There are a number of stories and teachings
in the Bible that never find their way into the lectionary and are, therefore,
are never preached. Take, for example, the story of that time God tried to kill
Moses. Try preaching that one sometime.
And then there is this from
1st Corinthians where Paul writes in chapter 11 “I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man,
and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. Indeed, man was not made from woman,
but woman from man. Neither was
man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.”
Not
a very good piece of scripture for a Mother’s Day sermon around these parts.
But, you know, neither is it representative of how women are depicted
throughout the Bible.
Take Jael for instance. Jael saves Israel. Her story is told in the 4th
chapter of Judges. The general Sisera was being pursued by the people of
Israel at the request of Deborah the Hebrew Judge. He ends up at Jael’s tent,
trying to hide anonymously. But Jael recognizes him as an enemy of her people.
After the general went fast to sleep. Jael sneaked into the tent with a tent
peg and hammer. The Bible says that she drove the nail through his temple and
pegged his head to the ground. Battle over. Israel safe, for the moment.
There was Pharaoh’s daughter who openly violated the Pharaoh’s
mandate to kill the Hebrew children and saved Moses…thus saving the Hebrews.
There was Rahab who protected the Israelite spies at Jericho and saved their
lives, earning her a place in the genealogy of Jesus though she was a
prostitute.
Hagar, the slave women, who gave birth to Abraham’s first son and
though exiled to the desert protected Ishmael and nurtured him so that he could
follow God’s call to father one of the world’s great religions, Islam.
You know the stories of
Esther and Ruth…and then it was the women, not the frightened men, who were the
first to find the tomb was empty.
The stories of all of these
women among so many others demonstrate Paul’s words in 1st
Corinthians do not do justice to women. But there is another story of a
fiercely independent woman that didn’t even make it to the Bible. It is the
story of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus told in the Gospel of
Mary from which Cathy read this morning.
There were a number of
writings that didn’t make the cut. Like Mary’s gospel, the gatekeepers felt
many of them were too strange in their message, too gnostic, that is they
taught that salvation comes from acquiring knowledge rather than from the death
and resurrection of Jesus. So, these texts were outlawed and 2nd
century Bishop Athanasius, the same Bishop who decided the Book of Revelation
belonged in the Bible decided the Gospel of Mary should not and ordered it and
others be destroyed.
But some of the monks
defied the Bishop. They weren’t willing to allow them to be lost forever. So,
they gathered them up, sealed them in large pots and buried them in the desert
in upper Egypt, where fragments of the Gospel of Mary, like that you see on the
front of your bulletin, were discovered in 1896. It remained unpublished until
1938.
The Gospel of Mary exposes
a theological understanding of women and their role in the faith far different
from those words of Paul I read.
As the narrative opens, the
Savior is engaged in dialogue with his disciples. Afterward, Jesus departs,
leaving the disciples distraught and anxious. According to the story, it is Mary
who speaks up with words of comfort and encouragement. Then Peter asks Mary to
share with them any special teaching she received from the Savior, “Peter said
to Mary, ‘Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of the
women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember—which you know (but)
we do not.”
Mary recounts a
conversation she had with the Jesus. "I saw the Lord in a vision,” Mary
says. “He said to me: “Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of
me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure." I said to him, "So
now, Lord, does a person who sees a vision see it through the soul or through
the spirit?"
In the
conversation, Jesus teaches that the inner self is composed of soul,
spirit/mind, and a third mind that is between the two which sees the vision. The
next four pages are missing. When the narrative resumes, Mary tells of the
revelation given to her in a vision. The revelation describes an ascent of a
soul, which as it passes on its way to its final rest, engages in dialogue with
four powers that try to stop it. Her vision does not meet with universal
approval.
Andrew said to
the brethren, "Say what you think concerning what she said. For I do not
believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are of other
ideas." Peter is offended that Jesus selected Mary above the other
disciples to interpret his teachings. He asked, "Did he then speak
secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back
and listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"
However, Levi comes
to Mary Magdalene’s defense. The Gospel of Mary says, “Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you
have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like
the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to
reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That’s why He loved her more
than us.” And when they heard this, the Gospel reports, they began to go forth
to proclaim and to preach.
Thus, the Gospel of Mary exposes as
untrue, the church tradition that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, it is a
piece of theological fiction. The Gospel of Mary also provides us with a
convincing argument from in the earliest days of Christianity, for the
legitimacy of the leadership role of women in the movement.
Theologian Karen King wrote a book
titled The Nag Hammadi Library, in which she makes these
observations:
“The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a
scenario also found in The Gospel
of Thomas and The Gospel
of the Egyptians, reflects some of the tensions in second-century
Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions that deny the
validity of esoteric revelation and reject the authority of women to
teach. The Gospel of Mary attacks
both of these positions head-on through its portrayal of Mary Magdalene. She is
the Savior's beloved, possessed of knowledge and teaching superior to that of
the public apostolic tradition. Her superiority is based on vision and private
revelation and is demonstrated in her capacity to strengthen the wavering disciples
and turn them toward the Good.
Taking the 1st
Corinthians verses I read earlier out of context is not fair to Paul, though
throughout his writings are verses that have been used to marginalize women.
But, if you read his letters in their entirety and watch what he does more than
what he says, you can imagine him joining Levi in the debate with Peter and
Andrew. It was Paul who wrote that "in Christ there is neither male
nor female."
Priscilla and her husband Aquila were
side-by-side companions of the Apostle Paul in his work both in Corinth and in
Ephesus, and Priscilla is portrayed as the more gifted and capable teacher, a
clear-cut case of a knowledgeable woman being used in the teaching of a man
with no hint of an objection from Paul.
Further, in Paul's letter to the church
in Philippi he urges an unnamed fellow-worker to "help these women who
have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel.” In the letter to the
Romans he mentions other women who labored with him "in the Lord.”
We won’t put an end to the debate over
whether the Bible is a patriarchal text…but we know what we have experienced in
the life of this church…and that is the critical role the women among us have
played and continue to play.
It is impossible to imagine Highlands
without their commitment, without their leadership, and without the
contributions they make of the gifts God provided each of them. To witness what
they do, what they accomplish…to witness their leadership at Highlands, one
might not help himself in exclaiming as did Libanius, a 4th century
pagan philosopher QUOTE: “What women these Christians have.”
So, on this day when we celebrate what
women we Christians have, let us give thanks to God for all their leadership in
our faith community. AMEN
Amen
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