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Luke 7336-50 | ee
October 17, 1971 ae |

John Mi. Buchanan =" pe

Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever fallen in love with somcone
and not known how to give oxpression to your feelings? Not just romantically,
although that is perhaps the kind of love we think about first here. But
have you ever found yourself feeling so strongly about another person that es
your feclings actually scarcd you, and when you tried to express it - in
@ card or a gift, or verbally - face to face ~ you discovered that nothing
could get the job donc?

That's the issuc in the story of Mary Magdalene. She once loved a
man, a different kind of man; and her love for him brought about such a | }
change in herself that she seemed like someone clse. She was frightened by
her own feclings, scared by this man who was so totally different from all the
other mon she had cver known. | / ae

Her song, "I Don't Know How to Love Him", became very popular not long
ago as part of the rock opera, "Josus Christ Superstar". And that, in itself
is an incredible phenomenon, It has been talked about and debated; praised
and criticized by religious and secular journalists. nd it is not my
purpose this morning to add to the volume of that particular discussion. It
was written by two young men who are not Christians, and the opera ends on
a note devoid of hope. And yet, it spoke to a lot of people - in @ way that
all the traditional religious, music stopped doing fifty years ago. It became
an important part of one of the most significant movements of our time - the
rennaisance of the Gospel within youth culture. Kids are "turning on" to
Jesus.

In any case, Mary's song became popular as a part of that larger move
ment in our culture. But also, I think, because her song dramatically pin-
points a very important question: "How to Love Him?" That, I would suggest,

has always been a question; in terms of somehow loving Jesus in an authentic,

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honest way as individual, twentieth century Christians; but aXes te terms of
interpersonal relations. That is, “How to love anyone?", wives, husbands,
parents, children, friends and strangors.

The story of Mary Magdalene can be a case study at this point. So let's
look again at who she was and what role she plays in the Gospel narrative.
The first problem in putting the story together is that there are no fewer
than six Mary's mentioned in the New Testament. Some of them do very similar
things in the different Gospels, and there has always been a Lisigeriing sus—
picion in the minds of New Testament scholars, that at least several of
these Mary's are one and the same person, There has also been a lingering
tradition that Mary Magdalene was, in fact, the nameless prostitute whose
story is told in our New Testament Lesson this morning. There is no way
to prove it - nor)is there any way to disprove it.

What wo do know is this. Mary Magdalene was one of several women who
became a part of the entourage that followed Jesus around Galilee for about
three years. At some point Jesus had healed her of a lingering ailment,
described in the Bible as "casting out seven demons." After that she appar-
ently became a devoted follower, who not only accompanied him but also

contributed financially to the venture. She was among those who went to

‘Jerusalem with him on the first day of the Passover for his final and

dramatic appeal to the nation. She lived through all the events of the
climactic week, and again was one of those who was conspicuously present
at his crucifixion. She came to his tomb carly in the morning on the very
first day after the Sabbeth, she reported the fact of the empty tomb to
the others, and shortly thaneattec, in the garden, alone with her bewildered
grief, became the first person to experience the greatest truth of Christian
faith - the yoality of the Resurrection.

Now, those are pretty impressive credentials, but there are still a

lot of unanswered questions. Who was she? Where did she come from? What

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was the nature of her illness? "Jesus Christ Superstar" in Mary's song HI . R,!

Don't Know How to Love Him" suggests that she was a prostitute, and as I a
mentioned there Fe some precedent for identifying Mary Magdalene with the
woman in luke 7. That's speculation, of course, but it is responsible | 2A
speculation. Using that, and other information, a more complete story is A é
emerges. : . |
Her name tells us that she was from Magdala, a small town in the lestern a

shore of the Sea of Galilee. Archeologists and historians tell us that Magdala ~~
was a very interesting place. It was primarily a Gentile town: the, religious _ Paws

