My name is Mary
This piece was first shared at the Church of St. Francis Xavier on Sunday, July 25, 2021. Learn about The Women Who Stayed at the Church of St. Francis Xavier here.
A Mary Magdala service at the Church of St. Francis Xavier
My name is Mary (you probably think my last name is Magdalene – it’s not). I come from a fishing city on the bank of the Sea of Galilee. During the Roman occupation they called it Trachea. But we called it Magdala. But that’s not how I got my name – “Magdalene” was Jesus’s term of endearment for me. He loved nicknames – he called Simon Peter “the Rock” and he called me “Mary the Magdalene – from Migdala.” Did I mention that Migdal means “The Tower” or “Tower of Strength”?
Mine is a story that has been romanticized and mythologized beyond recognition. Let me tell you about myself – I am an apostle of Jesus, the Christ. I was commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the Resurrection in his name, in the first person. I am a trusted witness and faith leader of the Gospel.
What I am not – I am not a prostitute, nor a public sinner. I have suffered from mistaken identity, portrayed as the epitome of sensuality. I am neither a Madonna nor a whore. I am not the Mary of Jesus Christ Superstar. And I am not Dan Brown’s wife of Jesus in The Da Vinci Code.
What I am – I am an apostle of Jesus’s Gospel message.
Who does the Bible say I am? The Gospel writers sometimes used women’s names (that’s how you know me) – but usually they just called the female disciples “the women who came up from Galilee and ministered to and with Jesus.”
In the Bible, I am a wounded woman, plagued by ‘demons’, healed by Jesus. I left my home and changed my life to follow Jesus of Nazareth. I stayed at the foot of the cross. I went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body. I saw the empty tomb and I saw the risen Jesus. He told me to tell the others. And I did.
While many have tried to manipulate my story to delegitimize my standing as a reliable witness, the Gospel says that I was commissioned by Jesus to deliver the news of his resurrection to the community.
Why did I disappear from history? Well, women of Palestine had few rights – we were not accepted as witnesses in Jewish law and were not able to hold official religious or leadership roles. After Constantine made Christianity legal in the Roman empire, Roman social codes of conduct gradually changed the church – women’s leadership in public places (outside of the home) declined and was eventually prohibited.
Pope Gregory the First tried to characterize me as a repentant prostitute. In his mansplaining and dismissal, he tried to rewrite me in Church history. Male church leaders conflated my story with other biblical Marys (and even some unnamed women). Renaissance artists portray me as a bare breasted reformed harlot.
Even Cardinal Dolan tried to sully my reputation when he said that I was not a “paragon of virtue for a chunk of [my] life.” It is a sad commentary on the church today that the myth of my “sinfulness” has to be debunked over and over.
Yet, the Church has begun to know me – in 2016, the Vatican declared July 22 my feast day.
I am Jesus’ disciple, his apostle. My story is one of witness,
to proclaim Jesus’s resurrection,
to announce that we too are Easter people –
female and male,
God created us,
loves us, and
wants each of us to experience, live, and proclaim the message of Good News.
Jesus was fine with women preaching and relied on a woman for his most important message – his Resurrection.
Today I ask my church – can you hear me? Are you listening to women’s voices who join with mine in proclaiming the Gospel?
