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The Mary Factor
My daughter is named Mary. It is such a simple name. But it has a power within it that connects like a golden crucifix to anyone claiming to be a Christian. It was a Jewish favorite as well before the Holy arrival in a gentle, modest teen named Mary, who became the Mother of the Son of God, and who has been a comforter and source of prayer ever since. The New Testament is led by women named Mary. Today is the day honoring one of the strongest ones, Saint Mary Magdalene.
My Mary’s grandmother was also named Mary, a South African way of hanging on to the Scottish heritage. Mary is easy to remember and of course we decorate it with before and after names, in song, and with nick names (Merry Berry - (I named a race horse that); Mare, Mmmmm-ary, Bloody Mary from South Pacific, Mary Lou, beautiful Mary, Marrriiii-ya - the song from West Side Story. What stunned me was in Latin countries, even a male President (of Uruguay) can have Maria in his name - Julio Maria Sanguinetti. And of course, there’s historical Queen Mary of England and Queen Mary of the Scots, and other Mary royalty from the Romans, Russians, Scandinavians and Spaniards - all basically Christian nations in history. I wonder if there was a counting of all the names on earth, if Mary and its versions in all languages would be by far the champion name. There were so many “Mary’s” in history that early on in Biblical history that they added identity by saying where each Mary was from, like Mary Magdalene which mean of the town of Magdala.
To various male theologians and recorders, there is confusion about the many Marys who were so much a part, probably the true love part, of Jesus’ presence on “terra firma”, God’s experiment with what is called “mankind,” made by putting together one man and one woman.
 In the New Testament, the Marys get duplicated wrongly. The four gospels don’t jell together. Each seems to have a version of which Mary was whom. And of course, the selectors (all male) of what went into the New Testament, ignored many gospels which, thanks to the Nag Hammadi discoveries in Egypt in 1945, have finally exposed the truth about various Marys as being part of the mystery, of the memory, of what went on in the first decades of our Faith.
Although I pray to Holy Mary, Mother of God, daily and continually, my second favorite Mary has been Mary of Magdala or Mary Magdalene - said to be a strong wealthy woman with leadership qualities whom Jesus trusted, loved and consulted. She was the only
female at the meeting place of the Last Supper and is credited with kneeling on the floor to comfort Jesus by washing his feet with expensive sweet oil and drying it with her long hair. She is the real action bearer of the group, the volatile female follower, friend, Apostle, beloved and soul mate whom Jesus trusted above all. She never let him down, it seemed, in times of need.
But some recorders toss her into the category of ex-prostitute (earning her own financial support, I guess) and there were even rumors she might have been a lover of John’s. Prostitution had survived since the beginning of time, just like slaves and eunuchs. Not only was and is it a way to earn money using one’s own Body as a tool but also because in that female body is the God-given machine that makes life. I guess there has always been the can haves and the cannot haves. Recall the story of Abraham and Sarah, who in the end, thanks be to God, populated the whole world, from two offsprings.
Cynthia Bourgeault, an outstanding mystic, pastor, authoress, has researched many gospels and has written an amazing truth-bearing book “The Meaning of Mary Magdalene” about who Mary of Magdalene really was. It tosses out Pope Gregory I’s efforts to wrap all the Mary’s into one woman, so, I guess, he didn’t have to deal with the suppositions and unclear documents. He was not pro-female in any way. He sort of poured the Marys into one jar - from the perfumed sinner in Luke, to Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, and Mary who wasted expensive oils to wash the feet of Jesus with her long hair. Pope Gregory insisted on referring to Mary’s sins as being sexual in nature. But Mary of Magdalene was always THE female apostle, as Peter was the male version. She was not the Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus. Yes, Mary Magdalene was the only apostle who watched Jesus’s crucifixion from a distance with Mary mother of James and Joseph, Mary the mother of Jesus, along with her sister Mary wife of Cleopas. Mark says Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of Joseph witness the burial of Jesus; in Matthew, Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus in front of her.
In the gospels and materials of the Nag Hammadi, there was a writing discovery about Mary of Magdalene - Jesus had said: “Well done, Mary. You are more blessed than all women on earth because you will be the fullness of fullness and the completion of completion” The Eastern Orthodox Church never pictured Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany or any sinful woman who anointed Jesus. She was a virtuous woman from the start.
It seemed the strongest of all Jesus’ male apostles who bordered on the wishy washy on so many many issues, was not as trustworthy or faithful in times of trouble and need and didn’t seem to understand, as they slept in crisis moments, they fled, they hid, they complained, they questioned and stumbled and were afraid. But not Mary Magdalene. She did not leave the tomb, so she was the first to discover it was empty. She was not sidelined by the fear of ghost or whatever might happen in the night in an eerie graveyard. She was there when Joseph of Aramathea pushed the monster stone in front of the tomb. He left. She stayed somewhere near with a view - she must have napped at some point for when she opened her eyes, someone had moved the stone away. And she quickly went to look to find out what happened with no fear of soldiers, criminals or danger or ghosts. The others responded as if it didn’t matter anymore - no one cared any more. What was done was done. Jesus was dead.
Immediately, probably aware no one would believe her, she ran and called out to get Peter to come with her to the tomb. She was right. Jesus body had been robbed or moved. So, Peter went back home, not seeing Jesus’s body for himself, and so, he didn’t believe and was probably trying to figure out how to get her out of the picture. Then Mary, despondent and alone in the garden outside the tomb, first encountered two angels, and then unknowingly, the risen Jesus, who she mistook to be a gardener. But as a great reward for her faith and persistence, the gardener spoke. And she knew Him and saw Him and shared the truth with the apostles, as Jesus requested. Only Mary of Magdalene believed the truth and now we know she was a true apostle of Jesus Christ and a worthy Saint. Praise God.
~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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