On 22 July, it is the Feast of St Mary Magdalene.
Hymns for Mary Magdalene
Out of the night where hope had died,
to tomb once sealed, now gaping wide,
the Magdalene made haste, to mourn
and bring her spices through the dawn.
She gazed in disbelief and pain
where Jesus in his death had lain,
until the radiant angel said,
Seek not the living with the dead.
Soon trusting love cast out her fears;
she rose and brushed away her tears.
As first apostle, Mary ran
to tell God’s resurrection plan.
Jesus is risen! Mary cries,
Lift up your hearts and dry your eyes,
Jesus is risen–come and see–
and goes before to Galilee.
All glory be to God above,
for Mary’s apostolic love,
all praise to God whom we adore
for ever and for evermore. Amen.
From The Saint Helena Breviary, Church Publishing 2006
Matins of St Mary Magdalene
Tune 8888
A second hymn for the feast of St Mary Magdalene
She was one of the few who stayed with Jesus at the cross, and the first to meet him at the empty tomb. In some traditions Mary was a wealthy woman who supported Jesus’ ministry financially. In this tradition she journeyed to Rome where she was admitted to Tiberius Caesar’s court because of her high social standing. She told Caesar of Pilate’s poor administration of justice and told him of Jesus’ resurrection. She picked up an egg to illustrate the resurrection, at which point Caesar said that a human could no more rise from death than the egg turn red. At which point it did – the explanation of the Eastern red Easter eggs. The tradition continues to Mary Magdalene’s martyrdom.
There is further information here and here.
Many of us will have heard sermons where Mary Magdalene was identified with the repentant prostitute. There is, of course, no biblical evidence for that identification. It is a conflation that developed in the West (but not in the East) and was set in concrete by Pope Gregory the Great, around 591. I was reminded of the way we treat her by the cartoon by David Hayward. Rev Susan Russell called it, “Easter Monday: AKA The Feast of the Mansplaining of the Resurrection”. I certainly spend a lot of time explaining the Resurrection: no, it was not resuscitation – divine CPR; no, Jesus did not die again; no, God does not have a right hand for Jesus to sit on; …
Here is this article by Ramon K. Jusino suggesting that, perhaps, Mary Magdalene is the anonymous unsung voice of the Beloved Disciple of the Fourth Gospel and, therefore, its primary author.
Certainly, hand the following text to someone who has no idea what is going on, and the normal reading would be that the disciple whom Jesus loved was Mary Magdalene:
standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:25-27)
After being told by Mary Magdalene that the body of the Lord was missing, Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved run to the tomb to find it so – followed by Mary Magdalene standing by the tomb weeping. (John 20:1-11).
Ramon Jusino’s article works through the use of male pronouns and having Mary Magdalene and the Beloved Disciples seeming to be two separate persons in the same scene.
In any case, would it feel any different if this gospel has Mary Magdalene as its primary author? There have been suggestions that other parts of the scriptures were produced by women. What difference might that make? To you?
Reflection off this site by Rev. Dr Benjamin Williams, lecturer at Oxford university, on Mary Magdalene the ‘Apostle of the Apostles’ in Aquinas’s Commentary on John.
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Image source: NakedPastor
I’m a big fan of the NakedPastor who created the artworked you’ve used. I hope that you have an agreement with him or, at the very least, give him credit and provide a link
It is great, Tara, that you, like many others, have found NakedPastor significant. I have been friends with David for over fourteen years and regularly promote him and his ideas. The link to his resources in the post is NakedPastor. Blessings.