Mary M
It is rare that we honor someone with a shady past.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid. When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” - Mark 15:47-16:7
Today is the feast day of Mary of Magdala, a woman of whom very little is actually described in Scripture.
The fact that so little is actually known about her has led to many interpretations and fictionalizations of her life.
She has come to embody repentance, and has been revered as an apostle, equal to Peter. And in a way, that is a positive thing for all of us who follow Christ, or try to.
Believing that one who had begun life as a prostitute, and there is no proof of that, and wound up a devout follower of Jesus and a saint in the eyes of the church is quite an accomplishment for a woman in her day.
Women were not revered at all.
The challenge of understanding this Mary though comes from the Gospels themselves. There are several Marys to keep track of and on top of that a few unnamed women whose actions some attribute to this Mary M, the one we all love to label with erotic imagery.
So, what do we believe, and does it all matter now?
If we are to learn anything from this, perhaps it is to be aware of our nature. We like a juicy story and if the story isn't juicy enough, we tend to embellish.
But there is good news in this.
The image of Mary we have created, this possible prostitute who may have desired an intimate involvement with Jesus, has its positive side and it is wrapped up in the repentant sinner model we seek to follow.
No matter what she may have done, or how many demons she may have possessed, she was redeemed and became one of Jesus' strongest supporters, even to his death and resurrection.
She was the one to tell the others.
So, maybe we should take with a grain of salt how others see us. In the greater scheme of things, it doesn't matter, and if we go one to do great things, who knows, we may just wind up saints ourselves.
More to come...