23rd March 2008 (Easter Day)
John 20:1-18
Mary Magdalene is getting an interesting press these days. First there was Dan Brown's book, 'The Da Vinci Code', with its theory that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife. This was based on 'The Gospel of Philip', a short collection of texts put together about a century after our gospels. The Gospel of Philip calls Mary Magalene the 'companion' of Jesus (along with two other Marys). It says Jesus often kissed her on the mouth, which the twelve objected to since it implied Jesus loved her more than them. Jesus' explanation seems to imply that Mary was enlightened whereas they were not. (The 'Gnostic' school of thought these texts came from taught that salvation came from special enlightenment; this was condemned by the majority of the church as heretical.)
The current series on BBC on the Passion of Christ portrays Mary Magdalene as one of the closest disciples, walking beside Jesus as he rode the donkey into Jerusalem.
The gospels in the New Testament mention Mary Magdalene only a few times. She was one of the women who accompanied Jesus and his disciples and helped them out of their own means, and she is described as someone out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons. She was present with the other women at Jesus' crucifixion, and was one of those who saw where his body was buried. But the main story about her is in our Gospel reading - and what a remarkable story it is. We need to remember that in those days women were not regarded as credible witnesses, and so this story of a woman being the first to see the risen Lord, and being sent by him to tell his disciples, would not have helped people of those times believe in the resurrection.
None of the gospel accounts tells the whole story; they all select those bits that the writer found most useful. John only mentions Mary; the other gospels say other women were with her (this is implied in verse 2). However, she was the one who followed Peter and John back to the tomb - and encountered the risen Lord Jesus there. She did not recognise him at first. I suspect that in her grief she did not really look at him. But when he called her by name, she had to look!
Her natural response was to grab hold of him! Jesus told her not to cling on to him (the original Greek implies she was); he was on his way to the Father - he would not be around for ever, at least as far as his physical presence was concerned. Then he sends her to tell the good news to his disciples. Sending a women with such a message was not politically correct; but it was completely in line with Jesus' teaching. He continues to honour those who are despised by the world!
The rest, as they say, is history.
Questions:
1) Why does the Bible emphasize the physical resurrection of Jesus?
2) What difference do the events of that Easter Day make to your life?