Mary of Magdala

Well, Hamptom, Sabbath, once again, everyone. In the last couple of years, we've looked at the Apostle John, a little biography of his life. Paul, we've looked at Peter's life. Years ago, we looked at Abraham, Stephen. We had a sermon on the remarkable example of the deacon Stephen. And we've looked at James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ. And almost weekly, we look at a partial biography of the life of Jesus Christ as something that he said or did. Well, today, I would like to continue that series because I think we can learn so much from these people whom God called and worked with. And they can strengthen our faith and they can teach us qualities that they had. I'd like to talk about a very remarkable person in the Bible, in the New Testament. Her name was Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala, is also what she was called.

Last Sunday was Mother's Day. And of course, we all know in Mark 4, Jesus said, whoever does the will of my father, he said, is my brother and my sister and my mother. And even though we have no indication that Mary Magdalene was physically a mother, we just don't know that. It doesn't say that she was. She simply, as we will see by her nurturing and for her love for Jesus Christ, was like a spiritual mother to Jesus because she was there when he needed her. She was a very remarkable woman. She saw her by many as the second most important woman in the New Testament after Mary, the mother of Jesus. Within the four Gospels, she's mentioned at least 12 times.

And by the way, that's more than many of the male apostles are mentioned in the New Testament. Some of the more vague male apostles. The Gospels present her as courageous. They present her as brave. She was brave enough to stand by Jesus during his hours of suffering, during his literal death. She even followed to find out where he was buried and what tomb he was put in there. And of course, even on that early Sunday morning, she went to the tomb early while others were staying home. She had the motivation and the love for Jesus Christ to bring spices to finish anointing his body and finish giving him the dignity that she felt he deserved on that early Sunday morning. Six women are named Mary in the New Testament. And here they are, real quickly. Number one is the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ. Number two, Mary Magdalene. We will be talking about her today. Three is Mary of Bethany. Most likely called that because, like Mary Magdalene, was from a town called Magdalene. That's how they differentiated her. Mary of Bethany, most likely Bethany, was her hometown. When you have all of these Marys, even they had to begin to delineate which Mary was which. Mary of Bethany was also the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Then number four, there's Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. Number five, there's Mary, the mother of John Mark. She happened to own a nice facility that became the upper room and where the disciples met so that she's also very prominent in the New Testament. Again, the mother of John Mark, she was. And then number six is Mary of Rome, mentioned by Paul in Romans chapter, complimented by Paul in Romans chapter 16 and verse six. So you can see here that the name Mary or Maria is as it's usually regarded in the Latin form was a very prominent name in the New Testament. Both Mary and Maria come from the Hebrew name of Mariam. And Mariam, of course, was the name of Moses' sister. And that's another reason why we became so popular in the New Testament because of connections of Moses' sister.

By the time of Jesus, it was as common as names here in our world today, like Jason is very common. They had in the news a few weeks ago, Olivia is still a very popular name for girls, one of the top two or three names in the United States. So cultures have names that they gravitate to that become very popular. And obviously, in the New Testament, names like James, that can also be very confusing. There's James the Less. There's all kinds of James's in the New Testament.

But Mary Magdalene was truly a unique woman who distinguished herself in many, many ways. Turn with me if you would, Luke chapter 8 verse 1, and we'll see where it first mentions her. In the Gospels, Luke chapter 8 and verse 1. The thing that I admire about Mary Magdalene is that when you look at the most of the other biographies that I mentioned earlier, the Scriptures reveal glaring character flaws. There were two disciples who were known as the Sons of Thunder because they lost their temper. It was explosive, so they were called jokingly to try to jab them the Sons of Thunder. We know that Peter was impetuous. We know that Peter said, I'll stand by you to the end. I'll never deny you. And we know, of course, that Peter, for a period of time, was a coward. So we see some pretty glaring deficiencies in many of the other biblical characters we read about. Abraham lied. Abraham, at a period of his life, was not the father of the faithful. He actually was the father of the unfaithful for a while until he became the father of the faithful. He tried to take matters in his own hands. He tried to have a son through his wife's handmade, rather than patiently waiting for God to fulfill his promise. So we find a lot of biblical characters with glaring faults. But we don't find that in Mary Magdalene. Luke chapter 8 verse 1. Now it came to pass afterward that he went through every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene. Again, most likely because that was her hometown, or she had an association with that city. Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons. So we see here that Mary became an early follower of Jesus in his ministry. The seven demons represent a very serious, either a mental or physical disease, that she had at the point of incapacitated. Very serious, the large number of seven. And she may have been so thankful for the miraculous healing that she received at the hands of Jesus Christ, that from that point on, she began to follow him as a disciple. She was not like an agent that I had many years ago.

