The Apostle to the Apostle

Mary Magdalene! A name all Christians as well as people of other religions and no religion know. Throughout religious history Mary has been described in many ways, some not particularly flattering. She has been conflated by bishops, theologians and others with other women found in scripture which has certainly led to some of the confusion as to who she really was. At times she was thought to be the woman who washed Jesus feet with expensive oil and dried it with her hair, and with Mary of Bethany who sat at Jesus’ feet. She is depicted in Scripture as the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven devils, which may have lead to her description as a prostitute and may explain her devotion to him

Mary Magdalene, whose Feast Day was July 22, is mentioned by name twelve times in the Gospels, most notably, John 20:11-18 in which she is recorded as having witnessed his crucifixion and burial and as the first person to witness the Risen Jesus. After finally recognizing Jesus, when he calls her by name, Mary! She is told by Him to, “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Acting on Jesus’ command, Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’ and she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Mary Magdalene, whatever else she did in her life, became the first to proclaim the Good News of the Resurrected Christ, the first Preacher of Resurrection to a world that truly needed to hear that Good News, and move from death to life. All of us who proclaim the Good News of the resurrected Jesus are following in Mary’s footsteps. As I read the Epistles of Paul, and of Timothy and Titus (which were likely written by followers of the Apostle Paul after his death), and see the prohibitions against women asking questions in worship or teaching men (1 Cor. 14:34; 1Timothy 2:11-12; and others) I realize that these letters, which are used as arguments against women preaching, were written at a time and place in history in which women were more restricted in their public involvement than they are today.

I believe that Mary Magdalene’s story reminds us that God calls people, both male and female, to all kinds of ministry, including the preaching ministry. St. Peter proclaims in Acts 2:17, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

 St. Paul reminds us that we don’t control the Spirit, God does (1Cor. 12:4-11): “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. . . All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

Thanks be to God!

“And who is my Neighbor?"

Jesus was many things, including an Itinerant Preacher. He roamed the Galilean Countryside with his disciples and the women who followed him. He healed and preached, taught and prayed. Often people asked him questions during and after his sermons.

On one occasion (Luke 10:25-37), a lawyer asked a question to test Jesus: he said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" to which Jesus answered by asking a question. "What is written in the law?” The man answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."  Jesus calls this the First and Great Commandment. He didn’t create it but knew it from his reading of the scriptures (the first part is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, the second in Leviticus 19:18) but he expanded on it by broadening the definition of neighbor.

 

The Story continues: “And then, wanting to justify himself, the lawyer asked Jesus, ‘and who is my neighbor,’” a question Jesus answered with a story. (Jesus almost always answers questions with another question or a story). Jesus then tells the story that we know as the “Good Samaritan,” a story I believe he told many times as he tried to communicate with people the essence of the Kingdom of God. Jesus then ends the dialogue by asking the lawyer another question: “Which of these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus then said to him, "Go and do likewise."

 

Jesus tells this story at a time and in a part of the world where being a neighbor usually meant being a member of the same ethnic group, the same religion or both. With this parable, the neighbor turns out to be, “not the one we expect to be a neighbor,” but the one who showed compassion, the one who acted like a neighbor. You and I live in a world very similar to Jesus’ world except that communication is instantaneous: we judge neighbors by their religion, race, color and nation of origin rather than as the “one who showed compassion,” and we often forget the command part of Jesus’ statement, the purpose of the story, “go and do likewise.”

 

This does not mean that we have open borders, but it does mean that: we find ways to keep families together who come seeking asylum or safety; we make sure that conditions in locations where people must stay as the wait for asylum, or before they must go home, are safe, sanitary and that there is food to eat. It might also mean that we as a nation may need to look at policies of our country that may have contributed to some of the conditions in countries people are leaving.

 

Being a neighbor and a Christian in today’s world is complicated and followers of Jesus often see things differently from one another. Being a neighbor and having compassion means learning how to disagree with respect: not calling people names using profanity and not telling people with whom we disagree to go back where they came from. “America love or leave it, will be replaced with “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.” Micah 6:8

Jesus shows us what it means to be a neighbor and commands us to “Go and do likewise."