St. Mary Magdalene
John 20:1-2, 11-18; Exodus 2:1-10; Acts 13:26-33a
Darkness. Stories of miracle and wonder, mystery and surprise always seem to emerge from darkness. The darkness of late night emerging into the early morn. As we look at the events, it is pretty clear that the story is ended. We know that the center piece of the story is death, grief and the inevitable question of what will come next. What will it be like to try to continue to live after it is all over. So it is that they waited for the morning light and the resolution to the questions because that also was what had been promised. The answer to all the questions.
I am speaking of course about the release yesterday of the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . Thousands of people, young and old waited into the night to acquire the final chapter in the series. I will confess that I am not a big Harry Potter fan but I have enjoyed reading portions of the books and watching a couple of the movies. The English major in me, has been impressed by the careful structuring of the narrative as well as the use of archetype and myth in crafting memorable characters and good stories. I was also impressed that it took less than 12 hours for the entire plot and major story themes to be posted on the internet. Knowing I had a sermon to write and no chance of reading the final book any time soon, I couldn't resist. I read the entire synopsis and the interpretive material concerning the Deathly Hallows. Yes, I know who lives and who dies, what the Deathly Hallows are and what happens to them. I even know what the epilogue says about who is married to whom 19 years later.
To know something that others might want to know. To have the answers to questions that others might still be pondering. To know that to share that knowledge risks satisfying some while upsetting others. To also know that there are also many who simply don't care about the answers. There are, of course, many questions that we encounter during our journey through life that cannot be answered by searching the internet or checking a reference book. And the truth is that the answer is not always found in known facts but in the experience itself. Our young people canoeing this week in the Boundary Waters may have read about and looked at pictures of the Minnesota north woods but that is not the answer to the question, What is it like to canoe in such wilderness? There are some questions that can only be answered through connecting our experiences with who we are. I have witnessed three births and an untold number of deaths in my life. I could describe such moments to you but they would not answer the question of what a birth or death is like because my experience would not be yours, nor yours mine. All I can be sure of is that each such experience changes the way you see the world. That is where our gospel lesson for today begins and ends. With an experience that changes the way the world is known and seen. Like all stories of miracle and wonder, mystery and surprise, this one also begins in darkness. Our text begins: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark... The darkness of late night emerging into the early morn. Alone into the darkness a woman, or maybe three women, depending on the version of the story, moved through the narrow streets, through the city gates, into the rock strewn pathways of the cemetery. The tomb is a familiar image to us now, a cave cut into the rock of the hillside with stone shelves hewn from the rock on which the bodies were placed and with a large stone that rolled in front of the caves entrance. It had been a new tomb where no one had even been laid. She came probably to grieve. Maybe she carried some additional spices and burial items that had not been applied in the haste to place the body in the tomb before the beginning of the Sabbath when such things were just not done. But arriving at the tomb, she did not stay, rather she turned and ran back into the city. Out of the darkness of the early morning there came a voice, calling for Simon Peter. In breathless exclamation it is declared that "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter and another disciple have to see this for themselves. They run to the tomb and find the linens that had wrapped the body but the tomb is empty. In stunned uncertainty of what to think, they leave the tomb and go back to their homes. But she has followed them back to the tomb. And she remains in the cemetery garden weeping. First a loss of life and now the body itself is gone. There are some questions of life and death that are not easily answered yet are almost certain to come. "What does it all mean?" "How do I go on from this moment?" Standing, weeping in the garden, the only explanation seemed to be that someone had taken the body. If the body could be recovered, maybe there would be some closure, some comfort. It is hard to explain what happens next. Looking into the tomb she sees two figures dressed in white, in later telling of the story they are identified as angels but they bring only a question, "Why are you weeping?" She answers with the only words that make sense. And then there is the presence of someone behind her. She assumes it to be the gardener and she begs through her tears for the body to be returned. And then comes a voice speaking her name, and she suddenly knows. Knows the answers to all the questions because he is standing right in front of her. She knows the truth. The truth that every thing he had said and promised and did was indeed true. And 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.
