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Who Is Mary Magdalene?”

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Who Is Mary Magdalene?” Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 1 Timothy 1:2 …Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. “Who Is Mary Magdalene?” Introduction: The Uncelebrated Life Socrates said “the unexamined life is not worth living” but I say the uncelebrated life is not worth living. Celebration is essential to who we are. Think about what God promises us in heaven: a celebration that never ends. We were created to celebrate. But what should we celebrate? Hallmark has the answer. We should buy every card they make. Make everyday a celebration! Of course, people can’t celebrate everyday. There are people who try to live that way but the excitement wears thin after a while so we have to choose the days that are worth celebrating. I can’t help but notice that a change has occurred among Midwestern Lutherans in the past 30 years. When I was growing up, I don’t think we ever celebrated a saint’s day. I suppose there were a few high church congregations out there that were into saints’ days but they were not in the mainstream of Midwestern Lutheranism. Now even the conservative Missouri Synod seems to be shifting toward celebrating them. We see that in our propers for today. St. Mary Magdalene’s day has taken precedence over 8th Sunday after Pentecost in our church body’s calendar. Some people like this change, some do not. Because you will see more of these days in the future, I’d like to talk about both saints’ days in general and Mary Magdalene in particular. One Mary or Three Marys 1 I’d like to begin with the life of Mary Magdalene. Whenever Christians talk about Mary Magdalene, there is controversy. Part of this stems from the fact that there were so many women named Mary in first century Judea. Some estimates say one in four women were named Mary back then. So there are a lot of Marys popping up in the Gospels. There are certain references to Mary Magdalene that are very clear. When her whole name is used, it is obvious who she is. But what about references to just Mary? It could be Jesus’ mother. It could be Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus or it could be a Mary that has been forgotten by the church. In fact, there is a debate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church that has been going on for centuries. In the Roman Church, Mary Magdalene has always been considered the sister of Martha and Lazarus. In addition to being the sister of Martha and Lazarus, she is considered the “sinful woman” in Luke chapter seven. I’d like to read a little from that chapter now: Luke 7:37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-- that she is a sinner." The Roman Church has always held this sinful woman to be the same as Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Martha. The Eastern Orthodox Church disputes this and says that they are three different women. Because Martin Luther was raised Roman Catholic, he generally sides with the Roman Church on this one. Certainly our salvation does not depend on whether we can sort all this out but I tend to go along with Luther and the Roman Church on this one too. I think Mary Magdalene 2 is the sister of Martha and the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. From now on, I will speak as though this is the case. The Life of Mary There are two possible interpretations of her name. Magdalene could mean that she was born in the town of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The town was called Magdala of the Fishes in its day and some of the fishermen disciples may have even done business there. Another possible interpretation of her name is that it refers to her hair. The Jewish book of oral law called the Talmud has a similar expression to the word Magdalene that means “curling women’s hair.” Of course, the implication of this is that the woman would be an adulteress or prostitute. If Mary Magdalene was born in the town of Magdala, she would have left her home town to go to Bethany where she lived during the years of Jesus’ ministry on earth. This would make sense if she was working as prostitute. Most women don’t want to do this near their home. They would work where their family might be less likely to hear about it. Maybe after she had the money to buy her house, she invited her sister and brother to live with her. If you have ever traveled in a developing nation or even very poor areas in this nation, you might develop some sympathy for woman who work as prostitutes. Many of them are not doing it because they love the work but because they are the only source of income for their family. Their ageing parents or grandparents may rely on them as the only source of income for the whole family. This does not excuse prostitution. It is still a sin but it does help us understand why someone might do it. This is not in the text but I imagine Mary Magdalene as being poor, setting out on her own, plying her trade until she can support her siblings 3 and then bringing them to live with her. Once they are with her, she might have felt her sin more acutely. Her profession wasn’t her only problem either. We are told in Scripture that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. We are not told how the seven demons went into her but it would not be surprising to me if she were active in the occult while she worked as a prostitute. When I was in Guatemala, I went to a temple dedicated to Maximon. Maximon is a Mayan god that has been blended with elements from Roman Catholicism. Some Mayans believe that he is half Saint Peter, half the devil. Outside his temple there are fortune tellers who break open eggs and try to see your future. Inside the temple, people light candles of different colors depending on what they want: health, love, even curses. I couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot of women of questionable character praying before the statue. My guide told me that Maximon is the patron of prostitutes so they would go to this temple instead of churches The Bible doesn’t tell us that Mary Magdalene was involved in occult worship but the fact that Jesus cast demons out of her makes that a strong possibility. I imagine her to be someone who not only rejected the values of the God of Israel but even rejected the God of Israel himself. When she did that, she cut herself off from her community as well. She was an outcast and there were some good reasons why people avoided her. So why was Jesus letting her touch him? Let’s go back to that text in Luke. 40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," 4 Jesus said. 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" 50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." Mary didn’t become a saint because she lived a good life. She lived a terrible life. She became a saint because Jesus gave her the gift of faith. After she was given faith, faith produced a loyalty to Jesus that did not waver. When most of Jesus’ disciples abandoned him, Mary Magdalene was not afraid to be seen publicly at the foot of the cross while Jesus died.
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