St Mary Magdalen

Sermon for 25 July 1999, 8:00am, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet

St Mary Magdalen, Patronal Festival (22 July)

John 20:10-18

Thirty years ago last week, on the eve of St Mary Magdalen’s day, I was wakened by my father at 3:30 a.m. A jumper was pulled over my head and I was led out of the front door, into next door, where our bleary-eyed neighbour welcomed us into her front room – the whole family. We sat down in front of her TV and watched, in those appalling black and white pictures, history made as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon.

Neil Armstrong. I would guess that if you lived at the time you would remember that name, because he was first. Buzz Aldrin too, perhaps. You probably needed last week’s TV programmes to be reminded of the man who didn’t go down to the Moon but stayed in orbit above them (Michael Collins).

There is something very special about being first. But of course he didn’t get there by winning the Lottery (well, maybe a minor one). No, the first man was there by dint of hard work, commitment & skill. There was

Those two things are inextricably linked.

Mary Magdalen, our patron saint, holds a much more glorious "first" than Neil Armstrong.

By the time Gospels came to be written down, curiously at about the same thirty-year point that was marked last week for the Moon landing, Mary was already a legend (not in the sense of an untrue story) – her place in history already known. It’s interesting that she features in all four Gospels. Her encounter with the risen Lord Jesus was a glorious moment to be celebrated, recorded & celebrated again, all over the world, especially in churches like ours named in her honour.

But of course her presence at the tomb and her moving interview with "the gardener" did not happen by chance. Mary was there because she supported Jesus. She was one of the women who had supported Jesus through thick and thin. These women were taking spices to the tomb, spices and perfumes they had prepared after they had followed Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb and seen Jesus laid there (by the way, when his male disciples had already fled in despair). They had watched Jesus being crucified. They had followed him in Galilee & cared for his needs. In Luke’s Gospel, just before the Parable of the Sower, we read this:

…Jesus travelled about from one toen and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdon 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 him out of their own means. [Luke 8:1-3, NIV]

They were disciples of Jesus. Who can imagine the commitment these women put in, the sacrifice they had made? Something miraculous and marvellous had happened to Mary, and she was responding by devoting her life to Jesus, supporting the apostles out of her own means.

As we celebrate our patron saint, I’d like us to remember three things:

  1. Mary herself, as she travelled the path from demon possession, to dedicated worker, to witness, to saint
  2. The group of women she represents – Joanna, Susanna and the ‘many others’. All saints, even if not with their own special days or even names!
  3. The fact that the Christian life which she represents and in which she is our inspiration is

© Mike Knee, 1999