The Sermon for Mary Magdalene, Apostle
I Have Seen the Lord
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Today we are marking the day for “Mary Magdalene, Apostle,” whose official date in the Christian calendar is July 23. Mary Magdalene is one of the key “players” in the story of the life of Jesus Christ and probably the Gospel story person of whom we know the least, and most of what we know is incorrect, what we might call “fake news” today.
Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, despite her portrayal as one in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical, “Jesus Christ, Superstar,” or in Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel, “The Last Temptation of Christ” and Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of that book. Nor was she Jesus’ wife and bearer of his child, as Dan Brown’s mystery thriller novel and Tom Hanks’ film, “The Da Vinci Code,” suggests. She was not the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with ointment and then wiped his feet with her hair, nor was she the Mary of Mary and Martha in the Bible. She also is not the secret author of the Gospel of John, as some have suggested, although the fact that John’s Gospel was written by a community of people could easily lead to this error.
That is all what we now call “fake news.”
Well, then, what do we know about this Mary? Well, her name suggests that she may have been from the ancient town of Magdala, near the city of Tiberias in present day Israel. She may have been born there and grew up there and gotten her name, Magdalene from Magdala, but all that is also uncertain.
What we do know we know from the Gospels – Mary was part of a group of women followers of Jesus, perhaps the leader of that group, women of some financial means who helped fund Jesus’ ministry. Luke tells us that Jesus restored Mary to health, cured her of “seven demons,” but we do not know any more about her life before Jesus than that.
Mary Magdalene clearly loved Jesus, perhaps more deeply than anyone else, which may have led to all of the speculation about her sexuality and marital status. We know Mary held an important place in Jesus’ life and ministry – she was present at Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. She was one of the devoted women who came early in the morning to the empty tomb that first Easter Sunday. Mary Magdalene was the first person to actually see and speak with the resurrected Jesus as recorded in our gospel text today. She was the one who ran to tell the others.
And, Mary Magdalene was persistent in her love for Jesus. She was the first one to the tomb that morning. When Mary arrived at Jesus’ tomb, she was stunned. The huge rock, which was supposed to seal the tomb, was gone. Immediately, today’s Gospel lesson from St. John tells us, Mary ran from the tomb to tell Simon Peter and the other disciples what she had seen, thinking Jesus’ body had been stolen. The disciples came back with her, saw it for themselves and left. But Mary remained at the tomb, not wanting to leave. Mary did not want to give up. She certainly was not expecting to see Jesus resurrected, but somehow could not pull herself away to leave. Mary Magdalene was persistent in her love for Jesus.
And, you know what happened next, Mary Magdalene’s persistence paid off, as they say. After speaking with two angels who asked Mary why she is weeping, she turned and saw Jesus, although, at first, Mary did not recognize Jesus. But as soon as Jesus spoke Mary’s name, she recognized Jesus and, following Jesus’ instructions, went back to the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord.”
Mary was persistent. She did not give up on Jesus.
Sometimes we may be too quick to give up on Jesus, to give up on God. We pray a quick prayer to God for help and when we do not see the help we prayed for, we wonder why God has not answered our prayer. Or, we ask God to intervene in a situation and then move on when God does not seem to intervene quickly enough.
Mary persisted. Mary waited. She did not let outward appearances deter her from what she sought that first Easter Sunday morning. Mary wanted to see Jesus even though that seemed impossible at first. So, Mary stayed, Mary persisted, and Mary was the first to see the risen Jesus.
And, then, Mary gave the first sermon, if you will, the first sermon following Jesus’ resurrection, a sermon in five words, “I have seen the Lord!”
Mary does not say, “Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed,” as wonderful as those words are, but says only, “I have seen the Lord!” For Mary, Jesus’ resurrection is not a third person confession but is a first person testimony. Jesus’ resurrection is a truth that Mary witnessed, “I have seen the Lord!” It is a truth that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we can give witness to every day.
We all need the invitation and encouragement and promise to say “I have seen the Lord” in our daily lives. This does not mean we have to find the tallest mountain or the busiest street corner and yell this to everyone who passes by. It does not mean we need to put John 3:16 on a poster and hold it up at a football game. No, “I have seen the Lord” is not about sharing Jesus Christ, as coercion, competition, or putting someone else down.
To say “I have seen the Lord” is to point to Jesus’ resurrection in the midst of ruin, to make new life visible in the face of death, love in the face of hate, decency and goodness when all around us seems vitriolic and vile and vicious.
In the end, Jesus’ resurrection is not only the promise of life after death, which, of course, would be enough in itself. Jesus’ resurrection is also the assurance the life-giving love of God will always move the stones away in our lives.
Tombs are just that – containers for the dead. And, while the world may seem content these days with such spaces, those dead places that fuel corruption, deception, racism, sexism, suspicion, rejection, marginalization, misogyny, judgment and fear – while the world may be content with these, we believe in a God who also rolls all of these “stones” away, everything that keeps full and true life at bay. And, when the stale air of decay meets God’s breath that creates new life and the possibility of hope and peace, death truly is no more.
The promise of Jesus’ resurrection is not only secure because God made it so by raising Jesus from the dead. The promise of Jesus’ resurrection is certain when we speak it into our own lives, “I have seen the Lord!” These are the very words that roll back the stones that confine and constrain our lives. They give us the freedom to know dignity and regard and respect.
“I have seen the Lord” insists that the ways of love will win over the ways of hate. “I have seen the Lord” confirms that the truth of kindness can be heard over the din of ruthless, callous and vindictive rhetoric. “I have seen the Lord” gives witness to the fact that there is another way of being in this world, a way of being that is shaped by Jesus’ resurrection, that embodies anything and everything that is life-giving, a way of being that is so counter-cultural, so demonstrative of mercy, so exemplary of the truth of Jesus’ resurrection that, when we live it, others will listen, watch and wonder and maybe even get a glimpse of Jesus in us.
Jesus’ resurrection does not need our action for verification. Jesus’ resurrection does not depend on our witness to convince others. Jesus’ resurrection does not rely on our willingness to speak words of life into conversations intent on destruction, nor does it rely on our determination to free those captive to the deaths that our culture and the world perpetuate.
No, Jesus’ resurrection is true regardless of our testimony.
But, maybe, Jesus’ resurrection will be more true for each and everyone of us if we can walk out of church today and say, with Mary Magdalene, “I have seen the Lord” and be willing to look for new ways to say this in our own lives, by the actions of our own lives and to think of others who need us to say to them, “I have seen the Lord” because they cannot see God, because they are still stuck in the tombs of this world and their lives in it.
The truth of Jesus’ resurrection is that Jesus’ resurrection matters for our future. And, the truth of Jesus’ resurrection is that Jesus’ resurrection matters even more for our present and, through us, for the sake of the present for others.
Mary Magdalene has given us the words we need to hear and then share with others by the actions of our lives, the one we need to hear and share every day of our lives, persistently like Mary, “I have seen the Lord.”
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis and the Rev. Dr. Carla Powell)
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, July 21&22, 2018
