This week's issue of Newsweek explored the issue of women in the Bible. This was prompted by the popularity of the novel the Da Vinci Code. In it the author theorized that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus. This is highly unlikely. On the other hand this reexamination of Mary Magadalene provides a useful opportunity of undoing the conflation of Mary with the unknown prostitute in Luke 7. The origin of this error was a sermon by Pope Gregory in the Sixth Century.
Feminist revisionists look to the so-called Gnostic Gospels to find freedom from patriarchical oppression. However, this is not necessary. The role of Mary Magadalene in the canonical Gospels provides a model for the role of women and shows how women are valued in the Christ's Kingdom. Ken Woodword, Newsweek's Religion Editor, notes the following:
Every act of reading, of course, involves interpretation. Your Don Quixote or Molly Bloom is not mine because we bring different expectations and experiences to the text. But the Bible presents a particularly difficult world to enter into because it is internally self-referential: the later books of the Hebrew Bible reinterpret passages from the earlier books, just as the New Testament advances reinterpretations of the Old. It is also, in key passages, self-correcting from a gender perspective. Thus, to approach this world as if it were all a patriarchal conspiracy is to miss those texts that reflect a gynocentric point of view. Among the most important for Christians are those Gospel passages in which women—including Mary Magdalene—discover the empty tomb and deliver this good news to Jesus’ fearful male Apostles. Even a male reader like myself can’t miss the implication: 12 men formed the inner circle of the Jesus movement and got titles to go with that privileged access, but it was women who were rewarded at the Resurrection because they were more faithful to Jesus. So much for patriarchal titles.
It was Mary and not the Apostles who had faith when Christ was resurrected. The Jews of the time thought wrongly that ethnic heritage saved us. Others have thought power and titles saves us. What Mary Magdalene teaches us is that it is none of that. Rather, it is faith that allows us passage into the family of God and that in that family we are all brothers and sisters.
This is, again, a distorted view of Scripture. Neither the men, meaning the disciples, nor the women, including Mary of Magdala, believed that Jesus was resurrected. Read all four gospel accounts. The women were faithfully going to the tomb before the break of dawn on the third day morning to anoint the body of our Lord. They did not expect to find an empty tomb although Christ had previously announced publicly and privately (three times in fact) that on the third day He would rise again. The women were shocked when they discovered the tomb was empty and that the tomb had been rolled away. Mary and her companions assumed that grave robbers or the Romans had stolen the Lord's body. In her despair and her tears Mary turn to the person that she assumed was a grave yard caretaker to ask him where His body was. Lo and behold the one that she assumed was the graveyard worker was the risen Lord. Stop all this foolishness and read the text for yourself. The Lord appeared to the women first because they came to the tomb on the third day morning first. They believed not because they had more faith than the men, but because the Lord in his grace opted to appear to them first.
Posted by: john | December 03, 2003 at 02:16 PM
It is true that neither comprehended immediately what had happened but contrast the following passages:
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
...
But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Posted by: Rich | December 03, 2003 at 02:26 PM
This is, again, a distorted view of Scripture. Neither the men, meaning the disciples, nor the women, including Mary of Magdalene, believed that Jesus was resurrected. Nor did they believe in their heart of hearts that he would rise again.
Read all four gospel accounts. The women were faithfully going to the tomb before the break of dawn on the third day morning to anoint the body of our Lord. They expected his body to be there and they expected the grave would still be standing. In fact, Mark tells us: “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” (Mark 16:3).
They did not expect to find an empty tomb, although Christ had previously announced publicly and privately (three times in fact) that on the third day He would rise again. The women were shocked when they discovered the tomb was empty and that the stone had been rolled away. In fact, Luke tells they came to seek Jesus body. An angel asked them, “why are you seeking the living among the dead?” Luke writes:
Luk 24:1 Now upon the first [day] of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain [others] with them.
Luk 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Luk 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luk 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
Luk 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down [their] faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Luk 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Luk 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Luk 24:8 And they remembered his words.
As the Gospel tell us, Mary and her companions assumed that grave robbers or the Romans had stolen the Lord's body. In her despair and her tears, Mary turned to the person that she assumed was a grave yard caretaker to ask him where His body was.
Lo and behold the one that she assumed was the graveyard worker was the risen Lord.
John tells us:
Jhn 20:8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
Jhn 20:9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
Jhn 20:10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
Jhn 20:11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, [and looked] into the sepulchre,
Jhn 20:12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Jhn 20:13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
Jhn 20:14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jhn 20:15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jhn 20:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
Jhn 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God.
Jhn 20:18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and [that] he had spoken these things unto her.
Stop all this foolishness and read the text for yourself.
Start reading your Bibles!
The Lord appeared to the women first because they came to the tomb on the third day morning first. They believed not because they had more faith than the men, but because the Lord in his grace opted to appear to them first.
Posted by: john | December 03, 2003 at 02:31 PM
I don't deny both groups had very little faith but it still seems clear that the women had more. As to why our Lord came to the women first, I don't know because Scripture doesn't tell us. Note the difference of how fast the two groups dropped their preconceived notions (particularly Thomas). This incident speaks to the veracity of Scripture, by the way. Normally, history is written by the victors and the victors invariably looked good. This incident makes the human authors of the Gospels look bad. If it wasn't the truth there would be no reason for it to be there.
Posted by: Rich | December 03, 2003 at 02:44 PM
One other thing. Your theory cannot be. You said the Lord appeared to Mary because she was there first. Yet, John (the other disciple) and Peter went to the tomb and left prior to our Lord's appearance. Why didn't the Lord appear then? So, for whatever reason our Lord appeared at the time he did it was not because the women got their first.
Posted by: Rich | December 03, 2003 at 03:08 PM