This is probably stories about 30 years old, but it's true. I worked for a manufacturer and I had an agent in Indiana, and his name was Brian. So already you have valuable information. You can probably narrow that down to about half a million people in the state of Indiana. His name was Brian, and Brian was a scoundrel. He chased women. He was married. He drank too much. He gambled.

He was just basically a scoundrel. And Brian, in his late thirties, he got sick.

And he got sicker and sicker, and then he went to the hospital.

And he continued to get sick. He got so sick one night that his wife got a call, four o'clock in the morning, saying, come in and see Brian, because we don't think he's going to survive the night. So she came in and saw Brian. They were nominal Catholics. She had the priest come in and do last rites. And the next morning, Brian's still alive. All this time, Brian's making a bargain with God. He's telling me this later on. God, if you'll pull me out of this one, I'll stop cheating on my wife. God, I'm too young to die. If you just help me to pull through this, I'll quit drinking so much. I won't drink a drop of booze. God, if you save me and allow me to live, I'll be a good man. I'll go to mass every Sunday, and I'll do this, and I'll do that.

The next day, he rallied a little. He got sicker and sicker. That night, his wife got another call from the hospital. We don't think Brian's going to live through the night. He lived through the night, and he got better. And for about 30 days, he kept his bargain with God. As long as he could remember it, about 30 days, he was a actually a pretty fine human being. But after 30 days, he degenerated exactly back to where he had been before. And the answer is, is that's not repentance. God is not interested in us bargaining and making deals with him. You see, repentance says that I am a scumbag, and I have to stop living this way and turn around and follow God's way of life. That's the process that leads to conversion. What Brian experienced was this just shame and guilt of the fact that I'm going to die a scumbag. So I'll make a bargain with God, and hopefully God will hear me and save me. But there was no change in his life. You see, there was no conversion. There was no repentance in his soul. It was strictly a bargain. And when he lived, he kept the bargain for about 30 days, and then he degenerated back to exactly the kind of person he had before. But in contrast to that, Mary Magdalene obviously was a living miracle. She had whatever, whether it was mental or physical illness that debilitated her. As symbolized by seven demons, she was healed. She had a new reason for being. She became a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower. She had a new mission in life. Every day she could get up, and I'm sure people would say to her, weren't you the woman that used to be totally debilitated? Look at her! She looks normal! Look at her walking around! Look at her moving in society! She's been hailed! There's some dramatic change that went on in her life. And from this point on, we read here in Luke 8, she followed Christ behind the scenes, and her courage becomes obvious during the latter part of his ministry, because we don't see her mentioned again from this part on until the latter part of the ministry of Jesus Christ. She led by example. She wasn't a showboat. She wasn't interested in drawing attention to herself.

She wasn't interested in putting a huge spotlight on herself, acquiring titles, or the things that so many people seek. She led by her own quiet, but very beautiful example of faithfulness.

