Featuring “The Last Say” -Original music by Shelleen Weaver
Mary Magdalene is, hands down, my favorite female character in all of Scripture. When I get to Heaven, I’m going to spend the first thousand years captivated in the eyes of my Jesus. Then of course there will be the reunion of all my friends and loved ones who have gone on before. But then…then, I’m going to stalk Mary Magdalene. That’s right. She doesn’t know it yet, but we are going to be BFF’s. Here’s why.
She adored Him. [Jesus]
Most of us have been taught that she was a harlot. And perhaps that is so. And although that is a likely assumption, the Bible doesn’t specifically say that. It does tell us that she had a bad reputation before Jesus came along and drove 7 demons out of her. Specifically, she is referred to as a woman of “ill repute”. No matter what her rap sheet consisted of, (I mean…7 demons…7), she was one despised, hot mess before her life radically collided with Jesus. And from that moment on, every fiber of her soul was sold out to him.
In Luke’s gospel account, we learn that women travelled with Jesus and his disciples, tending to their needs. Someone was doing the laundry and making the meals when Jesus wasn’t feeding the multitudes himself. These women often bought the groceries too when he wasn’t pulling coins out of guppies. And Mary of Magdala was among them.
Luke’s Account…
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. ~Luke 8 1:4 (NIV)
But what made her world-famous was her unapologetic display of affection 6 days before, unbeknownst to her (or was it), her very soul was shattered into a million pieces. It looked like this:
A Pharisee invited Jesus and his disciples to dinner at his home along with some other big players in the upper echelon of society. This was no backyard picnic. It was a much stuffier group than that. In fact, the host was too preoccupied sizing Jesus up (with all his intellectual worldly wisdom) than to offer his guest of honor the cultural norm of that day – a kiss (the traditional greeting), a basin of water (to wash the dust and dirt from his sandaled feet), and oil for his head (olive oil was used to soften parched skin). No doubt the conversation consisted of Jesus being peppered with loaded questions in typical Pharisaical fashion when…
[Enter Mary Magdalene]
She can’t… She won’t contain her emotion. Completely unfazed by the judgmental piety surrounding her (perhaps her weeping drowned out the harsh words they railed against her), she began to break things.
First, she broke the rules.
Women did NOT touch men in that day. Unthinkable. And not only did she touch him, she drenched his feet with her wellspring of tears. This wasn’t a scene out of Rapunzel where a single crystal teardrop falls from the eye of the princess. No, this was an ugly cry. Her face was contorted. Her nose was running. You get the picture. And then she started kissing his feet. (That really is love folks. Feet are well, feet.) Then she dried them with her hair. (Um…that should be veiled.) This unbridled, and in their staunch opinions, unacceptable display of affection prompted immediate criticism of both she and Jesus.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” ~Luke 7:39 (NIV)
Then she broke a bottle.
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet… ~John 12:3:a (NIV)
This of course, lead to an eruption of protests- notably from Judas Iscariot, because he was certainly above reproach:
“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ~John 12:5 (NIV)
And here it comes…
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” ~Matthew 27:10-13 (NIV)
The part of this passage that completely wreck’s me is when Jesus says, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” I want to touch the heart of Jesus that way, and somehow live my life so that the second thing I hear upon my arrival to Heaven after the Father’s “Well Done, my good and faithful servant…” is Jesus leaning over, nodding his head and saying, “She has done a beautiful thing {for} me.” (Mic drop.)
She also broke records.
Did you catch what Jesus said about wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, that what she did would be told in memory of her? Did you notice that I’m not referencing this story from just one of the 4 gospels? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all recorded this story in their accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. And here we are talking about her today. For all their pomp and circumstance, loud prayers, large phylactery boxes tied to their foreheads, and tassels on their robes, I’ve never heard anything flattering said about the Pharisees. But Mary Magdalene’s legacy lives on. This is bigger than being in the Guinness Book of World Records. She is honored by the Messiah himself in the best-selling book of all times. But there’s more.
Fast-forward to just over a week later. Jesus had been mocked, exposed (as in publically striped of his clothing), torchered until unrecognizable then murdered in the most agonizing way conceivable. And Mary Magdalene, unlike the 11 remaining disciples, had stayed put. She didn’t run away. To whom would she run? This was her Lord. She watched in horror as he drew his last breath with which he cried out a declaration of his work being complete. Then she watched him die.
She. Was. Devastated.
The next day being Passover, forced her to stay away, but Mary was up before the dawn of what would become the most glorious day in history. She went to the tomb where he had been laid, only to find further devastation. His body was not there. (They killed him. Couldn’t they just leave his body alone?) She ran to tell the disciples:
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Imagine this scene…
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
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 ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending 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. ~John 20:1-18 (NIV)
But wait…
Do you realize the magnitude of compassion she moved Jesus to here? Jesus was literally on his way from the grave to see his (and our) Father. The greatest pain he felt on that cross was the separation from him. When the sin of the world was placed on his shoulders, the Father had to turn and look away.
And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). ~Mark 15:34 (NIV)
To say that he couldn’t wait to be reunited with the Fathers a massive understatement. Imagine his anticipation. But wait…someone was crying. It was Mary Magdalene.
She had broken something again…his heart.
Moved with compassion on this woman who loved him so deeply, he literally made a pit-stop between the grave and Heaven where he would see his Father and receive his glorified body. He knew he’d be back for some final instructions to the disciples and appearances before a few large crowds before he would return until the appointed time and send the Holy Spirit. But her love for him moved him so deeply, he couldn’t wait another moment. He had to put her sorrow to an end.
But she wasn’t done breaking things. Not quite yet. Did you see it in the last passage I referenced? “Go instead to my brothers and tell them…” Right there it is. I propose that little Mary – the woman of “ill repute” whose broken life collided with the lover of her soul was the first missionary, commissioned to spread the Good News by none other than Jesus the Messiah himself! Man was she good at breaking things.
This time, she broke the mold. -Yep, we are going to hang out.
So this Easter, as you process the grief you likely feel about not being surrounded by loved ones (to celebrate or those who have passed on), as well as the uncertainty we face in this current world-wide pandemonium, think of Mary Magdalene and how she must have felt celebrating Passover 2020 years ago. And realize that although she thought her world had ended, a new day was dawning.
Look up my friends. It has dawned, and we live on the other side of the cross. We belong to and are adored by the God of the Universe. Remind your heart and someone else’s today that he Is Risen just like he said.
Original Music
Enjoy the song below entitled, The Last Say where we will hear from (what I imagine to be) Mary Magdalene’s perspective of those three devastating and glorious days that bought back the debt we couldn’t pay so that one sweet day, we can fall to our knees before our Savior and cry out, “Rabboni”!
And how about you? Whose life grabs at your heart, inspires, convicts, or encourages you the most in Scripture? I’d love to hear who and why? And if this post inspires you, would you consider sharing it with your friends? If you are new to my blog, and would like to hear more, you can sign up to follow it on my website. Happy Easter to each one of you. He is Risen!
