Mary Magdalene is certainly one of the most interesting
personalities & one of the most controversial figures from the New
Testament. We celebrate her memorial
today, which indicates the importance Mary Magdalene has had in the history of
our faith. In the reading from the
Gospel of John that we hear today, she is the one out of all the apostles who
finds the empty tomb before anyone else.
She is the first one to whom Jesus appears after his resurrection. Since Mary Magdalene loyally stood by the
Virgin Mary at the cross when so many other disciples had abandoned him &
had fled in fear, since she was a trusted friend & follower, we can in all
honesty say that Mary Magdalene is one of the most honored women & one of
the most loyal of all the disciples in the New Testament.
There is a lot of
controversy about Mary Magdalene. Some
biblical scholars claim that Mary Magdalene was falsely identified as a fallen
woman, that she was confused with another Mary in the Bible. Yet, in the long run, perhaps it doesn’t
even matter who Mary was before she became one of Jesus’ trusted
followers. What matters most is how she
changed & converted, since we are all sinners on some level, since we are all called to turn away from the
sins that we’ve committed, to repent from all that has ruptured our
relationship with God.
In today’s Gospel,
even though Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for his death & his second
coming, Mary Magdalene is at the tomb weeping, wondering where Jesus’ body has
gone. As she speaks to Jesus at the
empty tomb, as soon as he calls her by name, Mary Magdalene recognizes him
& calls him “Rabbouni, Teacher.” She
then reports back to the other disciples that she had indeed seen the
Lord. May the faith & discipleship
of Mary Magdalene be an example for us all.
May we all recognize him as our Savoir, as our great teacher. And may we all go out to the world &
proclaim our faith to all.
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