The following is a reflection that Sr. Janet M. Peterworth, OSU, gave at Epiphany Church on July 21, 2024.
Do you see Mary of Magdala as a fallen woman or as a disciple?
Let’s start with the fallen woman profile. Most scholars who have studied Mary of Magdala believe this perception started in the fourth century with Pope Gregory I.
Here’s Pope Gregory: “She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven demons were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven demons signify if not all the vices? … It is clear, brothers, that this woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously; she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner.”
According to Cynthia Bourgeault in her book “The Meaning of Mary Magdalene,” “that began the slippery slope along which we moved from Mary Magdalene, apostle to the apostles, to Mary Magdalene, penitent whore.”
Why did this happen? That is more complicated. Karen King and other feminist scholars are inclined to see a deliberate plot here. “In an emerging church hierarchy founded on the assumption of a male-only and celibate succession from the original apostles, Mary Magdalene’s apostolate was clearly an anomaly and threat. A means had to be devised to undercut her original authority and move from, as it were, apostal-cy to apostasy.”
Mary is mentioned in all four Gospels—along with other women—as the first to witness the Resurrection. However, the faithful never hear the words of Mary’s commission, “Go to my brothers and tell them…” Our Easter readings stop just short of that. We never hear this in our Sunday Easter readings. The rest of the story is told only on weekday Masses.
And so, we lament. What has happened to Mary of Magdala should make women weep. Written off as a sexual sinner, depicted that way in art and homiletics, never given her true place in the Resurrection story—all of this is enough to make us weep.
But through our tears we need to speak convincingly about the commission, the discipleship, the Easter message. Mary and the other women went to the tomb to perform the customary duties of women in that culture. They went to make sure Jesus was dead. In one sense the journey to the tomb seemed silly. No one could have survived that horrible crucifixion. Those present saw him taken down and given to his mother—dead. Those who were there helped to carry him, bloody and bruised to the tomb—dead. The women who stood by the cross also probably bathed the body and perfumed it—dead. And yet maybe they should check, they should carry oil and anoint him again!
So, it was the women doing women’s work who saw the empty tomb. It was the women who ran to tell. It was Mary of Magdala who returned with Peter and John to see it again. It was Mary who stayed in the garden to lament. And because of that, because of her determination to get to the bottom of what was going on, she was commissioned to “go and tell.” In other words, she was the apostle to the apostles. Regardless of the forces that changed the narrative of Mary of Magdala, we today must not let her be forgotten as the strong female disciple and fearless proclaimer of the Resurrection that she was.
We, the women of the 21st century, must weep with her—a woman of the first century. We must embrace discipleship as Mary, a woman of the first century, embraced discipleship. We must bring her sacramental roles of anointing and proclaiming to the church of our day. We must not be pushed back by a male-dominated Church of today in the same way that Mary was pushed back by a male-dominated Church of Pope Gregory’s day. We must proclaim, we must go and tell the brothers. And if we will not do it for ourselves in our day, then we must do it for the little girls who were recently told by Pope Francis that they will never be ordained to sacramental ministry.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”
—Mt 28:8-10
Artwork by Jen Norton Art Studio
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