Tag: Mary Magdalene

The Resurrection from the Point of View of Mary Magdalene

In the resurrected Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female. We are all one.

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Mary Magdalene, Mary, & Salom walking up to the bright empty tomb of Jesus Christ early Sunday morning

Three days and two night ago, Mary’s entire world came crashing down. The earth opened up and swallowed Jesus, whom Mary loved, into the abyss. Mary’s world was thrown into darkness and confusion, leaving only soul crushing grief, bewilderment, and emptiness.

She barely had enough time to get him down from that tree on which he had died. A very generous leader risked his life and reputation to help her with the body and prepare the body properly for burial before Sabbath began. (John 19:42)

The crash of his arrest and the whirl of those events that followed came upon her in a rushing torrent so quickly that she was completely overwhelmed, reeling, barely able to breath from beginning to end, and they ended with his death. The commotion of the last minute burial gave way to the silent weight of yawning emptiness and overwhelming grief in the dark night that followed.

All the men abandoned Jesus as the world began to unravel. The petty squabbling that broke up dinner the night before left Mary confused about what Jesus had been saying. Jesus was trying to tell them something important, but she could only remember bits and pieces….

Something about a cup… and pouring out his blood and…. It was all so surreal and confusing. So impossible to fathom. Jesus seemed to know what was going to happen. She could see it in his eyes. He was resigned to it, but she didn’t understand.

All the mysterious things Jesus said during the exciting and hopeful years they traveled with the Jesus played in her mind like a long, beautiful song ending in a discordant whimper. The mystery that seemed so poignant and momentous now seemed ominously empty. Through the looming darkness, a slight flame of hope sputtered amid the whirlwind of elements around her.

Jesus wouldn’t let anyone try to defend him. “He just gave himself up!” she thought. He utterly gave himself over to them. It was painful to watch, and painful to remember.

But even in his weakness he was noble. He was so beautiful. He seemed like everything they thought he was. Even in the end. Even as he resigned himself to death. She wept.

And those men were always arguing about who was the greatest. They didn’t do anything. They couldn’t even stay awake with him and pray. They were too dull to realize Jesus needed them!

They could have, at least, gone with him! But, they left him. They knew what was happening, but they pretended not to know! they didn’t lift a finger. When Jesus needed them most, they abandoned him. Peter even claimed he didn’t know Jesus! Peter!

Mary and the other women would not leave him. They saw the whole, unimaginable thing … and John. At least, John was there. Not that he did anything.

If it wasn’t for Joseph, who knows where his body would have ended up. Mary was grateful that Joseph owned a tomb nearby and even more grateful that Joseph and his associates helped with the body. (Luke 23:50-53). Even so, Mary couldn’t help but wonder where they were when Jesus needed someone. Anyone!

Even as she felt her heart shrink in anger and frustration, she knew they could not have stopped what happened. She softened, and she wept again.

They had no time to prepare him properly. It was the Sabbath, and night was upon them. The hours labored by. It seemed like Jesus lay there for an eternity through the night. Everything weighed so heavily on Mary’s heart. She needed to get to him.

Joseph and Nicodemus came through with the spices and ointments for Mary to prepare the body in the morning. (Luke 23:56) She was up before the dawn. She couldn’t sleep anyway.

The hopeful sounds that emerge in light’s first dawn might have lifted her heart on any other morning. Tears came in waves. She could hardly see at times.

Tears she could not manage to wipe way with the back of her hands fell from her cheeks into the mixture of ointment and spices. She recalled the day she wiped tears from his feet with her hair in waves of repentant gratitude and joy, knowing her sins were forgiven, and her life was forever changed.

Her tears turned to waves of incontrollable sobs. She could not continue until they subsided.

Mary could not adequately express the depth of gratitude for Jesus for rescuing her from the demons that haunted and tormented her from her youth. She didn’t care what anyone thought.

Nothing had been more precious to her than the ointments she collected… until Jesus set her free. She would have spent her entire life pouring her very self out for him.

She desperately longed to wind time back. The impossibility of it all was maddening. Those demons lurked again in the back of her mind. She shuddered as if to shake them off, and she continued with the ointment and spices.

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For She Loved Much

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The story begins with a prominent community leader inviting Jesus to a party at his house.  (Luke 7:36) Jesus went, of course, because that’s what Jesus did. He didn’t refuse anyone who gave him an invitation.

Jesus was most often found on the streets, in parks or local cafes engaging in small groups with impromptu crowds, but he was equally comfortable in larger, more formal crowds at churches, colleges and public meeting halls with politicians, priests, academicians. Jesus wouldn’t refuse any request to meet and be with people wherever he went. So Jesus went to the party.

Jesus had risen quickly to popularity. No one really knew that much about him, where he came from or what his credentials were, but anyone who was anyone knew about him by now. Many people wanted to meet him. He would be a draw to Simon’s party.

Of course, people alternately loved him or hated him. Few people were neutral about Jesus. Some people hung on every word he spoke, while others questioned everything, wondering what his intentions were, skeptical of everything he said or did.

We don’t know much about the particular party to which Jesus was invited or the host of the party, other than this name, Simon, and the fact that he was a prominent man in the community. One of the few things we really know about the party is the scandal that took place there.

Simon was a well-known leader in his community. His home was open to friends and neighbors. He was generous with his prominence, wealth and lifestyle. He loved to entertain. Inviting Jesus would be a hip thing to do, given the grass roots popularity  of Jesus.

Inviting Jesus might would be viewed as scandalous by some of Simon’s peers, but he considered himself to be different than them. He fancied himself more open-minded than that. He wasn’t afraid of a little controversy.

But Simon wasn’t at all ready for what would happen next. While his home was an open invitation to friends, colleagues and neighbors, no one who was not of a particular type would dare, surely, to enter those halls dedicated to showing off the influence, prominence and wealth to which Simon had attained. People who had not attained, or at least aspired to attain, a certain stature certainly wouldn’t think of it…. or would they?

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Women and the Resurrection Story

The centrality of women in the resurrection story is unmistakable, and at least two very significant points flow from that point.

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Women have suffered under the dominion and control of men since the beginning of recorded history (and before, no doubt). The culture in the US today, though, is much different than at any other time in history. Women have gained status they have never before had. As an example, about 65% of all college students in the US are women. The political, cultural and societal winds have shifted.

Most of the world, however, is not even close to that benchmark yet. In Muslim countries, in particular, women continue to be treated in ways that more “western” sensibilities consider backward and even barbarian. But, the historical subjugation of women is not just a Muslim thing; it has been widespread and pervasive going far back in time.

This may seem like an odd backdrop to the resurrection story, but women and the resurrection story are forever intertwined in one of the most progressive and remarkably dignified ways in ancient literature.

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