Sermon

5th April 26

From the recent song “Wings”, written and sung by the Australian singer/ songwriter, Nikki Thornburn, who normally performs as “Iluka”:

“Mary Magdalene had some fun,

Some called her a whore. Some called her a nun.

Was she the baddest bitch in Bethlehem?

We’ll never know ‘cause her story’s written by men.”

Some called Mary Magdalene a whore.  But there is absolutely no suggestion of this in the pages of the New Testament.  But, “’cause her story’s written by men”, there is one man who really is to blame for this: Pope Gregory I in 591.  

He started with the Mary Magdalene, described in the Gospels: the woman who cared for Jesus after he had cured her; who stood under the cross of Jesus; and who, as we just heard in that Gospel reading, was the first witness of his resurrection.  (We’ll think a little more about her and the other early witnesses of the risen Jesus next week.)  So far, so good.  But then Pope Gregory sought additionally to identify her as “the woman which was a sinner”, who anointed Jesus’ feet in Simon’s house.

And it stuck, despite there being absolutely no scriptural authority: Mary Magdalene, the whore.  In art she is represented wearing scarlet and with her hair loose, easily identifiable as a prostitute to the viewer.  And her attribute is the jar of oil, with which the “woman who was a sinner” anointed the feet of Jesus.

It got even worse for her.  Another tradition, which was popularised in ‘The Da Vinci code’ by Dan Brown, had Mary as the wife or mistress of Jesus, who became pregnant by him and gave birth to their daughter, Sarah.  The search for the holy grail, supposedly the cup used by Jesus for the wine at the Last Supper, thus becomes a search for the bloodline of Jesus: happy hunting ground for cranks, indeed!

We need to ignore all this rubbish, and stick to the Magdalene described in the gospels: the loyal follower of Jesus who, unlike many of the disciples, did not run away when he was arrested.  She is there at the crucifixion and, after the Sabbath rest, comes to attend to the body of Jesus.  Now she is rewarded by being the first witness of the resurrection.  In a way, “’cause her story’s written by men”, it’s surprising that it is included in the gospels at all.  Remember that this is a time when the testimony of a woman would be far less acceptable than that of a man.  

On this Easter morning, as we celebrate the victory of Jesus over death, it is appropriate that we remember Mary Magdalene.  Not the penitent sinner of the later tradition and of all those paintings, but as the first witness of the resurrection of Jesus.  She was the first to preach the good news, telling others that Jesus had risen: she was the Apostle to the Apostles.  And as with her, so for us.  Telling others about the Easter story is not just the work of influential men, but of all of us, male and female, ordained or lay, wealthy or poor.  For He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Amen