and the disciples out of their own means. Have you ever thought about that? We pay so much attention to the twelve men who follow Jesus, but it is these relatively unknown women who are paying the bills. That is the way that is has always been in the church, right ladies? Men getting the glory, but women doing the work.
Never is this clearer than on the day that Jesus was crucified. The men have deserted the Master and fled. Not the women. Mark adds two new names to those who were faithful to the end, Mary the mother of James and Salome. He also mentions that many other women were there. And heading the list again was Mary Magdalene. The fact that Magdalene is often mentioned first suggests she may have been the natural leader of the women. And another name appears among those who stood at the foot of the cross: Mary, Jesus' mother. Her grief was undoubtedly the greatest of all.
It was Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joseph, who were still there after the crucifixion when Joseph of Arimathea took Christ's body down from the cross. They were part of a small, sad procession that made its way to a waiting tomb. Their hearts were breaking. Their hopes were crushed. There was no good news anywhere.
But the sun rose on Saturday, as it always does, and again on Sunday. On Sunday, Mary Magdalene came again to the tomb, while it was still early. She could not let go of the one who had freed her from her bondage. It was still dark, but she could see that the stone was rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. Fear and grief ripped her soul. "They have stolen his body," she cries to Peter and John who confirm her finding. The tomb is empty. The body is gone. Confused, the men return to their homes.
Mary is left alone at the tomb. Weeping she looks once more inside. This time she sees two angels in white, sitting where Jesus' body had been. They say to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" Mary answers, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turns around and sees Jesus. Her eyes are still clouded with tears. And in the dimness of the early morning haze, she does not recognize him. She thinks it is the gardener. "Woman," he says to her, "why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Weeping she answers, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." And at this, Jesus speaks the sweetest word that Mary will ever hear. It is her own name. "Mary," he says to her. And in a heartbeat Mary knows who is addressing her. "Rabboni," she answers, which means, "Teacher."
In contemporary dramas like JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, there is the suggestion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were romantically involved. That is only natural given our society's obsession with physical love. But the facts dispute this notion. Notice, in this most intimate and emotion-laden moment, Mary does not call Jesus by name. She uses a formal term, Teacher. He is the one who set her free from her terrible past--whatever that past may have been. He was her teacher, her Master, her Lord.
But isn't it interesting that in the most dramatic moment of history--the first appearance of the resurrected Christ--he did not make his appearance to Peter or one of the twelve--he did not make his appearance to the High Priest or Pontius Pilate--he made his first appearance to a woman who was, perhaps, a former prostitute? But listen carefully, my friends, THIS IS THE GOSPEL. EASTER IS NOT ONLY ABOUT LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVE, IT IS ABOUT THE NEW LIFE OF GRACE AND ACCEPTANCE THAT IS AVAILABLE HERE AND NOW. This is the powerful statement that God is making to us through Mary from Magdala: Whoever you are and whatever your background may be--the Gospel is for you!
There are a couple of important lessons we might draw from Mary's experience on this Easter day. THE FIRST IS THAT JESUS CAME TO SAVE SINNERS, NOT TO CONGRATULATE SAINTS. This may be the most difficult lesson of all for Christians.
- Walter Wangerin, in his book THE ORPHEAN PASSAGES, tells of a woman named Lillian, an old African-American woman who was a member of a congregation he served as pastor. Lillian had a way of keeping Wangerin true to the Gospel. She would compliment him when he adhered to it in his preaching, and call him to task when he strayed from it. It seems that the "crazy lady" prostitute, Marie, who did business next door to the church, recently had the water shut off by the city, so she and her "clients" would use the church building's outside spigot in order to have drinking water. Pastor Wangerin decided this did not look good, so he had the spigot removed and told the congregation that he had done so. When Lillian came out to shake Wangerin's hand after services, like the husky lady at the beginning of our message, she did not let it go. "You preached today, Pastor," said Lillian. "God was here. He was holding you." Then Lillian said ominously, "And he was not smilin'. There was Marie," she continued, "'I was hungry and you gave me no drink.'" Wangerin goes on to confess his transgression: "She'd come to the church for water; she'd come to force us, in spite of ourselves, to keep the commandment--and I had shut the water off." (4)
This is the second: THE CHRIST LIFE IS AVAILABLE TODAY TO ANYONE WHO WILL RECEIVE IT. Perhaps you are standing today at the tomb of a dead relationship, or of dead hopes and dreams. Life has been a severe disappointment to you. You've tried to get your life together, but you've found nothing but failure and frustration. You're about to give up. Friend, this is Easter Sunday. Someone is speaking your name, just as he spoke Mary's name two thousand years ago. Do you know who it is? It is the resurrected Jesus. This is the Sunday, more than any Sunday of the year, that we celebrate new possibilities. This is the day we affirm our faith in God, when we affirm our faith in Jesus Christ, when we affirm our faith in hope without end.
- In his book, TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT GOD, Rabbi David Wolpe, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, recalls an ancient Jewish parable about twin unborn children lying together in the womb. One believes that there is a world beyond the womb "where people walk upright, where there are mountains and oceans, a sky filled with stars." The other unborn twin can barely contain his contempt for such foolish ideas. Suddenly the "believer" of the twins is forced through the birth canal leaving behind the only way of life he has known. The remaining unborn twin is saddened, convinced that a great catastrophe has befallen his companion. Outside the womb, however, the parents are rejoicing. For what the remaining brother, left behind, has just witnessed is not death but birth. This, Wolpe reminds us, is a classic view of the life beyond the grave--a birth into a world that we on Earth can only try to imagine. (5)
1. Contributed by Russell J. Horning, Shinglehouse, PA.
2. THE BROADMAN BIBLE COMMENTARY, VOL. 9 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), pp. 363-364.
3. Information about Mary Magdalene was taken from a book by Dr. Alan Walker.
4. "Preaching On the Lessons," by Marjorie Weiss, THE CLERGY JOURNAL, February 1995, p. 33.
5. U. S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 3-31-97, p. 66, "Heaven In the Age of Reason" by Jeffery L.Sheler, pp. 65-66. Contributed by Dr. John Bardsley.
(From Dynamic Preaching. Seven Worlds Corporation, Knoxville, TN. Reprinted with permission. This homiletic service is available through the Homiletic Resource Center for the modest annual fee of $32 in print or on disk and $27 via email subscription. If you are looking for good illustrations on a weekly basis, this is a good place to start. Just check out my Story List archive for the number of times I have used one of their illustrations in my own homilies. Highly recommended!)