Now, it's said she was called a Mary called Magdalene, and Magdalia was an important agricultural and fishing and trade center in ancient Galilee. It was about 75 miles north of Jerusalem, near the Sea of Galilee. I'm going to read here verse 2 from reary Bible notes. It says, quote, Mary, who was called Magdalene from Magdala, a small town between Capernaum and Tiberius. Let's see something else that she did. She was not only a follower, but let's see what she did in verse 3, along with some others. And it says, and Joanna, the wife of Chooza, or it could be pronounced Kooza, depending on whether you pronounce the C-H like a K or not, the wife of Chooza, Herod Stewart, and Susanna, and many others who provided for him from their substance. Meaning they financially supported Jesus Christ, these women, from their own substance. From their own wealth, they financially supported his minister. Here's what reary Bible notes says in verse 3. Herod Stewart, and that was Herod Antipas, by the way, quote, a position of some rank involving the management of Herod's finances. So this was this Stewart's wife, who was a follower of Jesus. They were contributing to their support. These women helped finance Christ's ministry. So I want you to notice that Mary was one of the women who financially supported the ministry of Jesus Christ. And that's important, because like I said in the last Holy Day, many people are willing to give God credit, but few people are willing to give him cash. Okay? So they put their money where their mouth was, and they physically supported Jesus Christ to support his ministry. I'm going to read verse 3 from the New Century version. This is Joanna, the wife of Chooza, the manager of Herod's house, Susanna, and many others. These women used their own money to help Jesus and his apostles. Again, that is from the translation the New Century version. So that's what we learned about Mary. Now, she continues to serve quietly behind the scenes, and we don't hear about her again until the time comes when the chips are down.

When it's time for your character to come forth. Many leaders, they just quietly serve behind the scenes, and oftentimes it's an absolute crisis that brings them to the surface. In our own generation, for many years behind the scenes, Winston Churchill warned Britain, Nazi Germany is a threat. Build up your ships, build up your armaments. The Nazis are on the rise, prepare for battle to nigh. People laughed and screamed, you old dinosaur, you washed out gas bag, you don't know what you're talking about. And they mocked him and they ridiculed him because he was considered an old man whose time had come and gone until they needed him.

Until a crisis hit, and Britain was pulled into the Second World War and was unprepared to fight the Nazi powers. And Churchill came out of retirement, so to speak, and he led. And that's the case of many leaders, including Mary Magdalene. Let's go to John chapter 19 and verse 16, and see what it says here. John chapter 19 and verse 16.

We're going to see that she surfaces suddenly during the crucifixion of our Savior.

John chapter 19 and verse 16. Then he, Pilate, delivered him to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went out to a place called Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. The Latin term for that is calvary. But he was bearing his cross. What does that mean? Well, before you were crucified, you had to carry your own cross beam to the site where you were going to be crucified. And if you kind of want an idea of what that's like, go to Home Depot, pick up a couple of two inch by seven inch by ten foot pieces of lumber, two or three of them, and put them on the back of your neck and walk around Home Depot like that for 20 minutes.

And you know what'll happen? They're going to throw you out of the store, because you're nuts! But until they throw you out of the store, feel the weight and the pressure of that wood on your tender neck and your shoulder muscles as you're carrying that piece of wood. Now, imagine doing that for miles, and imagine people whipping you, spitting at you, and mocking you while you're walking uphill with that on your back, and you'll get an idea what it's like to bear your own cross.

Continuing here, verse 18, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center, and Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. Give you a little bit of background. Pilate's getting his pound of flesh. He did not want to crucify Jesus Christ. Jesus was not like a typical renegade. He interviewed Jesus, he was quiet, he was meek, he was well behaved and mannered, he was respectful.

Pilate was used to talking to revolutionaries who would spit in your face and condemn you and were stubborn and arrogant. Jesus wasn't that way at all. He was actually cornered by the Jews who said that this man claims that he is a king, and therefore, if you don't have him crucified, you are committing treason against Caesar because there's only one king in the Roman Empire, and that's Caesar. So Pilate felt like he was cornered and forced to crucify Jesus Christ.

Now he's going to get his pound of flesh. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. That's the tweak the nose of the Jewish people because here's their king bleeding and hanging and dying on this wooden cross. Then many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. That's the city of Jerusalem.

