Today, I celebrate Mary Magdalene —
and her story with Christ.
She had an intimate friendship with Christ
whose presence transformed her.
Yet, her experience with Christ wasn’t believed:
From Mark 16:1-20, Mary was the first to encounter the risen Christ,
“Excitedly, Mary told them, “He’s alive and I’ve seen him!”
But even after hearing this, they didn’t believe her.”
From the Gospel of Mary Magdalene
(page 17 v14-20)
once Mary Madelene was given access to sacred knowledge from Christ
and she shared it with the other disciples,
“And Peter added:
How is it possible that the Teacher talked
in this manner, with a woman,
about secrets of which we ourselves are ignorant?
Must we change our customs,
and listen to this woman?
Did he really choose her, and prefer her to us?”
Upon Christ’s death, Mary Magdalene set out to become
one who shared the message of Christ.
She bravely spoke her truth of Christ’s resurrection
to Emperor Tiberius Caesar while holding an egg in her hand
(to illustrate her point).
Caesar challenged her truth, with a statement such as this:
There is no more chance that a human could come back to life
than the egg in her hand turn red.
The egg turned promptly turned red.
(Often, Mary Magdalene is interpreted in famous art holding a red egg)
In the sixth century,
Pope Gregory the Great cast Mary Magdalene
as a prostitute in a sermon that, essentially, went viral.
This became the legacy that was
pinned upon her:
Sinner. Prostitute. Woman of Seven Sins.
Though others attempted to belittle her,
the truth of who Mary Magdalene was cannot be contained.
The revelation of her story is upon us,
if we look closely and are open to refresh her tale:
She is
Apostle of the Apostles
Speaker of Christ’s Love Story
Teacher of Intuition
Creator for Change
Sacred Visionary
Intuitive of Heart
•
Because I create and work with
visions, writing and imagination —
I’ve experienced spaces and conversations
where this intuition
is seen as suspect and strange.
If it can’t be proven with fact,
or understood through the lens of rationality
then I’m the crazy one.
Yet, what I find is that this innovation,
this intuition that lives within —
is an invitation toward action.
Mary Magdalene
was empowered by Christ
through relationship and ongoing visionary intuition
to share her message,
and she did.
•
I’m still stunned that in 2021,
there are church denominations that will not allow
women ordination,
to share our story,
our perspective,
our message of Christ,
siting verses such as Titus 2 to keep women
in their box of domestication.
Pope Francis
declared Mary Magdalene a Feast day in 2018
yet he will not give consent for women
to serve as priests
The question of authority rises as I write this.
Who has the authority and how is it being used?
It’s imperative that we look at the power structures in play
and invite reflection.
Consider the family, work, church, community organizations that you are part of.
Consider the news you watch, the books you read, the directors of film.
Who is the Source of the story?
How is diversity uplifted (or not)?
Are different cultures represented?
Different ages?
Varying genders?
Ultimately, who makes the decisions?
What story would YOU tell about these different areas of your life?
What would another person affiliated with these groups tell?
How are committee/work meetings run? Who leads them?
Are all voices allowed to share?
Is there ever music, song, poetry, dance, art, reflection
as part of the experience or is it run from solely from “the mind” leading?
Who gets to be “the voice” for the group?
Are statistics/end result/product/money making/numbers the focus
or does the feeling/sensory/heart have a say as well?
Are the pronouns spoken of always male or is there an inclusion of feminine
(with ongoing awareness of the gender continuum)?
Where are the spaces you go where your voice is witnessed with love?
•
Blessings to you this Feast Day of Mary Magdalene
I’m continually learning of the feminine within the Christian tradition,
this is ongoing study for me. Some sources include:
The Gospel of Mary Magdelene by Jean-Yves Leloup
Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet by Megan Watterson
A New New Testament: A Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts Edited by Hal Taussig