John 20:1-18
April 12,
2009
The
late theologian and pastor, Richard John Neuhaus often said, “In the Christian
tradition, being true to yourself means being true to the self you are called
to be.” When Mary Magdalene met
Jesus of Nazareth, she had very little of her self. St. Luke (8:2) tells us that Jesus had cast seven demons out
of her. The scripture’s don’t tell
us that she was the prostitute who anointed and washed Jesus’ feet in the home
of a prominent Pharisee (what a scandal!), but the very first time Mary
Magdalene is mentioned is in the story right after that one (Luke
7:36-50). She and that woman have
been treated as the same person in sermons and commentaries and in the
movies—maybe they were.
We
do know that, demon’s possess
people. They take whatever is
good, clean, beautiful, interesting, fun, and they twist and steal it. Suffice it to say, as someone in the
grip of seven demons, Mary’s self
was being feasted upon by evil.
Such people are never welcome in decent families or communities, because
they wreck whatever they touch.
Any healthy organism has to organize itself against pathogens or it will
die. You have to have a self in order to be a part of a family, a
marriage, or a community. As such,
the dignity we all have as people created in the image and likeness of God,
would be hard to find, hard to recognize in Mary.
That
was the case with Mary Magdalene—till she met Jesus! The gospels don’t give any of the gory details on what
happened—just that seven demons went out from her because of Jesus, and after
that, Mary became part of a group of women who sometimes traveled with Jesus
and the disciples, and provided for them out of their means. (Luke 8:1-3) She became part of Jesus’ holy family, and was able to
contribute something good, something meaningful. That sounds like a life with dignity.
We
hear of Magdalene one more time before her encounter with Jesus in the
garden. (John 19:23-27) She stands by the cross of Jesus, along
with his mother, his mother’s sister, the wife of Clopas, and one male
disciple, the one Jesus loved.
Perhaps the women were braver than the men. Nevertheless, women are often overlooked in places like
that. Soldiers look right
them—what can they do after all—they’re just women.
Then,
this woman whose very self was possessed, had the stuff, the self-possession to go in the dark to the tomb to
anoint the body of Jesus. She has
the dignity in herself to pay the appropriate respect to the dead.
Then,
Jesus did something that is still affecting how women, and thus how all people,
are regarded. He appeared to her first. He told her to go and announce his resurrection to the
disciples, to announce the New Creation.
In that time, the testimony of women was not admissible in court. Women were not considered fully
human—not the way men are. They
were just
women. Jesus made her the one sent
to the ones he sent—that is to say, the apostle to the apostles for that is
what an apostle is, one who is sent!
That’s
what Jesus does with people. Who he chose to carry the message is a
living, breathing example of the message itself. Jesus sets people free from evil; but more, he sets people
free to righteousness, he restores, he creates whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is commendable, whatever is excellent and worthy of
praise. Dignity. Jesus’ disciples are free to love, to
be truly connected to others.
Jesus’ disciples are able to do great things. With him, in him, through him, we receive the power to be
our true selves, the selves we, each and every one of us, are called to
be. Amen.
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