And it was written, not only that, he wanted to tweak their nose real hard, he wrote it in even three languages. It was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The king of the Jews. And it's all in his regal splendor, the king of the Jews. Therefore, the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. 21st century vernacular, deal with it. I'm not going to change it, just deal with it.

It is what it is. That's what Pilate tells him. Verse 23, then the soldiers, when they had crucified Christ, took his garments and made four parts to each soldier apart, and also the tunic. So there were clothes, and they divided the four clothes among four of them. A couple of shoes went to one person, and they're just dividing up these clothes, but there's only one tunic. It says, now the tunic was without a seam woven from the top in one place, and they said therefore among themselves, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, these obviously aren't the Romans saying this, but it's John who's saying that their decision was to fulfill prophecy, quote, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

It happens to be in the book of Psalms, the 22nd chapter, and verse 18. Therefore, the soldiers did these things. So the tunic was a pretty good value. It wasn't stitched together. It was one piece of cloth. It was worth a lot of money, and it was a real quality piece of clothing. They didn't want to tear it in the four parts, so they said, well, we'll gamble over this, and winner takes all, and that's exactly what they did to his tunic.

So again, Pilate had been reluctant to crucify Jesus, and he felt he had been cornered into it by the Jewish leaders, and to get back at them, he publicly mocked them in three languages by the kind of title that he wrote. So everything here is fulfilling prophecy. Everything is part of God's plan, even the fact that his clothing was gambled over. It was to fulfill prophecy as recorded in the book of Psalms, chapter 22. Now let's pick it up in verse 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Clophis, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son, then he said to the disciple, behold your mother, and from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. Again, I want to emphasize, as I have before, the tremendous love of Jesus Christ. You know, when I stub my toe, the only thing that I can think about is how much my toe hurts, because it's all about me. It's my tone, toe, and my pain.

Here is the son of God literally nailed to a piece of wood, had been humiliated, a crown of thorns jabbed on his head with grew blood, he had been physically abused, mocked. Here he is, his very lifeblood draining from him.

Here he is, the sins of the world on his shoulders, and all that that means. And you know what? He looks down and he says to himself, who's going to take care of my mom? You see, it's not all about him, because Jesus Christ was the suffering servant. It wasn't all about him. It's about you. It's about me. It's about his mother. It's about us. That's what it was all about. And through all of this pain that he's feeling, he transcends that and says, you know what, John, take care of my mom.

Would you? From now on, mom, you live with John. He'll give you care. He'll take care of you. It just shows the incredible love that Jesus Christ had. And again, it said, from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. Verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel of sour wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop.

That was a branch of a hyssop bush. And put it to his mouth, used the branch as a way to lift up that sponge to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. And who is there? When this is going on, Mary Magdalene, suddenly, this very quiet woman whom we had previously read about in the book of Luke's, had not been mentioned again, is there. She is unique among the followers of Jesus Christ.

She is specifically mentioned by name as a witness to four important key events. Here they are. Number one, Jesus' crucifixion. Most of the men aren't there at Jesus' crucifixion. They're hiding. Now John is the beloved disciple, but most of his other disciples are nowhere to be found.

His burial will see that she even follows him to see the tomb that he's put in. Most of the other disciples aren't following to find out where he's buried. They're too afraid to come out because they don't want to be arrested for having been associated with Jesus Christ. She loves him so much that after the high day is over, she shows up on Sunday morning with spices to finish anointing his body, to give him the kind of regal funeral dignity as much as she possibly could.

You don't find a lot of the other disciples doing that, but you find Mary doing that.

The discovery that his tomb was empty. She shows up there. She looks inside the tomb. She's curious. And then, of course, as we'll see, she was the first person, first person to speak to, the resurrected Jesus Christ as revealed by scriptures. Again, remember that most of the male disciples fled, and they're hiding during the crucifixion because they're afraid of arrest and punishment for being a follower of Jesus Christ. What happened to Christ didn't turn out very well, and they don't want to duplicate that story. They also don't want to be arrested and tried and humiliated and possibly crucified like Christ was. So they're in hiding. And again, after the Lord is taken down from the cross, Mary also follows his body to see where it is entombed. Let's read about that in Mark chapter 15 and see where Mark mentions that. Mark chapter 15 and verse 44.

