The feast of St Mary Magdalene

A Reflection for the feast of St Mary Magdalene

This reflection looks ahead toward Women’s Day in South Africa: The day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass – 9 August

John 20: 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.

We are celebrating the feast of Mary Magdalene, because her feast day falls on Tuesday this week(22 July).
She is mentioned in all the gospels, in a number of passages, with the fullest account of her in St John’s Gospel.
We are told that Jesus healed her from seven demons.
What does that mean? The number 7, is a symbolic number in Hebrew thinking, which indicates completeness. Was she mentally ill perhaps or was she a woman completely lost in her inner self?
Whatever it was that moment with Jesus
changed her. It kindled a fire of love in her. A love for this teacher, whom she and a group of other women, from well to do households supported financially and followed as disciples.

These were brave women who grasped this new teaching, a teaching of the inclusivity of all people and followed this teacher into his and their darkest moments.
Some of them, with Mary Magdalene
were with Jesus while he suffered on the cross.
The men that followed him were in hiding!
The women were there feeling the depth of this event,
the hatred, the suffering, the dying, the burial.
On Easter morning, as you heard
Mary Magdalene is the main human character
of the event of the resurrection:
Go instead to my brothers and tell them,
“I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.”’
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.
She becomes the apostle to the apostles
The first to announce the resurrection.

Now you would have thought that such a woman
would have played a prominent role
In the future of the church and that a prominent
and equal role for men and women
would have been the very foundation
of this new and loving community.
Indeed it was so for Paul and early followers
of the church, who had everything in common.
Why then was she sidelined as a model of discipleship, courage, and spiritual insight?
The answer would lie in the realms of patriarchy, history, tradition, theology and power- the Roman Empire, Constantine, Pope Gregory.

In 591 Pope Gregory the Great preached a sermon in which he describes Mary Magdalene as the unnamed “sinful woman” who anointed Jesus’s feet. (Luke 7:36–50.)
So Mary was cast as a repentant prostitute for future generations, which relegated her to a symbol of penitence, rather than her true role as a woman leader in the church.

For me one of the most revolutionary insights in the New Testament is St Paul’s saying:
In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatian 3:28)
Some time ago I asked a number of women, these questions: What delights you, angers you, gives you hope? Here are a few of their answers:
Nicola: My hope for the future comes from the inner strength I’ve seen in so many teenage girls who truly believe the world is theirs for the taking.

Penny: Art and beauty give me joy.
Unfairness, discrimination, and violence towards women fills me, with anger.
My children and grandchildren, delight me.

Caroline: Joy for me is being able to be an equal partner in my marriage and to be respected as a working mom.
Susie: What angers me: I seem to have a problem with the things I do (artist, mother, teacher) being terribly undervalued. I get really cross when people are dismissive of these things and don’t value the contribution people make in these roles. Just because you aren’t bringing in money doesn’t mean you aren’t working hard or doing something important.
A young mother: What gives me hope for the future: Experiencing the world anew through my small children. It reminds me that all this will always be new for someone and there will always be new ideas and optimists that will fight to cut through the red tape of life and see to the heart of things.

Mary Magdalene
Encourages faith and hope in us.
Her words still ring throughout the Church,
to strengthen faith and encourage hope.
The Church has reclaimed her as a leader,
witness, and an example for all Christians.
Her story invites us to re-examine
the contribution of women to society in the past.
and the role they have always played within the history of the church.
Ocean Ramsay, is a young woman who swam with tiger sharks off the coast of Hawaii. She observed and studied their ways to show that sharks are not naturally the enemy of humans. Later she swam with great white sharks off the coast of California. Her work with sharks eventually changed the law and prevented fishers from killing sharks. You can follower the documentary, Shark Whisperer on Netflix.

The Good News, the Gospel of Jesus, is an inclusive Gospel, of people on the outside coming in.
A message of deep respect for all human beings. It emphasizes their relationships to one another. People’s feelings are important. We all need a language to use to talk about our feelings. It should go beyond saying I’m fine. That’s all you need to know about me.
We need to make our feelings known. Otherwise, their suppression can lead us to project our feelings onto others. This suppression can cause damage, violence, and abuse.

Mary invites us to see the possibility of change in us,
Of a renewed self,
Here at the start of this term,
Mary realised all this in her meeting with Jesus.

1 Readings: John 20: 17
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene: Mary, do not cling to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
Go to my brothers and say to them,
‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’
Mary went and said to the disciples,
‘I have seen the Lord.’ Alleluia.

2 Reading: Matthew 28.7
The angel said to Mary: ‘Go quickly and tell his disciples:
Jesus has been raised from the dead’

3 Reading: John 20.17
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene,
‘Go to my brothers and say to them:
I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’

4 Reading: Corinthians 5.15 Staff
Those who live, live no longer for themselves,
but for him who died and was raised for them.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned in all four canonical gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. She is consistently portrayed as a devoted follower of Jesus, present at his crucifixion and the first to witness his resurrection.
Here’s a breakdown of her appearances in each gospel:

Mark:
Mentions her healing from demonic possession (Mark 16:9)

Matthew:
Also includes her at the cross (Matthew 27:56) and tomb (Matthew 28:1), with an added detail of her witnessing the empty tomb with “the other Mary” (Matthew 28:1). 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph,[a] and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Luke:
Highlights her healing from seven demons (Luke 8:2) and her presence at the crucifixion (Luke 23:49), where a group of women are mentioned watching from a distance…

and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out;

49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.