Imagine if throughout history, Christianity modeled Jesus’ relationship with women and the Christian movement was led and shaped by women and men together. What would our world look like today?
Recall that Jesus performed his first miracle by following the guidance of his mother. He challenged the gender restrictions of his time by interacting equally with women and men. It was a woman who poured oil on Jesus and anointed him. Men became angry with her for wasting the oil, but Jesus reprimanded them, explained her actions and said:
“Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (Mark 14:9, Matt 26:13)
How much thought have Christians given these words of Jesus? Why do we so easily dismiss the “feminine” strengths demonstrated here, such as the woman’s bold compassion and her intuitiveness in knowing he was the Messiah (“anointed one”) and that his death was near?
Spirit is genderless, and we each have our own unique blend of natural gifts from Spirit that are deemed “masculine” or “feminine.” Denying the authority of either gender limits both men and women and hinders how Spirit flows through us and the world.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he chose to appear to Mary Magdalene first, revealing to her his message and selecting her to share the news. (John 20:11-18) Easter morning, a woman was the only human to know of Jesus’ transcendence. Every Christian is a spiritual descendant of Mary – chosen to spread his message. I wonder about the threat to male authority that caused Pope Gregory to wrongly discredit Mary Magdalene as a prostitute in the 6th century.
How might Jesus’ message have had a more transformative impact on the world if the Christian movement had followed Jesus’ example in his relationship with women and his respect for the strengths associated with women?
This is just one of the questions we’ll explore in “The Mystical Metaphors of Mary Magdalene and the Easter Stories” online Lenten retreat I’ll be facilitating using guided visualization, art, music, reflection and story. Join me!
For more information and to register, click here.