Mark writes, Pilate marveled that he was already dead and summoning the centurion. He asked him if he had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body the Joseph. Then they brought fine linen, took it down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a tomb where he had been hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Now notice verse 47. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph observed where he was laid. So she was curious enough, courageous enough to be close enough to follow everything that's going on to see literally what tomb he is put in. Let's go to John's account. He adds more information. As John often does, he kind of fills in the blanks and tells us a lot more than is recorded in the synoptic Gospels. John chapter 19 and verse 31. Let's see what he says here, because he adds a few things that Mark does not mention.

John chapter 19 and verse 31.

John writes, therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. That's the first day of unleavened bread. Obviously, that was a high day, a holy day, and they wanted the bodies down and buried before sunset that began the first day of unleavened bread. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. I'm going to take a minute to explain what this is, and this is kind of gruesome, so I'll try to do this in a way that doesn't disgust people.

In the process of crucifixion, people normally die through strangulation. What happens is, is when you were crucified, all the weight, because of the way your hands were stretched out, all of your weight pulled against your lungs, and you had difficulty breathing. While you were hanging on that stake or that cross, to get breath, you would dig your legs against the wood, and you would lift yourself up, and that is how you were able to breathe. You would do that until you got tired, until your leg muscles hurt so bad, and you could no longer support yourself, that you would stop doing that, and you would begin to strangle again. All right? You would be dying of strangulation. The idea of breaking the legs was that you would no longer be able to lift yourself up to breathe, and when they broke your legs, you literally would strangle in a very short period of time. That was a way to speed up the death of someone who was crucified, and that's exactly what they had decided to do. Verse 32, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and the other who was crucified with him, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He bled to death. Verse 35, and he who has seen has testified. This is John referring to himself. He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. John's saying, look, I was there, I was an eyewitness. What I'm telling you happened literally happened. I saw it with my own eyes.

Verse 36, for these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, that one of his bones should be broken. Again, that's Psalm chapter 22 and verse 14.

Now let's pick it up in verse 37, and again, another scripture states, they shall look at him whom they have pierced. That was spoken of in Psalm chapter 22 and verse 16. Another prophecy fulfilled. Verse 38, after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body, and Pilate gave him permission. As I mentioned last Sabbath, another account, another Gospel says Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin or the council.

Pilate most likely recognized him. He knew he was a man of influence and importance. If you or I would have been in that situation, we approached Pilate, he would have said, who are you?

Right? I'm not giving you anything. I don't even know you. But because it was Joseph of Arimathea, a man of prominence and respect, obviously Pilate knew of him or heard of him, and he said, okay, you can take the body away. So he came, took the body of Jesus, and here's an addition, and Nicodemus, this was not mentioned in the other account, Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night also came, and bringing a mixture of myrrh and allos about a hundred pounds, this is also not mentioned in the other Gospels, they took the body of Jesus and bounded in strips of linen with spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, we find out from another one of the Gospels, that this was actually Joseph of Arimathea's tomb that he had had done for his own death, a new tomb, which in which no one had been laid. So there they laid Jesus because of the Jews' preparation day, meaning they were on the eve of the first day of unleavened bread, for the tomb was nearby. So what is occurring here? Well, some of this is only kind of like speculation, and here's how the speculation goes. If you had time, what you did is you took these beautiful spices and you literally rubbed them over all the areas of the body, then you would begin to put strips of cloth around the body, and you would pack in these spices kind of like a layer as you wrapped cloth around the body. What is thought that occurred here, and this Isaiah comes from the example of Asa in 2 Chronicles 16 and verse 14, is that they made a bed of spices. Meaning instead of taking all the time, remember they're in a hurry, and taking all the time of wrapping these literally between the cloths of going around his body, that they kind of lay them, the hundred pounds is a lot, that they kind of laid them out, put Jesus on it, covered him up, wrapped him a little bit, and kind of sandwiched all of these spices, because this you could do very quickly without literally rubbing it into every area of his body and sandwiching it between wrappings. At least this is the speculation of what they think occurred here and how they did this. So let's now go to Mark chapter 15 and verse 37.