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artifacts doscovered at the site are mostly pagan. It was the hub of a lot

of commercial activity; farming, fishing, fish curing, ship building and
trading, The relative woalth of Magdala is revealed in a curious little ; Bos
historical anecdote: when the Romans collected their taxes, the money was : ee
shipped from Nagdala by the wagon load, rather than horse back, Because of =
its dbulinan't pagan populace, Magdala was a wide open town, with a reputation — =
for the best and most available prostitutes in the pag more or less the & .
Calumet City of the Sea of Galilee. There was plenty of business - Roma —
‘ goldiers on leave from Jerusalem, sat love at port, farmers in town to trade - ’ oe
and to have a fling before vation home. ‘isan Magdala was destroyed the | f is
Rabbi's recorded their conviction that the tragedy was the result of the a
city's notorious licentousness. ; ee »
So we have a little girl growing up there -— in a rich, lively, open Re

town with a flourishing prostitution industry — which if contemporary indi- _ ‘3
cation arc valid - means that a good precentage of the cash flow came about ds SS
as a vance o2 this particular business venture. A little girl, growing «
up there ~ ag part of a despised minority in her own poueamd +y = a community s et
under the thumb of the arrogant Romans wis held all of them — Jews and ei
Gentiles in utter disdain. ; f ye
Perhaps she did fall. Poxhaps, the young Mary, physically attractive S 3 oe

Eau AS Pa = Ne? deen : Pea bit Ge Var Satie Acai

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was not too bad after all, and that it would certainly be lucrative. But
nothing wee so abhorrent to the Jewish community as prostitution: and the
price Mary paid was the total rejection of her family, her people, her synogag,
her whole past. They said she had a demon — she was sick - literally sick -
physically and spiritually sick. So sick, in fact, that they said she had
seven demons - which simply indicates a recurring or particularly severe
affliction in the medical idiom of the first century.

Then one day Mary met another man, out of Nazareth, thirtish, young and
attractive. But she had never encountered one like this before. This one,
by the name of Jesus, was scary. He didn't want what all the others had
wanted. Ho didn't ask her for anything — not what her clientle asked, not
even what her own family asked. He simply saw her as a person - a woman —
a whole human being. And suddenly she found herself feeling both worse and
better about herself than she had ever felt before. Guilt, remorse, love,
pride, cynicism, affection ~ g6+ all mixed up in her mind and she found herself
doing something altogether new - opening up, and talking. She didn't have
to tell him that she was all mixcd up, that she had sinned. He already knew
that - and somehow could get by that to understand her - and touch her as a
person with dignity and worth and value.

Suddenly she - Mary —~ mattered to someone. Was that the "casting out
of the seven devils". I prefer to think so. Suddenly she was healed bythe
anconditional love and acceptance of this very strange man. And when he \
left and her next business engagement began, she couldn't do it. But what
does a reformed prostitute do in Magdala. Mary decided quickly. She packed
her belongings - the tools of her trade - the vulgar clothing - even the
semi-precious perfume and set out to find him in Galilee.

She caught up with him at — of all places — the home of a respected
Pharisee, where he was the guest for a banquet. And when she saw him again
all the agony and self recrimmination and guilt and love came to the surface.

Bursting into tears she threw herself at his feet - and took that symbol of

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all that was past - that ainbab ae jar of perfune an poured 4 over home
It was an impulsive ; extravagant Anan to do, terribly ombarrasaing

to the very Hempantatic host. It's significance| would have been Leeda: .
everyone except eave The host, trying to be gracious, suggestod that ;
Jesus didn't know who and what she was (men of the aleth don't know about:
these things?) But in the onsuing conversation Jouus played it straight re ae
and rovealed that he was the only one who roelsy inh who she was - eae
a person. In Mark's account of the incident he rebukes his host's tte ae
sense of propricty with the remark: “It is“a fine,nd beautiful thing sho!
has done." | Re | ARN
So she followed him — through Galilee, and into the city of Jerusalem
right up to the foot of his cross. And when he died - she kept following to a
the tomb - and her following resulted in the confirmation of all he had done - Fs 3

