Trust in Faith
Sister Kathleen Flood, OP
Glimpse the Quintessential
Preacher: Mary of Magdala
Sister Mary Ellen O’Dea, OP
Listening with Our Lives
Sister Ann Willits, OP
Announcing the Good News
Sister Helen Marie Raycraft, OP
Lay Preaching
Barbara Skierecki
The Word Is Near to You
Sister KC Young, OP
Stories of Preaching
Glimpse the Quintessential Preacher: Mary of Magdala
Sister Mary Ellen O’Dea, OP
Indicative of the growing interest in Mary of Magdala is the proliferation of thoughtful and available writings about her; the progressively popular, prayerful, and international celebrations initiated by Future Church honoring her; the vibrant conversations in small faith groups around the globe concerning her; and the ever widening circle of novels published in the public sector dealing with her.
Amongst our sources, the Second Testament of our Scriptures is the most familiar. In John 20:1-18, we find Mary of Magdala in simple concrete events, which can also be taken symbolically. The feminine senses the absence of The Beloved. The two disciples, having been notified by her, investigate for themselves. Love is both first to arrive, first to interpret the neatly placed cloths, and first to believe. The disciples are awakened to a simple faith from what they have seen, but it is an initial faith that does not yet call them out to mission, even to notifying the other disciples! They are still mostly scattered, and they return home.
Now Mary of Magdala, who remains behind, is brought to articulate what she is looking for: the one whom her heart loves. Jesus asks her two times, “Why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” He speaks her name, “Mary,” and she recognizes him and speaks her special name for him in Hebrew, “Rabboni,” which literally means “my Rabbi.” As Jesus knows his own “by name” (10:3), so Mary knows her Teacher by name. Intimate personal knowing is the first fruit of the resurrection.
But Jesus, now that he has been resurrected, takes Mary of Magdala even beyond this intimacy to a new way of relating. “Do not hold on to me,” he says (or stop clinging to me). “I have not yet ascended.” Mary is still relating to Jesus in a human way; she needs to let him go away, so that the Holy Spirit may come (16:7). She is to find him in a new way, in Jesus’ disciples; she is then given a commission. The disciples to whom she goes are new family, having been so formed on the cross (19:26). As Mary went to Peter and the beloved disciple in 20:1-2, she now goes to all the disciples, and tells them all Jesus said. She bears witness to the disciples. She is acting on Jesus’ word. Empowerment by the Spirit is the second fruit of resurrection faith. Disciples (hopefully this includes us) are transformed and missioned in the power of Jesus risen.
Mary of Magdala most particularly indicates the importance of the feminine in opening to Jesus’ new life. Mary of Magdala first notices the empty tomb, and after the two disciples see and believe but then return home, she stays, is addressed by name, and is sent to the disciples to witness. Woman’s gift of love, it would seem, enables her to recognize where life and spirit is missing and opens her to a faithful trust that allows God’s personal love to break through. As with the beloved disciple, such love remains to the end, but it is also first to perceive. It is love, not knowledge, that opens us to Jesus risen; and it is being loved by Jesus that empowers us to extend Jesus’ love to others, that empowers us to preach: WE HAVE SEEN THE TEACHER! We faithfully and actively preach from the pulpit of our everyday lives.
Another source, The Gnostic Gospel of Mary, one of the texts discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, presents us with the long suppressed story of Mary of Magdala’s important, formidable presence in the earliest days of Christianity. It is Mary of Magdala who totally grasped Jesus’ profound teachings as no one else did. It is out of such fullness that Mary preached.
Considering her words from the Gnostic Gospel of Mary . . . we see Mary of Magdala faced with Peter’s incomprehension. Most painful for her is the implication that the Resurrection itself could be seen as a lie:
“Then Mary wept, and answered him: ‘My brother Peter, what can you be thinking? Do you believe that this is just my own imagination, that I invented this vision? Or do you believe that I would lie about our Teacher?’ At this, Levi spoke up: ‘Peter, you have always been hot-tempered, and now we see you repudiating a woman, just as our adversaries do. Yet if the Teacher held her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the Teacher knew her very well, for he loved her more than us. Therefore let us atone, and become fully human [Anthropos], so that the Teacher can take root in us. Let us grow as he demanded of us, and walk forth to spread the gospel without trying to lay down any rules and laws other than those he witnessed.’”
(BG 8502: 1-21, Berlin Codex)
In another pericope: As her brothers despair, while her strength has been so filled by seeing Christ himself risen from the dead, Mary is now able to console and warmly embrace them . . . her tenderness is not reserved for the beloved apart from others, for this love knows no exclusion. She tells them that those of divided heart and mind live in a duality that can lead to a kind of schizophrenia or internal split—actions are in conflict with words, words with thoughts, and thoughts with desires. In the face of adversity, with fear and dissension among the disciples, Mary reminds them of the unifying power of praise:
“The disciples were in sorrow, shedding many tears, and saying: ‘How are we to go among the unbelievers and announce the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? They did not spare his life, so why should they spare ours?’ Then Mary arose, embraced them all, and began to speak to her brothers: ‘Do not remain in sorrow and doubt, for his Grace will comfort you and guide you. Instead, let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared us for this. He is calling upon us to become fully human [Anthropos].’ Thus Mary turned their hearts toward the good, and they began to discuss the meaning of the Teacher’s words.” (Gospel of Mary 9:6-20)
In both the Canonical Gospel of John and the Gnostic Gospel of Mary, Mary of Magdala’s character and texts can be read as empowering to women. Glimpse the quintessential preacher: Mary of Magdala. Glimpse both the conflicts and controversies that shaped earliest Christianity. Glimpse our role in contemporary conflicts and controversies. Ask this: How do we preach from the pulpit of our everyday lives?
Mary Ellen O’Dea is a Dominican of Sinsinawa and Creator of The Magdala Project, which is a three-year preaching empowerment process.