International Women's Day: Mary Magdalene

With Jesus as the exception, for the past three years I've reflected more on Mary Magdalene than any other individual in the Bible.  Although Mary is only mentioned one time in the Gospels (Luke 8:1-3) before Jesus' arrest and crucifixion, her story surges into significance--eschatological significance during the most pivotal points of the Jesus story: his death and resurrection.  As others have pointed out, although she's mentioned only fourteen times, she is mentioned more than any other woman in the Gospels except for Jesus' mother, Mary.  That's quite striking given the fact that she is only referred to once before the passion.  Precisely because of that, I'm in agreement with Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendell who suggests, "a special intimacy can be inferred between Mary Magdalene and Jesus from the New Testament." 

Astonishingly, at the dawning of the new age after his resurrection, Jesus meets Mary Magdalene in a garden.  He meets her alone in the garden.  According to John, Jesus chose to reveal his resurrected self to Mary, before John, before Peter, before his other male disciples, and before he met his community of followers.  There is more happening in the garden than Mary's apologetic value for the first witness to the resurrection. 

In the Jesus story, there is something about Mary Magdalene. 

Thanks to Julie Clawson who spearheaded this.

Mary was drawn to Jesus.  She was captivated by his passion for people, for life, for God.  He was intense.  She was intense.  She had never seen anything like him.  She kept following him while others followed him for a period of time and walked away.   Obviously, she chose to walk along the dusty, dirty roads with Jesus as he traveled from village to village.  She supported him financially.  The fact that she was present as he was dying on the cross while other male disciples scatter helps us fill what is not explicitly written down.  She stayed close enough to him that she stood out when there was deep hostility towards him.   She was compelled to be around him at the cross while others were mocking him.  It flew in the face of Jewish wisdom to stand with Jesus at that moment--but there she was.  Her sacred love was not a transient feeling.  In John's Gospel, she is the only one weeping at his death. 

Mary's loyalty to Jesus points out to the complex relations between men and women in God's rich relational world--between the now and the not yet. 

What was it that drew Jesus to meet with Mary Magdalene in the garden before he met anyone else at this point in the Gospel story?  The question of course, cannot be answered with any certainty.  Does it strike you that Jesus met with her before Peter?  Before John?  Read any of the four Gospels all the way up to the morning of the third day.  Mary is certainly not the likely one I would have guessed that Jesus would have met alone in the garden.  How about you?  Would you have guessed it? 

 

According to John, they meet alone in a garden.  On the two previous occasions a man and woman have been alone in the garden in the Bible, sex was inferred or involved (Adam and Eve & The Song of Solomon).  So, it is striking that Jesus and Mary met in the garden--alone.  Questions abound.  Mystery emerges.  We are unable to pin down precisely why Jesus met Mary in the garden.   If you come at this from a conservative grid, this meeting primarily is all about the value of women as apologetic witnesses and very little about relationship.  Mary is an abstract woman whom Jesus selects to meet for apologetic currency.  Women want more than just apologetic value in the Gospel story.  Perhaps though, at the dawn of the new resurrection age, this meeting points towards the reconciliation of men and women in the new heavens and earth.  Immediately on this side of the resurrection, women are longer the invisible sex in the new chapter of the Jesus story.

In this garden, Mary is the one pursuing God, not the one hiding from God.  She is seeking out Jesus.  And the allusion to another garden in the the Song of Solomon comes up when she embraces Jesus after he veil has been lifted (cf. "when I found whom my soul loves,  I held him, and would not let him go" Song of Solomon 3:4). 

Forever Jesus and Mary are passionately linked together once Jesus chooses to meet Mary in the garden before he meets anyone else.  Mary begins talking with a "gardener."  But we see her veil is lifted (2 Cor. 3:18) during the conversation.    In freedom, the risen Lord reveals his resurrected self first to Mary.   In the garden of the new creation, Mary, a woman, is the first one to encounter the risen Christ and to "know."  She is the first human to see the risen Christ.  Mary was the first one to touch him.  She was the first one sent out from Jesus to tell others.  Mary, the one who was only mentioned once previously in the Gospels before crucifixion is the one to encounter this revelation of Christ in the new age.   This knowledge is not revealed to any of the male disciples first.  At this moment in the eschatological clock, every one of his male disciples has a veil of the old before their eyes.   

Others who are blogging:

Kathy Escobar

Julie Clawson

Sensuous Wife

Michelle Van Loon

Sonja Andrews

Heather

and many more...

Comments

[Steve Hayes]

In this garden, Mary is the one pursuing God, not the one hiding from God.

That stood outfor me in your post. I find it very significant. In the Orthodox Church she is called "Equal-to-the Apostles", because she was one of those who took the message of the risen Christ to those who had not heard it - in her case, the rest of the apostles.

[Liz]

Jesus really went against the status quo when it came to women. You might be interested in reading my post on Mary and Martha and how Jesus liberated Mary from her socially defined status of inferiority and marginalization. You can find it here: http://gracerules.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/mary-and-martha-a-story-about-gods-radical-hospitality/

[Lainie Petersen]

This post really turns the current evangelical dating advice "Girls, let the man pursue YOU" on its head.

Not that Jesus and Mary were dating, of course, but the notion of woman as pursuer, and being rewarded with the first sight of the risen Lord is both provocative and joy-and-life giving.

God bless you, and thanks for this.

[Dana Ames]

Good writing, meaningful thoughts.

St. Miriam of Magdala has always been one of my favorites :)

Dana

[kathy escobar]

dan, thanks for participating in this synchroblog and for the powerful reminder of this friendship, a powerful relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and what it means for us...