Mark chapter 15 and verse 37, and pick up the story here.

This is Mark's account of the final minutes of the life of Jesus Christ.

He's going to confirm two things here that we found out in the other gospels. He's going to confirm that Mary was at the crucifixion and that she was one of the women who financially supported him during his ministry. So he's going to confirm these two facts by what Mark writes, chapter 15 and verse 37. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. Then the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. So when the centurion who stood opposite him saw him that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly this man was the Son of God. There were also women looking from afar among whom were Mary Magdalene. Mary, the mother of James, the lesson, Joseph, and Salome, who also followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee and many other women who came up to him in Jerusalem. So again, this just confirms what we read in other accounts, that Mary is there at the crucifixion and that she had been one of those who financially supported Jesus Christ during his ministry. Now let's take a look at chapter 16 verse 1. Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, mother of Mary, Mary, mother of James and Salome brought spices that they might come to anoint him. Now this is Sunday morning. Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the Son had risen and they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? Remember when he was buried, there were two burly men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who could roll the stone there. But here are a bunch of women and they're saying, you know, how are we going to take this massive rock and move this rock away from the tomb? That's what they're thinking. For it was very large. It says, but they looked up, verse 4, and they saw that the stone had been rolled away for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe, we know from other accounts there were actually two angels, sitting on the right side and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen. He's not here. See the place where they had laid him. But go, tell the disciples in Peter that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you. So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now notice verse 9. Now when he arose early on the first day of the week, speaking of Jesus Christ, he appeared first, the Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept.

So we know from John's account, that's chapter 20, that we had read earlier, that Jesus met and spoke with Mary immediately after seeing the angels who were in the tomb. This is actually the final biblical record of Mary being present later that day with the other male disciples. Let's go there and let's read about that in John chapter 20. This is kind of the final mention of her.

John chapter 20 and verse 18.

It says, Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples they were all gathered together, that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things to her, then, the same day at evening, that is Sunday, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace to you! When they had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw it was the Lord. So indeed, Mary had gone back after she had seen Jesus and talked to him, went back to the group of disciples who were assembled for fear of the Jews, and she was there and present. This is the final scriptural account of Mary. I'm sure, even though the Bible doesn't tell us, she continued to be a righteous influence in the Jerusalem congregation for many years to come until she eventually died. She's not mentioned in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

And the rest of her life remains undocumented. But that's all we know about Mary. We also know a few other things, and that is that some have attempted to take the story of the woman in Luke chapter 7 and say that it was Mary Magdalene. We're going to turn there very quickly. Luke chapter 7 and verse 36. As you read all accounts of Scripture, no evidence exists that this sinful woman in Luke 7 should be identified as Mary Magdalene. But some churches have done that. They've said that this woman was Mary Magdalene. And frankly, it was an effort politically to keep women in their place.

I've mentioned earlier you don't find many negative qualities about Mary Magdalene.

So they attempted to fix that issue with this story and say that this applies to her. Luke chapter 7 and verse 36. Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat, and behold a woman in the city who was a sinner. Well, that's kind of pretty open-ended, isn't it? That could have been probably one of lots of people. Sadly, could have been one of lots of people. When she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and she began to wash his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil. Now, when the Pharisee who invited him saw this, he spoke to himself. So he just says this in his own heart. Of course, Jesus, being the son of God, can read hearts and minds just like he can read your heart and mind and mine. Anyway, this man said to himself, this man, if he were a prophet, would know of what manner of woman this is who is touching him. For she is a sinner! verse 40. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said, teachers say it. He says, there was a creditor at two debtors, one owed 500 the naira and the other 50. And when there's nothing more to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?

Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have judged rightly or you've judged. Verse 44. And then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss. But this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil. But this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

Jesus is saying to him, hint, hint. Did you get the analogy here, Simon? So what he's saying?

Then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? Then he said to the woman, again, because he can read hearts and minds, your faith, meaning faith that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and had the power to forgive sin, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. As I mentioned earlier, on all accounts, there's no evidence that this sinful woman in Luke 7 should have ever been associated with Mary Magdalene, because it doesn't say it was her. She was not even introduced to readers until the next chapter. And she's introduced to the readers with a whole group of other women. So why can't you say it was any of the other women that this is talking about here in Luke 7? So we need to understand that, that unfortunately some, and it's called in the study of theology, a composite tradition, primarily promoted within the Catholic Church, that took some of the Marys and merged their events and lives together. For example, Mary of Bethany is identified in a lot of Catholic theology as the same as Mary Magdalene. And again, they call that composite, a composite tradition.

Another problem with what some churches have done with that is they confuse the story about Mary of Bethany. And that story is in John 12. You may recall six days before the Passover, it was Mary of Bethany, not Mary Magdalene, who took a pound of very costly oil of Spikenard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped it with her hair. That was not Mary Magdalene. That was another Mary. So again, there's been an attempt in history to kind of diminish the example of Mary Magdalene. So today, we've read the story of a remarkable and faithful female disciple of Jesus Christ. Let's recap some of the highlights of her biography that we find about her in Scripture.

First, she was called when she had a serious disease represented by having seven demons, and she was healed. From that moment, she became a follower of Jesus Christ in her entire life, physically, emotionally, and mentally, was a living testimony to the healing power of Jesus Christ. And she didn't pay just lip service to Jesus. She supported him financially. So she put her money where her mouth was, which is number two. She financially supported the ministry of Christ, and her personal sacrifice made it possible for 12 men to preach the gospel daily, since their ability to support themselves was limited. You know, they had to give up what they were doing in order to follow Jesus Christ around the Palestine and to preach the gospel on a daily basis.

People like her made it possible for them to be able to do that.

Another remarkable thing about her is she specifically mentioned by her name as a witness to four significant events. First one is Jesus's crucifixion. She's there. The second is his burial in the tomb. She's there. The third is the discovery that his tomb was empty the next morning, early the next morning. She's there. And the fourth is speaking literally the very first person to speak to the resurrected Jesus Christ. She's there. Another remarkable thing about her is when Jesus Christ was crucified, she was courageous. She didn't care what the Jews or Romans or anyone else thought about her. She was not afraid of the Jews. She was courageous and by his cross, where he could see her through all that he was going through, she was there praying for him and physically there to send him a message that I love you, that I'm here for you during this time of your need. What a remarkable example. While most others were cowards, frankly, and were hiding away for fear, she came out in the open and she was there. Another thing that she did that was remarkable, she loved Jesus so deeply she wanted to know where he was buried. She followed where Joseph was taking his body. She wanted to know where he was entombed because she wanted to return.

She came back on the first day of the week to honor him with more spices for his body and to finish the job properly that had been rushed because the first day of Unleavened Bread was coming upon that part of the world. Finally, she was the very first person to see and to talk to the resurrected Jesus Christ in the garden where he had been entombed. What a remarkable example of loyalty, courage, of commitment of an individual who sought the kingdom of God first more than anything else. She didn't seek the limelight. She led by example and that example was her life and it should be an inspiration for us today. So, brethren, let us remember the example of Mary Magdalene. Let us follow the example of Mary Magdalene. Let our lights shine.

Let those who observe what we say and think and do observe the light of Jesus Christ being reflected in a very dark world. Let us be the right kind of ambassadors for Jesus Christ that we have all been called to be. And let us never forget the incredible example left to us by a very simple woman. We don't see a whole lot about her in the scriptures, but one thing we do see is a woman of courage, of faith, and of commitment. And that woman was Mary Magdalene.

Have a wonderful Sabbath day.