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for her. He was not dead ~ He was £4412 with her — the change in her was |
for real — she was a new person ~ she was really healed’ - love and forgive | :
ness and grace were the lasting realities. ind at that point Mary fades
into history, and the speculation. stops. And I denstoek that as I prepared
this I wanted to stop and let the incredible beanty of her story speak for
itself. Thorefore I would not be offended if you turned de off at this
juncture and lived a while with your own thoughts. But my own sense of | 2
propriety wont + let me do that - go allow me to think out bei, and share
with, you where the story of Mary Magdalene leads me. |

I soe a lot of what is common to all men and women in Mary's story. I |
have come to understand that all of us, in this culture and at this time, |
suffer from a lack of solf-esteem. I have come to that conclusion from

personal counseling, from reading and studying and talking with people

involved in the psychological disciplines. To use the intent Ba Cane re

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» you and not for you -- until you can somehow confront and articulate your own

disregard for others that results in racial bigotry, ultimately murder, but e

more commonly in old fashioned patti staan
I've come to the conclusion that somehow we have these built -in bad

feelings about ourselves, that we unconsciously build them into our children, .

that wo live out our lives playing all inde ot games, the purpose of which

is to make us feel OK about ourselves. {nd I've come to believe that one of

the structures of our society that reinforces these negative sclf—feclings

= that supports our lack of self esteem - is none other than inetd tutionalined

Chvietiani tre For there is no doubt that a lot of what goes under the name

of Gospel in our society assumes that you have to feel bad before you can —

feel good: that you are not only a hopeless sinner — but that God is against

rotteness. There is not doubt that a lot of what gocs under the name of

religion - maybe most of it — is not Good News at all, but very bad new.
dnd ag I apply what I sense about us and our religious situation — to

what I sce transpiring between Jesus and people like that forlorn woman eee

kneeling at his feet - I want to ony very clearly that the basic thing the

Gospel has to say to you and me ~ is good. It is really Good News. It is

that Jesus Christ means God loves you - and understands you - and accepts

you just as you.are. Josus accepted that woman. And we need to be very ‘

careful here. He didn't condone her behavior: he aid nut encourage her to =

continue: but — he did not insist that she conjure up all her bad feelings -

he did not force her to repent as'a condition for his forgiveness. He simply

cut through all that and accepted her, and that acceptance prompted her

repentance and her confession: ‘that acceptance, which was extended to her

before she did a thing, was what healed her and made her stand up.and walk

in a new direction. That acceptance scared her - but it did more than

that, - it onabled her - to love = to show her love — to weep tears of love -

to pour out the perfume. ; a + f

Ye can't feel good about anything until we feel good about ourselvess =
. 2 { ag ie 4

We can't Lees anybody until we estoom and vine
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a aie: Its that simplo - and it is that | which the déepai. 0 of Josus: | ,

‘addresses in cach one of us. -
a The late Paul Tillich, said it this way. ee forgiven and ae

futile attempts to make ourselves south i ee are eicatar EES ow
the certainty that we are forgiven, a the fire of love Fegins to burn. ‘

Pree, That is the greatest experience anyone can have. It ‘may not happen often, 7 =

E but when it acde happen, it decides and. Argngtorns every thing." [The New : ts
Boing, p. 12] } oy | 3 |
B f That! s vhat happened to Hany. She was erapned, ay the eset we
ES we know God loves and accepts us. We confess beGaaws the news is go08 ,
Ks f ¢ , really good - in Jesus Christ i are forgiven. That means Hyout re OK and | X, ¥
E . Ttm OK" and we can look each other in the ‘eye and love each other because e
F S ; : we are ES by God himself. That meang we are free to. Tees - Imsbands

and wives, parents and children, friends and strangers - because we are A.
e _ loved. ‘That moons that we - even you and I - can give the gift of i ae
Fs : ae to cach other: to heal ane other. : Sis . %
ka *: How to love? By hearing ~ perhaps for the first time - the best of — E:
Be: Bar all possible news: that we are loved Se! God, through Josus christ our Lord.
Ba ; ;
Bek 3. ' Father, we spend a lot of time fecling bad about ourselves. Help us —
he “s | . really to hear - and really to know that you love us. find then be with us
oe ; me. as we tentatively try to love each Gerd. honestly, vnoonai tionally: | .

) ba ihe Josus, Shei our lor.