Seeker

This modern icon of Mary Magdalene was written by Brother Robert Lentz. It is in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I'm posting this image today because it is the feast day of Mary Magdalene. The Syrian inscription means 'Equal to the Apostles'.  Icons are intended to be like windows through which we may glimpse something glorious. They point beyond the image of the saint, to encourage the one who contemplates it to worship, not the saint, but God. In this icon, Mary Magdalene is pointing with her right hand to the egg held in her left. In some Christian traditions an egg is a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus. According to John's Gospel, Mary Magdalene was the first apostle of Jesus' resurrection. She, with other spice-bearing women were the first to discover the empty tomb on the 3rd day. In the garden near the tomb, Mary Magdalene had a special enounter with the risen Christ and rushed to tell the disciples, "I have seen the Lord". They didn'...

Today 22 July is the feast day of St Mary Magdalene. I love this image of a detail of a mosaic in the Resurrection Chapel in Washington National Cathedral, D.C in the USA. It shows Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Jesus Christ. Mary Magdalene has been the subject of so much speculation, denigration, imagination and admiration over the last 2000 years, it's hard to sort truth from legend and fiction. I prefer to stick to what the 4 Gospels in the New Testament tell us about her and also notice what they do not tell us. Here is who Mary Magdalene was not: Mary Magdale was not one of the other Marys in the New Testament e.g. Mary mother of Jesus or Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany. Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, although she has been portrayed as such. Mary Magdalene was almost certainly not the anonymous sinful woman who annointed Jesus' feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Mary Magdalene was not Jesus' wife or mother of his child. ...

Her reputation has been so tarnished by speculation and false connections, but for me Mary Magdalene, whose festival is today, is an inspiration. Mary Magdalene is a role model of faithful discipleship . She stuck with Jesus when things got unimaginably tough. With other women she witnessed Jesus' crucifixion when other disciples had run away. Mary Magdalene is a role model for Christian witness.  After she met the risen Jesus she told others what she’d seen and heard. When a woman’s evidence was seen as dubious, how odd that God chose a woman to tell such news and bring such hope! You can find the account of how Mary Magdalene met Jesus in the garden after the resurrection in Easter Sunday 2015. Postscript: I've just read a helpful reflection by 'Digitalnun' which draws together the threads of Mary Magdalene's bad reputation and her role as a good example of discipleship. In reference to Mary's encounter with Jesus in the garden (John 20) she ends with...

This sculpture by Guzon Borglon is called 'Rabboni' and portrays Mary Magdalene as she turns from Jesus' empty tomb and reaches out to the man she supposed to be the gardener. When he addressed her by name, 'Mary', she responded 'Rabboni' which means Teacher. This gospel story from John 20 is read at Easter, but also today 22 July as this is the festival of Mary Magdalene. In searching for images to use for Mary Magdalene it was obvious how persistent are the false ideas about her. She was not, for example, a penitent prostitute, although much art shows her as such.  In 'Who was the real Mary Magdalene?' I wrote about who she was not and who she was. I see her as a role model for Christian discipleship  and evangelism, someone who told what she had seen and heard of Jesus. Jan Richardson has a lovely poem in her post Easter Sunday: Seen . It expresses so well the depths of Mary Magdalene's experience, the mystery of resurrection and new cr...

Who was the real Mary Magdalene?  Today is her feast day, so here is a photo of a statue showing the risen Christ encountering Mary Magdalene in a garden near the tomb where he was buried. The statue is in the Angelicum Chapel in Rome, the church of San Sisto and San Domenica.  Mary Magdalene has been the subject of so much speculation, denigration, imagination and admiration over the last 2000 years, it's hard to sort truth from fiction. Here is who Mary Magdalene was not: not one of the other Marys in the New Testament e.g. Mary mother of Jesus or Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany not a prostitute almost certainly not the anonymous sinful woman who annointed Jesus' feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee not Jesus' wife or mother of his child not the woman in the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar' or in the novel 'The Da Vinci Code' Here is who Mary Magdalene was: someone Jesus healed of 'seven demons' and who proba...

Tomorrow 22 July is the festival of Mary Magdalene, one of the women who followed Jesus - perhaps the most significant woman among those who supported him,  apart from Mary the mother of Jesus. She was a devoted disciple of Christ, one of the women who supported him financially and travelled with him. She was the first to announce to the Twelve apostles that Christ had risen from the dead. I wrote about her in May 2012 in a post in my 'Women of the Gospels' series on the Big Bible project here . And also on this blog last year on 22 July in a post called Mary Magdalene .  For a moving and inspirational contemporary sonnet about her do take a look at Malcolm Guite's poem in Mary Magdalene; A Sonnet published on 20 July 201. Image Credit: Flickr photo by Tim, CC Licence

This icon is in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco and was made by a Franciscan friar, Robert Lentz. It was commissioned to commemorate the election of the first female Anglican bishop, Barbara Harris. The Syriac inscription reads, 'St Mary Magdalene'. The language was chosen because it is a form of the language spoken by Jesus. Mary Magdalene's festival is today. She was one of the women who travelled with Jesus and supported him out of her own purse. Jesus had healed her - from what exactly we don't know. Luke 8: 2 tells us he released her from 'seven demons' which implies a severe or chronic illness, either mental or physical. The only other times she is mentioned by name in the gospels is as someone who witnessed Jesus' crucifxion, burial and the empty tomb. According to John's gospel she was the first to see the risen Jesus, who sent her to tell the 12.  For this reason she is known as 'the apostle to the apostles'. Her testimony to them was...