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