St. Mary Magdalene 22 July 2007

“The Woman Who Loved Jesus”

If you follow the popular religious press, you may be aware that there’s been quite a spike in interest about Mary Magdalene lately. It started with Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, in which bizarre theories about this important Biblical saint were spun. They’ve been picked up by some who are sort of “on the fringe” of respectable Biblical scholarship, who make claims, for example, that Mary Magdalene was actually married to Jesus.

Most of this is a bunch baloney; the truth of the matter is that while Mary Magdalene is a striking figure in the gospels, what we actually know about her can be stated in about three sentences. St. John calls her “Mary Magdalene,” which means simply that she was from the city of Magdala. St. Luke tells us that Jesus healed her of seven demons. And all four gospels tell us she was one of the women at the tomb on that first Easter. Beyond that, we know nothing. And of course when you know nothing, there’s lots of room for speculation and hypothesis.

Yet Mary has always captivated Christian imagination. She been called “the apostle to the apostles” because she was the first one to see the resurrected Jesus, and the one who ran to tell the others. The poignant story of Mary seeing Jesus in the garden that Easter morning makes it clear that he loved her very much, and she him; indeed, William Barclay once wrote that “no one ever loved Jesus as much as Mary Magdalene.”

And so the question for us this morning, on the traditional festival of Mary Magdalene, is, “What does it mean to love Jesus?” If her story is a picture for us of one who loved him, what can it teach us about ourselves, about how strong or weak our own love for our Lord may be?

Perhaps the first clue can come from St. Paul’s sermon in Antioch, our second lesson this morning. In telling the Jews about Jesus’ resurrection, Paul says, “God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.” He appeared to those who came up with him—that’s a key to understanding Mary’s love of Jesus.

Earlier in John’s gospel is a marvelous passage whose words we sing each Sunday. John tells us that, because of the nature of Jesus’ teaching, many who had followed him in Galilee turned back, and no longer followed. Jesus asks the disciples if they, too, wish to turn back, and Peter replies, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. So the disciples continued to follow—and not just the twelve, but also the others, those like Mary Magdalene who also followed Jesus. They followed him along the roads and beside the lakes of Galilee, as he taught and healed. But then they followed him to Jerusalem as well—as Paul puts it, they came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They followed him right to the upper room, the Garden of Gethsemane, the judgment hall of Pontius Pilate. A very few, including Mary Magdalene, followed him even to Golgotha and stood at the foot of his cross.

When it means, you see, is that those who love the Lord as Mary did will follow him, not just in Galilee but all the way to Jerusalem. They will follow him, not just in the safety of listening to his teachings, but they will come with him to Jerusalem, the place where teachings give way to actions, the place where discipleship, in Bonhoeffer’s words, becomes costly. Those who love him follow all the way to Jerusalem. And it is to them—to people like Mary Magdalene—it is to them that the risen Christ appears.

A second clue to Mary’s love comes in her actions that Easter morning. She seeks Jesus. The other women, and Peter and John, come to the tomb, find the body missing and go back to Jerusalem. Mary stays there. “Mary stood weeping outside the tomb,” John says. She thought Jesus was dead, yet she could not let him go. She would stay there, stay with him, even after the others had given up hope and gone home.

Those who love Jesus, you see, are those who do not give up in seeking after him. For the disciples on that first Easter morning, it seemed hopeless. Jesus was dead; there was no point in seeking his body now. But Mary Magdalene’s love was the greatest of all, and she could not stop her seeking. So it was that she became the first to find, the first to see the risen Lord.

Sometimes we are ready to give up. Things come up in our lives that make Jesus seem far away, perhaps even gone. Tragedy strikes, or sickness, or death. Or perhaps the hubbub of daily life just overcomes us, and we find ourselves spiritually dry. It’s easy to seek after God when life is grand, when circumstances encourage it. It’s easy at a retreat, or at church camp. But home is less conducive to the search. The realities of life press in upon us. And so we stop seeking.

It is just then that Mary’s example is most important. She did not stop. Things were hopeless, things were dark and dreary; she was discouraged and tired and grieving, but she did not stop. Those who love Jesus as Mary did never stop seeking him.

Some years ago there was a best-selling book called Seekers after God. A pastor in rural Pennsylvania wrote to his favorite bookstore in Philadelphia and asked to order a copy, but they were out of stock. The reply from the store came back: “No seekers after God in Philadelphia, try New York.” Are there seekers after God in Nevada County? Are you among those who seek him, without ceasing, always searching for a closer walk with Christ? It is they—people like Mary Magdalene—it is they to whom the risen Christ appears.

But there is one more clue, perhaps the most important of all. Mary stands at the tomb weeping. Seeing a man she thinks is the gardener approaching, she tearfully asks him what has happened to the body. But then he speaks her name, and she recognizes that this is not the gardener—it is Jesus. Do you remember what she does next? She runs and fast as she can and finds the other disciples to tell them, “He is risen! He is risen! I have seen him!”

Oh, to have the love of Mary! She is the first one to see the risen Lord, the first one to speak with him, the first to recognize him. But what we must learn from her story is that her love finds its best expression in something different. What is so important about her is that she runs to tell the others! For those who love Jesus are most clearly identified by the way they cannot help but share the good news, share it with everyone: with children at Vacation Bible School; with the war-weary people of Darfur in the Sudan; with the discouraged and troubled patrons at Interfaith Food Ministry or Hospitality House; with neighbors and co-workers and family members—sharing the good news is what those who love Jesus do. It is who they are. As Paul said, “We are now his witnesses.” He’s talking about us, about you and me.

For the church’s task is not just to sit quietly by and watch the world go on. We are to be like Mary—so filled with the wonder and glory of our Lord that we run—we don’t even walk, but we run—to tell others. Those who have seen the risen Christ, who have heard him speak their name, those who truly love him—they cannot help but share the good news.

No one ever loved Jesus more than Mary Magdalene. May God grant us that love that we, too, may be his witnesses.