April 11, 2004

Mindekirken, April 11, 2004
Pastor Jens Arne Dale

John 20.1-18

Have you ever lost someone who was very dear to you? It might have been your spouse who died, or a child or a good friend. The grief might be a heavy burden. For some, the days become gray. One might become sad and depressed, feeling that one has lost everything that made life worth living.

Mary Magdalene grieved heavily when she came to the tomb early on the first day of the week, while it still was dark. We know what would happen on this day. Easter day ends the grief. Mary would find the tomb empty. And she would be the first to meet the resurrected Jesus. That is Mary’s joy, and the joy of all believers through all times. We’ll stand as we sing the Easter psalm, Norwegian hymnbook 177. (The gospel text is read)

In my eyes this is the most beautiful of the resurrection stories. We get to hear about Mary Magdalene, Peter and first and foremost Jesus. The relationship between the three now fascinates people more than ever before. The reason for this, among others, is Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code, selling six million copies even before the paperback comes out for sale. This book claims that the NT doesn’t tell the truth about Mary. In reality, Jesus and Mary were married, they had children, and their descendants are among us today. I have met people even here at Mindekirken who believes this! Where did Brown get his ideas?

In December 1945 an Arab peasant made an astonishing archeological discovery in the desert sand in Upper Egypt. He found almost an entire library, what we today know as the Nag Hammadi texts. They are parts of 52 books that until then only had been known to a limited extent. They must not be mixed up with the Dead Sea scrolls which contain the OT, and in fact are from the time of Jesus. The Nag Hammadi texts are 1600 year-old Coptic translations of even older Greek texts. Gnosis means knowledge.

Gnosticism claims to have a secret knowledge or tradition which goes back to the apostles. Here is a sample from The gospel of Philip: The companion of the (Savior is) Mary Magdalene. (But Christ loved) her more than (all) the disciples, and used to kiss her (often) on her (mouth). The rest of (the disciples were offended)…They said to him: "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered to them: "Why do I not love you as (I love) her?" Brown says that companion means spouse. That’s not right, but the gospel of Philip claims as we’ve seen that Mary was Jesus’ closest friend.

In The Gospel of Mary it’s also told that she got to hear words from Jesus that the other disciples didn’t hear: And Peter said: "Did the Savior really speak with a woman without our knowledge? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?" And Levi answered: "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like an adversary. The Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us."

Brown is not the first to claim that the men of the church supressed the thought that Mary Magdalene had a very close relationship to Jesus. He says that it was Emperor Constantine who wanted to get rid of this idea, and in order to obtain this, he kind of created the idea that Jesus was divine; the greatest story ever sold, as Brown says. Constantine considered the potential of Christianity as a gathering and building ideology of the empire, and he used it for that purpose. For him, division in the church was worse than war. But when Brown claims that church assembly at Nicea barely voted that Jesus was God and man at the same time, he falsifies history.

The truth is that Arius, who said this, stood quite alone at the church assembly, even though his thoughts that Jesus was only a human and not divine, lived for a long time. Today the Jehovah’s witnesses support Arius’ thoughts. In our service today, we have confessed the creed that was approved at the church assembly of Nicea in 325. It’s accurate words which in a strong and clear way express what the Bible says about Jesus as true God, true man. The church assembly of Nicea didn’t invent something new, they stood firm on the old faith of the church.

The Gnostic gospels mix together thoughts from different religions. The understanding of who Jesus was is not consistent, some say he was only a human, other say he was divine and only appeared to be a human. As a source of historical information, the Gnostic gospels are not as reliable as the NT, because they are written after the NT, we don’t know exactly when. The books which were to be included in the NT had to be generally known in all the Christian congregations, relate to the apostles, and teach correctly about God. The Gnostic gospels have always been rejected by the church because they don’t qualify according to these criteria. They have no place for a Jesus who died on the cross for our sin, no corporal resurrection on Easter Day.

What then does the NT say about Mary Magdalene? Except for the texts about the cross, tomb and resurrection, she is mentioned only once; In Luke 8.1-3. It says that Jesus cured her of seven demons. What this obsession looked like, we don’t know. To say she had been a prostitute would be guesswork. But she had been liberated by Jesus. He had given her a new life. Luke mentions her name first when he describes the women who provided for Jesus and the 12 out of their resources. The fact that her name comes first, probably means that she was the most important of them. When all the male disciples fled, she stayed at the cross.

According to Mark, the others didn’t believe it when Mary told about the resurrection. When the other gospels tell about two and three women, Today’s text says that Mary came alone to the tomb. She found that the stone had been taken away. How did she react to that? She went to Peter! Here we don’t find any trace of tension between the leading male and female disciples. Peter took Mary earnestly, and ran to the tomb. For him, the empty tomb became the fulfillment of the Scriptures. He saw and believed. Mary couldn’t free herself from the grief. She remained weeping outside the tomb. Then it happened. Jesus appeared to her. At first, she thought it was the gardener, but when Jesus said her name, the light went on for her. Jesus was risen indeed.

An old title of honor in the church calls Mary the apostle of the apostles. To be an apostle one had to receive a resurrection appearance and to be commissioned by Jesus. Both criteria apply to Mary. She was the first to see the resurrected one. And Jesus sent her to tell the others that he was alive. Did anyone say that God doesn’t use women as witnesses? I have seen the Lord! Mary shared the good news with others. The joy of Mary is also ours.

Glory be to God, the Father, Son and Holy spirit, one true God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716