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Mary Magdalene at the Cross Monologue Written by Rev. Emma Duncan for the Joint Good Friday Worship Service April 2, 2021

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Mary Magdalene at the Cross Monologue Written by Rev. Emma Duncan for the Joint Good Friday Worship Service April 2, 2021 Mary Magdalene at the Cross Monologue written by Rev. Emma Duncan For the joint Good Friday worship service April 2, 2021 Gospel Reading – Mark 15:40-47 40 There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. 42 When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. 45 When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid. Monologue I cannot believe it. I will not believe it – this must be some sort of nightmare that I will wake up from any minute now. But it is not a nightmare. It is real. My Lord is dead. It cannot be! And yet, I saw it with my own eyes. The past few days have been so surreal. Jesus was arrested and convicted by that coward of man, Pontius Pilate. The cries of the crowds – Crucify him! Crucify him! – pierced me to the depths of my soul. But I am just a lowly woman – I have no power to stop the Roman Empire or the religious establishment. I have no power to sway the crowd. All we could do was helplessly watch from a distance. Oh, how we cried as we watched the soldiers mock and torment him. I watched from a distance as my Lord – the Messiah - was crucified with 2 common thieves. At Golgotha, I saw and heard things that will haunt me until the day I die. I watched them put a sign on his cross that said – the King of the Jews. How could they?! They have no clue what they have just done. They have executed the divine Son of God. The truth is that they never really understood who Jesus was. They refused to believe what he said about the kingdom of heaven. They felt threatened by his many miracles. And they did not sit as his feet like little children and listen to his wonderful stories. They did not have their lives changed for all eternity as I did. Friends, I was lost before I met Jesus. I was possessed by seven demons! (Lk 8:2) Night and day, day and night, I heard voices in my head that mocked and tormented me. I had no rest. No peace. My life was a living hell! And along came Jesus one day and freed me from my life of misery. In an instant, the demons left me and I knew a deep peace that only my Lord can provide. Jesus breathed new life into me and made me a new creation in the eyes of God. (2 Cor. 5) My life changed for the better and nothing would be the same for me again. From that day on, I followed Jesus everywhere and cared for his needs, and there was nothing that I could ever do or say to thank him enough for rescuing me – body, mind, and soul. And here I am again…so lost because my Lord is gone. And there was nothing that we could do to stop his death from happening! All we could do was watch from a distance and pray. Pray for a miracle, but none came. Our Lord cried out – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me! And then he was gone. Forever. I feel like I’ve lost my best friend. I cannot believe that I will never see his face again. I will never hear him say my name. All I can do now is go home and prepare the spices to anoint his body… .
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