Greetings to you all greatly beloved of God in Christ Jesus. Welcome to another beautiful day in the second month of the year 2021. We are thankful to God for preserving our lives each new day and for blessing us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
You Are Too Relevant To Be Ignored, Examining The Love Of God Over Mary Magdalene
Rooted in the message of Jesus Christ are two major words: Love and Forgiveness which has been repeatedly demonstrated by Christ Himself and the Apostles in their Gospel campaigns.
One of the practical demonstrations of Love and Forgiveness happened between Jesus and a very important figure in the Bible.
You can call her the first woman Apostle in the history of Christianity that first preached the Good News immediately after resurrection.
You can call her “The Mystery Woman.” Or better still, “the woman Jesus Christ loved.”
She is no other person than Mary Magdalene.
The way Mary’s story was written in the Bible has drawn a lot of attentions and further research, especially from Bible scholars as she was mentioned only to have met Jesus as a prostitute, was pardoned, was loyal to Jesus, was a major financial partner of Jesus’ ministry, took part in His burial, was the first woman to see His resurrection and was also the first woman to convey the resurrection news to other disciples and from that moment on, her story diminished and faded into thin air. Nothing else was mentioned of her other than the main points mentioned.
So, who was Mary Magdalene?
Newer research from Bible scholars has revealed that Mary was actually a very wise woman, who was also a Medium (someone experienced in communicating with the dead) and a Spiritualist, before she met Jesus.
No wonder according to Mark 16:1-3, the Bible says she played a significant role in embalming the body of Jesus. We all know that Mediums are experienced morticians, right?
This also agrees with the reason she was possessed with 7 demons which were cast out by Jesus Christ when she met Him. Proof can be found in Mark 16:9. People like her would definitely have demons in them since she would have associated with so many unclean spirits.
However, looking at a sermon delivered by Pope Gregory I in 591AD. Having preached about her love and devotion for Jesus, he went further to describe her as the unnamed sinful woman in Luke 7:37-38 who heard that Jesus was in the house of a Pharisee called Simon, went there, brought out an alabaster jar full of perfume, stood behind Jesus by His feet, crying, and wetting His feet with her tears.
Then she dried His feet with her hair (because she had a very long natural hair), kissed His feet and poured the perfume on them.
The pope also described Mary Magdalene as the sister of Martha of Bethany mentioned in Luke 10:38-42 and John 11:1-44 where John actually gave that clear description. Let’s read an excerpt below:
John 11: 1-2a In the village of Bethany there was a man named Lazarus, and his sisters, Mary, and Martha. Mary was the one who would anoint Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and dry his feet with her long hair. The Passion Translation.
Pope Gregory also added to his sermon Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:1-3 referring to when Jesus cast out seven demons out of Mary.
He explained that those seven demons were seven terrible sins found in Mary’s life such as lust, pride, greed etc. This version of Mary’s story gained very wide popularity in the Western Christianity at that time and even till now.
Why would the church supress her name in such a way that nothing was heard or read about her after resurrection?
The first reason I deduced based on facts from the Bible is that the writers of the Bible placed serious emphasis on male dominance, while women were not reckoned with and as a matter of fact, women and children’s names were of no significance when writing biblical genealogy. That is why we do not usually see women and children names mentioned during population census in the Bible. Women names and what they did were only mentioned only in few unavoidable instances.
Another reason they might have tried to supress Mary’s story is possibly because of how a 2nd century Greek Philosopher called Celsus (175-177) vehemently opposed Christianity and made a jest of the fact that Jesus resurrected. His view was also supported by a man called Lucian of Samosata (a Syrian satirist and rhetorician). They both mocked the story of resurrection seeing Mary Magdalene as a hysterical woman, who brought the miracle news.
This did not go down well with the church, given the fact that the only proof at that time was an oral evidence of the resurrection from a woman. Therefore, they needed more proofs from the male members of Jesus’ movement to back up their claim in order to convince the world without iota of doubts.
Hence, one of the reasons books like The Gospel of Mary and other books called Apocrypha (that revealed so many secrets about what happened during the time of Jesus and the early church), were expunged from the canonical books. They thought a single woman’s testimony was never going to be enough to convince the doubting population about the resurrection.
Another possible reason is this: while I was going through a book titled Mary Magdalene, A Biography written by Bruce Chilton, the author stated that in “The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine,” the compendium of stories of saints compiled during the thirteenth century, Mary was so wealthy that she owned the towns of Magdala and Bethany, near Jerusalem. But her wealth, beauty, and youth brought temptations, and she descended to living as a prostitute, following a path of degradation that medieval teachers feared for all women.
In short, she was seen as a terrible sinner, who merely found grace in the sight of Jesus, repented, and became a new person and from that moment on, she became a loyal disciple, supporting Jesus’ ministry.
They probably thought someone with such background should not be associated with the story of Christ and His resurrection.
Fortunately for Mary, the four canonical books of the Gospel still managed to retain some of her stories which revealed the crucial roles she played in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Her story and the empty tomb gave the whole world irrefutable evidence to prove that Jesus Christ resurrected.
The point is, if Mary’s sins did not prevent Jesus from accepting her, who are we to challenge that position? If Christ Jesus deemed it fit to make her worthy, who are we to cast her aside?
Remember, the Lord is closer to the broken-hearted and much is forgiven anyone who is contrite in the spirit. Mary may have not been a perfect person, but she was contrite in the heart and she was favoured by the Lord.
Since Mary was the first to witness The Risen Christ, she effectively was the world’s first Christian. Those religious leaders did not like that fact, but the truth is: Truth cannot be buried forever. Mary Magdalene remains a Saint and so is everyone born of God in Christ – The bible says, you are holy, peculiar, and righteous. Let this be your watchword from now on.
Let’s declare this together by faith: I am born of God and He loves me unconditionally. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Everything is working together for my good. I remain relevant to my generation providing solutions to people’s problems. Wealth and success answer to me effortlessly. Amen and Amen.
Bible Readings: Acts Chapters 1 to 12 with Proverbs Chapters 9 to 15
I call you blessed now and always.
Sunday February 14, 2021 (DDMI)
