By Canon Cate Edmonds
“Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.” – John 20:18
This coming Monday is the Feast of St Mary Magdalene. She has always fascinated me, and I was delighted that Mary Magdalene was the dedication of my first parish. In fact, one of the first events I organised at that church was a Mary Magdalene themed flower festival. All the flower arrangements were inspired by events in Mary Magdalene’s life.
I picked seven very large Crocosmia, also known as montbretia, stalks to illustrate the seven demons that Jesus cleansed from her (as noted in Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9). It is more likely that He cured her of a physical disorder rather than the popular notion that He freed her of evil spirits. I was delighted with these long and graceful stalks and thought that they would suitably illustrate the seven demons. I carefully laid them on a pew to return to later, as I was organising other people who were helping with the many arrangements. Imagine my horror when I returned to that pew to find these carefully selected flowers were missing. Looking around I saw that they had been used by the lead flower arranger for her display and had been significantly reduced in size. On enquiry, she had thought as they were left seemingly abandoned in a pew, they were for general use. I bit my tongue and walked away putting negative thoughts behind me. An early lesson learnt; do not leave things you want to use unattended in a pew when surrounded by enthusiastic flower arrangers, and don’t moan at those who have offered to help in church!
I am pleased to say that, despite this minor hiccup, the flower festival was a great success. Each arrangement had an explanation card which introduced many attendees at the festival to the life of Mary Magdalene more fully. Pope Gregory in 591 preached that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39), and the unnamed “sinful woman” who anointed Jesus’s feet in Luke 7:36–50, were one and the same. That the idea has, in some traditions, continued, as has the notion that she was a redeemed prostitute.
Regardless of these misconceptions, I think she is a very interesting character. She travelled with Jesus, was with Him at his crucifixion when His other disciples had deserted Him, witnessed His burial, and most importantly of all, was the first witness of Jesus’ resurrection. In fact, she was the apostle to the apostles, being the first to proclaim the good news of the risen Christ.
Mary Magdalene not only taught me a brief lesson in the early days of my parish ministry, but she has continued to be an example to me and many others of her dedication to Christ Jesus, even at the most difficult of times. Mary Magdalene the woman from a fishing town on the sea of Galilee who became possibly Jesus’ most faithful follower certainly deserves to be remembered and venerated as an example to us all.
“He appeared first to Mary Magdalene… She went out and told those who had been with him.” – Mark 16:9