Encounter Part 3 (2)

“One Encounter with Jesus can change your life.”

Now, we’ve looked at two prominent figures within the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ ministry. We’ve seen how Peter and John’s lives were forever changed because of their encounter with the Risen Jesus. We’ve used their testimony to enter their vantage point and are trying to encounter Jesus ourselves. Because one encounter with Jesus can change your life.

I had too many options for this week. I could have looked at the Triumphal entry because today is Palm Sunday. I could have examined the crowds and their cries to Jesus, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of Lord!” I could have examined Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus’ feet. In fact, Jesus says that wherever the Gospel is preached, she would be honored for what she did. Side note: Messiah means the anointed one. From the OT there’s a whole catalogue of associated ideas about the messiah saving God’s people from the world’s empires and bringing them into a new world where the Israelites and Messiah would rule in a garden-of-Eden-like goodness. The nations would gather and be ruled under YHWH. BUT, the literal word means anointed one…Mary of Bethany seems to have a keener sense of Jesus’ warnings about his upcoming death. So she weeps and anoints him, an action that Jesus defends against the protests of His disciples—John 12:7 ““Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.” Mark 14:6–9 ““Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.””

Why does this moment matter? Because the Messiah needed to be an anointed one. Mary of Bethany saw something that no other follower could perceive, and she payed Jesus a special honor—displaying her faith in Him. Which makes sense actually…Mary of Bethany is the same Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet to listen to his teaching. When her sister, Martha, became indignant about her not helping to get the hospitality work done, Jesus defends Mary’s actions and says she’s chosen the better part. She’s the sister of Lazarus—the recently resurrected man. She had a different understanding of Jesus and understood just how short His time actually was, better than the 12 apostles…she took to heart what Jesus said—“I am the resurrection and the life.” Which ought to make us a bit curious.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard that the Bible is misogynistic, patriarchal, manipulative, and women-hating…I’ve heard that from the world as an indictment against God and the authority of Scripture. Strangely, I’ve heard those same summary statements from Christians as a celebration. Let me gently say that I disagree. I’ll go one further and say that it’s offensive, to me, how our holy Scriptures are mischaracterized, misinterpreted, and misapplied. Women like Mary of Bethany ought to show us that God’s Word is a lot more nuanced than what a cursory, or intentionally dishonest, reading produces. It’s an ignorant conclusion to say that the Bible is anti-women. And I mean that charitably—the likeliest explanation if that people just don’t take the time to notice all the details and information. With careful reading and good study it becomes abundantly clear that the Bible is actually elevating the status of women to partners in the Gospel-work of Christ. We learn from the Word that all people are equal at the foot of the Cross. So let me give you a tip. Please be careful with who you listen to on this topic. Don’t listen to man-hating nonsense. Don’t listen to women-demeaning nonsense. God made both genders to beautifully display His glory as His image-bearers. Jesus celebrates the contributions of women to his ministry, they follow Him as disciples, and are later featured as co-workers with Paul in the spreading growth of Christianity.

Ok, I’m stepping off the soapbox for a moment. Like I said, I could have talked about a lot of other people who encountered Christ; the Pharisees and Sadducees making an alliance to kill Jesus, Thomas, Judas, the man who had the donkey and upper room available during the Passover Week for the disciples. I had a lot of options.

For whatever reason, I kept sensing the need to talk about a particularly important follower of Jesus. A follower who was identified at His crucifixion and resurrection. A follower who has been called, “the apostle to the apostles.” That means the one who shared the message of the Risen Christ with the 12 apostles. I have sensed the need to talk about Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene

In order to Encounter Jesus through Mary’s encounter, we need to get a brief sketch of her life. I don’t know what you know about her but I’ve heard a laundry list. She was a prostitute, a woman of ill-repute, a saint, a sinner, Jesus’ wife and mother of his children, the woman who anointed Jesus, the woman who was caught in adultery, etc., etc.. Depending on your tradition, or if you’ve just been around the church for some time, you will have heard about Mary Magdalene, but we should want the Bible to be our final authority—not culture or the Da Vinci Code or even your wonderful and sweet and well-meaning, but (maybe) misinformed Sunday School teachers. So we need to look to the Bible to tell us who she was.

