The Divine Lamp

The title may sound chestertonian but the post wont, I assure you (sigh).

From Sister Christine Schenk:

““Unfortunately, for centuries, Mary of Magdala’s leadership and that of many other biblical women, has been minimized or excised from the official lectionary used in both Catholic and Protestant churches,” said Sr Christine Schenk, FutureChurch Executive Director.

“For example, even though all four gospels name Mary of Magdala as the first witness to the Resurrection, Jesus’ commission asking her to proclaim it to the male disciples is never read on Sunday, yet we hear about doubting Thomas every single year.”

“And Phoebe, an important leader and deacon at the Church of Cenchrae, is completely excised from the lectionary text of Paul’s letter to the Romans, as are Lois and Eunice from the letter to Timothy. We want Church officials to correct that,” said FutureChurch board member, Barbara Litrell.“

First, let’s look at the alleged “commission” of Mary by Jesus. The First is from Mark:16: 1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; — it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.”
8 And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.
9 Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

Here it is not Jesus who “commissions” her, but , rather, a young man tells her (and others) to go, tell Peter…ect. When compared with commissioning texts from elsewhere in Mark we can see that labeling the above passage a commissioning text is forced.

Mark 3 contains a passage which foreshadows and prepares for the commissioning of the Apostles: “And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons…”

Mark 6: And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. 10 And he said to them, “Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.”
12 So they went out and preached that men should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.

Mark 16: 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

(1) Notice that no statement of possible judgment is mentioned in regard to Mary’s alleged commissioning. (2) Notice too that no bestowal of authority upon Mary is stated, or even applied. (3) Finally, no promise or guarantee that Jesus will be with Mary is given, a major theme in most (but not all) commissioning stories. This stands in marked contrast to the statement in Mark 3 that the Apostles were chosen to be with Him. See also Mark 16:20.

The next alleged commissioning text is from Matthew 28: 1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow.4 The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.5 Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.6 He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”8 Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Here again we notice that Mary’s alleged commissioning takes place, not through Jesus, but through an angel. True, Jesus does appear to her (them), but He simply reiterates the words of the angel. As in Mark, a comparison of this text with others in Matthews Gospel shows a glaring absence of commissioning motifs. There is no reference to a bestowal of authority, as in Matt 10:1 or Matt 16:16-18; nor is there a causal connection drawn between the task Mary is to perform and the power/authority of Jesus, as one finds in Matt 28:18-20; nor does one find a promise of the divine presence, as in Mt 28:18-20; nor is there a reference to judgment for unbelief, as in Matt 10:13-15.

Luke’s account in chapter 24 of his gospel is just as problematic: 1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; 5 and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words,
9 and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the apostles; 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

Here no task at all is given to Mary and the others. From this we can see that the quote given at the beginning of this post, which contained the statement that all four Gospels name Mary Magdalene as the first witness to the Resurrection is false, at least if one tries to see the Magdalene resurrection narratives as implying some sort of commission.

John’s account of Mary at the tomb reads as follows (from chapter 20): 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him….11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Again, not by any stretch of the imagination can this be construed as a commissioning text. John narrates no pre-ressurection preaching mission by the Apostles, probably because he found it irrelevant for his theological purposes. He wants to focus emphasis on the need for the Holy Spirit in the post-resurrection mission. The fact that Jesus has not yet ascended to the Father when he gives Mary her task is not without significance in light of John’s teaching about the necessity of the Holy Spirit for mission; for Jesus first had return to the Father before the Spirit could be given.

The fact is that none of the alleged Magdalene commissioning texts have much to do with Mary herself is obvious. The texts of Matthew and Mark simply have the purpose of telling us how the disciples ended up getting to Galilee for their commissioning, thus providing a transition from the promise Jesus made to His Apostles at the last supper (Mark 14:28; Matt 26:32). Luke’s account doesn’t even achieve this significance, a glaring fact when one considers that he, more than his peers, focuses upon woman in his Gospel. The account in John is also transitional, it links the promise made to the Apostles in the Last supper discourse with the subsequent narrative of John 20:11-21:25. All 4 accounts of the Magdalene narrative also serve to highlight the obtuseness of the Apostles, but this is geared towards focusing our attention on the fact that the mission is about/based upon the power of Jesus rather than upon the strength of the Apostles faith.

Concerning Phoebe, yes she is described as a deacon but given the fact that that word is generally used in the NT as a generic term rather than as a designation of an office, how can it be used as an argument for womans ordination? The very fact that those who pimp for woman priests consistently fail to mention that the term deacon by itself can prove nothing suggests either ignorance on their part, or, worse, a desire to deceive. If it is ignorance, why listen to them? If it is deceit, why listen to them?

As for the fact that the text dealing with Lois and Eunice is absent from the lectionary-you and I know damned well that if it had been included many of these same women denouncing its exclusion would be denouncing its inclusion as just another proof that an all male hierarchy wants women to be barefoot, pregnant, saddled with children and in the home.