St Mary Magdalen, Patronal Festival (22 July)

Sermon for 2003 July 20, 8 a.m. Communion, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet

Bible reading: John 20:10-18

I would just like to talk simply about Mary Magdalen, because she is our patron saint and today we are celebrating our patronal festival. What does it mean to have a patron saint? I like to think of things like this in terms of opportunity – three opportunities, in fact. Firstly we each have an opportunity to be inspired personally by her life. Second, it gives us an opportunity (as if we needed one) to relive the wonderful story of the first Easter Day, so an opportunity to think about Easter. And a third opportunity – have you ever been asked about Mary Magdalen because our church is named for her? I have, and it gives us a way in to talking about our Christian faith right at its origins.

You might remember the limerick I sang a few months ago about Mary Magdalen – don’t worry, I’m not going to sing it now because we don’t have music at this service. It goes like this – and, by the way, there’s a bit of licence in this version, I’ll come back to that in a minute. It goes like this:

There was a young lady of Sheet
Poured oil over Jesus’ feet
And when his tomb burst
Well – she was there first
Her church is right here up our street

I said there was a bit of licence because one thing the church hasn’t been able to agree upon is which incidents in the Gospels actually do relate to Mary Magdalen. Was she indeed the sinner who poured expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet and wiped it away with her hair? Was she also the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha was busy? I’m going to stick to the most direct and uncontroversial references to Mary, which are wonderful enough in any case. To put it very simply, she had been forgiven of some terrible things from her past, by Jesus – we are told that he had cast out seven demons from her. She was a disciple of Jesus for much of his ministry, with the Twelve and with some other women – Joanna, Susanna and "many others". And she was a witness to the three great events leading up to Easter: Jesus’ death, his burial and, most of all, she was the first to see the risen Lord on that Easter morning, and to spread that good news. And so if Christians are Easter people, followers of the risen Lord (which we are) then that makes our Mary Magdalen the first Christian. Which is quite a good reason to name a church after her!

In trying to understand this amazing woman and the way she is remembered, I looked up some of the portrayals of Mary Magdalen in art and came across three, one of which I’m fortunate to have seen. The sculpture in wood of an emaciated, abject, pleading, penitent woman, desperate to be forgiven of so much, by Donatello in Florence. A beautiful painting by Titian in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, of Mary, also penitent, giving everything to God, but somehow also strong and self-assured. And the painting by Georges de la Tour in New York, much more enigmatic, her face turned away from us, mysterious power. It’s wonderful that Mary has inspired so many people so powerfully.

As for us, I’d just like us to take away three things to remember on this our patronal festival:

1. Remember Mary’s faith journey, travelling the path from demon possession, some terrible past, to dedicated disciple and worker, to witness, to saint. That could be our journey. We have much to be forgiven for, we have much to repay Jesus’ love in working with the dedication for his kingdom as Mary showed. We can share in her witness that Jesus is alive and in her urgency as she runs to tell others the good news.
2. I’m also fascinated by the group of women she represents – Joanna, Susanna and the ‘many others’. Because of the special place Mary occupies, they are a little more in the background, but they are all saints, even if not with their own special days or churches named after them, or even when they have names we don’t even know. But they were there too, which I think is good for us to remember because we’re likely to be in that category too – we might not end up being as well known as Mary but our role in God’s work is just as important, as it was for those many women who were disciples with her.
3. Thirdly, we can take with us the fact that the Christian life which she represents and in which she is our inspiration is

• not just about forgiveness, however much we do need to be forgiven day by day
• not just about sacrifice, working to support others by our own means as she did
• and not just about glory – about fame, a blaze of publicity

It is all of those things, and as Mary has shown us, each stage prepares us for the next. Forgiveness led to service and self-sacrifice, and the sacrificial life she lived meant that the joy of the Resurrection, however much it took her by surprise on the day, was also something she was prepared for in her heart.

Going back to those paintings, personally I identify with the Titian painting as a wonderful picture of how forgiveness works, revealing that beauty and strength which God has given us, which is marred by everything we need to be forgiven for but which can be revealed whenever we turn to Christ. That forgiveness and the turning round of her life took Mary to the cross, the tomb and finally to unspeakable joy, and so it can for each of us.

© Mike Knee, 2003