Luke 8:1–3 “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.” Now, this is our first mention of Mary Magdalene. Right out of the gate we notice that she was called Magdalene. There’s some debate around this in the scholarly realm, but Magdalene could either be a designation about her hometown, like “Jesus of Nazareth,” OR it could have been her nickname. I don’t know how recently you’ve read the Gospel accounts, but there are Marys everywhere! So Magdalene could have easily been her nickname for clarity among the followers of Jesus. Magdalene means, high tower. Which is either a description about her height AND/OR a description about her character—she’s a noble person of stature, essentially. We also notice that she is listed along with Joanna and Susanna as a group of women-disciples who followed Jesus AND bankrolled his ministry. Now, that’s important. Jesus is an itinerant Rabbi, but isn’t a part of the official system. He’s an “outsider.” How will he be able to accomplish His mission if He can’t sustain Himself with food and clothes? These three women are specifically mentioned and we should celebrate them for that. It’s an amazing thing when God’s people use the money God has gifted to them to turn around and bless others.

What we should also notice about Mary Magdalene is that she had 7 demons cast out of her specifically. Let’s pause here for a moment. The evidence suggests that Mary Magdalene is NOT the sinful woman of Luke chapter 7. There is no reason to think that she is the woman of John chapter 8 who was found in adultery and brought to Jesus to be stoned. Mary Magdalene is also NOT the Mary we’ve already talked about this morning. That Mary is Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and Lazarus. Mary Magdalene seems to be a well-to-do woman who was able to fund Jesus’ ministry, and we have this additional detail about her being possessed. That’s what Scripture tells us, so we should not speculate past that. Nor should we posit theories about her that likely aren’t in-keeping with the evidence we actually do have. I know how Mary has been portrayed in art and recreations. People have erroneously connected her to prostitution and other bad behaviors which has led her to be depicted in ways that may not actually be true. I also know how demon possessed people are generally portrayed as well. I’m going to speculate for a few moments here and give you an alternative idea about Mary Magdalene. Here’s where I’m going with this…you can be a wealthy person and be demon-possessed…

Like, worldly success, doesn’t equal godliness. Being blessed by God is more about His choice than your actions. In other words, God is not a system, like Karma, where you do a good thing and you get a good thing. Now, it is generally true of reality that if you do a good thing, then another good thing happens…but that’s not a law of nature. You can do a good thing and a very bad thing happens as a result. Or you can do a bad thing and receive good in return—you know, like stealing, or lying, and cheating to get ahead. My point is this, just because someone looks put together, has money and success in business, says the appropriate things at the right times, and doesn’t create public drama, doesn’t mean their spiritual, emotional, and inward lives aren’t in shambles.

The rich and famous will tell us plainly that they achieved all their dreams and felt emptiness. The sports stars will tell us to our faces that they accomplished the pinnacle, and felt more alone than ever. The “perfect” couple is in debt above their eyeballs, their marriage is crumbling, and their inward lives are burning to the ground, but because they have the nice house and material possessions we assume all is well. I think we’re too quick to conflate material success with inward harmony. And that’s a dangerous house of cards to put your belief in.

Mary Magdalene is wealthy enough to not only not operate her business, but also contribute to Jesus’ ministry. She has enough money to follow Jesus. Another thing we should notice is that she’s named among three particular women disciples. Some commentators speculate that Peter, James, and John were the inner three of the 12, and that Mary Magdalene, Susanna, and Joanna are the inner three women disciples. So I just want to challenge this notion that a demon-possessed person is ALWAYS the person who is obviously suffering some mental illness, is always homeless, is always dirty and nasty, or is always a pariah—ostracized from their community. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14 “… for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” The Bible also records people who had illnesses as being associated with demon-possession. So it doesn’t ALWAYS mean that a demon-possessed person had a manifestation of their possession in the ways we typically imagine. Here’s what I’m saying…

