The Feast Day of Mary Magdalene in a Plague Year

Today is the feast day of Mary Magdalene.  You might be saying, “Mary Magdalene? Wasn’t she possessed by demons? Wasn’t she a prostitute? Why would Christ appear to her anyway? Why does she get a feast day?” Or maybe you remember more modern stories and think of her as Christ's secret lover and wonder if they had a secret family.

The theologian Cynthia Bourgeault wrote a book about Mary Magdalene, and she notes that Mary's presence at the resurrection is mentioned in all four gospels, either alone or in a group, but always there, always named.  Most Christians attend churches that focus on the male disciples, the ones that deserted Jesus at his most desperate. 

Bourgeault says, "What if, instead of emphasizing that Jesus died alone and rejected, we reinforced that one stood by him and did not leave?—for surely this other story is as deeply and truly there in the scripture as is the first. How would this change the emotional timbre of the day? How would it affect our feelings about ourselves? About the place of women in the church? About the nature of redemptive love?" (for more of Beougeault, see this meditation)

In these days of global pandemic, which means that so much of what we understand about the trajectory of modern life has changed in ways that leave us grieving, I think of Mary Magdalene weeping by the tomb.  Everything she thought she knew was in ashes, her best friend/teacher/mentor dead and buried.

But because she stays behind to weep, to be still for a bit, she gets to be the first to see the risen Lord. The male disciples are first to see the evidence of resurrection, but Mary sees Christ. Soon others else will see him, but she is first.

The story of Mary Magdalene has much to say to us in the 21st century. We need to be reminded to stay alert for the Divine, and for each other. We have many ways to dull our senses, and in these days of many screens, it's easy to be distracted.

If we're too busy, we might miss Christ altogether. Many religious texts teach us that the Divine will come to us in forms we least suspect. If we're not careful, we'll assume that we're not needed and go back to our houses. If we're not careful, we won't notice that the gardener is really the one for whom we've been searching.

It's good to be reminded of the resurrection story in the middle of July. Now the year is over half way done. We may be feeling scorched by the weather and by our dashed hopes for the year. It's good to remember the story that we can be part of; it's good to remember that we're promised grace and salvation.

It's good to know that resurrection can bloom in the unlikeliest places and circumstances.