This morning is July 22, a day designated by most of the Christian community as a day to remember the witness of the other Mary, Mary Magdalene. In recent years she has become the source of great attention due in large part to the success of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code". Most of us have read or heard of the various interpretations of who the other Mary was. A variety of fictional creations have stirred the imagination and challenged more measured and historically grounded reflection. While the Roman church still pretty much follows a tradition that identifies her as a redeemed prostitute the rest of the Christian world has come to accept the scholarship that has established Mary Magdalene as one of Jesus' disciples, A respected and apparently somewhat wealthy member of the earliest faith community, who is the only disciple to witness the crucifixion, the burial and ultimately the first resurrection appearance of Jesus. From the historical and cultural vantage point of the 21 st century we can see how a male defined culture, society and religious community found it necessary to diminish the significance of this woman who was the apostle to the apostles. Yet even with such constraints, it is interesting that her place in the stories retold in scripture is still so central. She is called a disciple. Her role in supporting Jesus and his ministry is credited several times. She is named as standing at the foot of the cross when the other disciples have all fled in fear of the Roman authorities. She witnesses the burial and is named as a witness not only of the empty tomb but the first appearance by Jesus to any of his followers. She is the one who delivers the first Easter sermon by declaring that she has seen the Lord. While Peter will pick up the leadership role among the frightened and confused group of eleven disciples, Mary Magdalene witnesses from the very beginnings of the Christian faith to the importance of women in the establishment and preservation of the Gospel.
This other Mary was the first to see what the world could not see. An empty tomb should only be explained by a report of a stolen body. But there was another possibility. Jesus just might have meant what he said and did. The grace he offered, the life he promised. A new way of seeing the world and serving those around us. The power of reconciling love. The message we are invited to consider this day is the gospel promise of light in the darkness, answers that give new meaning to our lives but only if we are willing to live them out. Answers that come in the form of a woman who sees the world differently. There still are such women. I think of a story from South Africa. A little more than ten years ago now, in the early days of Nelson Mandela's South African presidency, Archbishop Desmond Tutu was named to head the official government panel called the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission". The purpose of the Commission was to break the country's long cycle of violence and revenge. The author Philip Yancey tells in his book Rumors of Another World describes how for the next 2½ years South Africans listened to reports of atrocities coming out of the Commission's hearings. The rules were simple: if a white policeman or army officer voluntarily faced his accusers, confessed his crime, and fully acknowledged his guilt, he could not be tried and punished for the crime. The approach was highly controversial, but Bishop Tutu insisted that the country needed healing rather than retribution.
At one hearing a policeman named Van de Broek recounted an incident when he and other officers had shot an 18-year old boy and burned his body in order to destroy the evidence. Eight years later Van de Broek returned to the same house to seize the boy's father. The man's wife was forced to watch as the policeman burned her husband alive.
After the man had recounted his crimes to the Commission, the judge turned straight to the elderly woman who had lost her husband and her son to this atrocity and asked, "What do you want from Mr. Van de Broek?" The elderly woman rose to speak and said she wanted Van de Broek to go to the place where they had burned her husband's body and gather up the dust so she could give him a decent burial. Van de Broek, his head bowed, nodded his agreement. And she added a further request. "Mr. Van de Broek took all my family away from me," she said looking at him, "but I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month I would like for him to come to the township and spend a day with me so that I can be a mother to him. And I would like Mr. Van de Broek to know that he is forgiven by God, and that I forgive him too. I would like to embrace him so he can know that my forgiveness is real." A woman speaks and we see the world differently.
We want so desperately to cling to our expectations, stereotypes, prejudices and judgments of others. We hold on to our anger, guilt, hatred and suspicions. We even become convinced that we have found the exclusive and only truth which we embrace with total devotion. Jesus said to Mary, "Do not hold on to me" His words sound strange until we realize that he was telling us to let go of that which we would cling to for our own comfort. To recognize that we create such false security at the expense of God's kingdom. Jesus spoke her name and she knew. In our baptisms we also were named by God, and we know. We may not have yet experience the full depth and meaning of the truth we know, but we know. He does not call on us to condemn or judge others, but invites us to see the world as our opportunity to be embraced by grace.
Into the darkness we must sooner or later walk. Mary took her steps toward an empty tomb and discovered a promise of life beyond her wildest dreams. A South African man placed himself in the hands of people and a woman who proclaimed God's grace and love and found reconciliation. We have the answers, they have been given to us in simple forms of bread and wine, water and the word. The other Mary led the way. We journey no longer into the darkness but toward the light.
Amen