Mary was in a bad place. So bad that she was possessed by seven demons. BUT, we don’t know exactly how that manifested. So I’m speculating here this morning, but I just wonder at how she was able to help pay for Jesus’ ministry along with Joanna and Susanna if her possession manifested in the obvious ways. And ultimately, it doesn’t matter because we aren’t trying to encounter Mary Magdalene this morning…we’re trying to encounter Jesus, through her vantage point. So let’s get to the point. When she encounter Jesus…she didn’t just encounter some fancy teaching or a better philosophy, or set of rules for life. She encountered the Great Physician. She encountered the Lord of all creation. She encountered the Word became flesh. She encountered the one who has life in himself. She encountered the one whom the demons dow down to and shudder at the mention of his name. She encountered freedom. She encountered the Great I Am, the Holy One Of Israel, the Messiah. In her encounter she received new lease on life. She received the mercy of God —a gift of His divine grace where she was released from her bondage to sin and shame and the strongholds of the enemy. Luke then tells us that she followed Him. We have every indication that she was with Jesus and the other 12 apostles consistently for the remainder of Jesus’ earthly life. Why? The Prince of Preachers, as he’s called, Charles Spurgeon said this about her:

Where persons love little, do little, and give little, we may shrewdly suspect that they have never had much affliction of heart for their sins and that they think they owe but very little to divine grace. Mary Magdalene, Volume 14, Sermon #792 - Mark 16:9

Charles Spurgeon

Mary didn’t just give her time. She gave her money. She gave her effort. She gave her heart to Jesus. How can I say that before we’ve looked through the rest of her story? Let me show the evidence.

John 19:25–27 “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

This is the next mention we have of Mary Magdalene. We learn from the other Gospel accounts that there was also a group of women standing farther back. Luke records it this way in Luke 23:47–49 “The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”

Luke reminds us that we don’t just have the eyewitness testimony of 12 apostle’s. Many people who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance and watched these things. Who were those women from Galilee? The same ones mentioned in Luke 8 that we read earlier—Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.

You see, the Gospel writers weren’t haphazard with their retelling. They weren’t fast and loose with their details. When you write something, you are making intentional choices about what to include. It makes sense to me that Mary was included because Mary was regularly following Jesus with the rest of the disciples. I think Spurgeon is right in his assessment of Mary Magdalene. She was forgiven much. She received healing! Her Encounter with Jesus wasn’t going to stop her from being near to Him—even at his death. She’s featured alongside the unnamed disciple who we think was John, John’s mother Siloam, and Mary the mother of Jesus. What an interesting group of people to be close enough to the crucifixion that they would be able to hear Jesus speak to John.

Mary Magdalene loved Jesus. Her entire life was turned rightside up when she encountered Him. She went from being possessed to following Jesus so closely that she even witnessed His crucifixion while others fled. Imagine the grief. Imagine the sorrow. Imagine the debt of gratitude she felt towards Jesus for healing her and giving her a new life. Imagine how that grief and sorrow were compounded standing next to Jesus’ mother.

The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried in Jospeh of Arimathea’s tomb. Our next mention of Mary is on the following Sunday morning. Let’s pick up her story again in John 20:1–18 “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…”

Okay, this is whole passage is incredible. Let’s focus in on the details about Mary so we can engage her vantage point to encounter the Risen Jesus ourselves. When does John tell us that Mary made her way to the tomb to spice the body? Early in the morning. That’s an interesting detail. It indicates something about Mary’s love for Jesus. The other accounts feature a group of women going along with her, but let’s stick to the story in John because all the Gospel accounts agree on the main details—namely:

Empty Tomb

Mary Magdalene is the first to see the Risen Jesus and told to go tell that news to the apostles

John and Peter run to the tomb

the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples

So, even if each gospel account renders the events a little differently, that doesn’t change the essential message or chronology of events.

As I was reading this in preparation for today, I noticed that detail, “early in the morning.” It made me think of Abraham who woke up early to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis.