My friends, we come back to Ordinary Time once again after side-stepping it last Sunday for a special mass to uplift the ministry of women in our Church, and especially Mary Magdala, the Tower of Faith.  Ordinary Time, we have come to realize in many ways is really an “extra-ordinary” time due to the challenge each Sunday’s readings contain to help us become our best and live as such in our daily lives. 

   The Scriptures today give us a clear path to follow in the words of Isaiah, Paul, and Jesus.  Let’s take a look:

   “All you who are thirsty, come to the water,” from Isaiah in the 1^st reading seems to be about what truly satisfies…Isaiah continues, “why spend your money for what is not bread?” And of course, we realize that the prophet is speaking about more than being physically thirsty, even though we do  have the need for physical liquid and physical food, but Isaiah seems to be indicating that we humans “thirst” in emotional and spiritual ways too – to be accepted, to be listened to, to be appreciated, to be loved.  We addressed this a bit last week uplifting women in a general way through the use of language that includes us all. 

   This past week Robert and I watched an older movie, from last century, 1987 to be exact, entitled, Can’t Buy Me Love, highlighting the Beatles song of the same title.  It’s a sweet, and a bit heart-breaking story about young people trying desperately to be noticed, accepted, and ultimately loved. Ronald, the nerdy lawn boy aches to be noticed by Cindy, whose lawn he mows, as she is the most popular girl in school. 

   He lays out a great deal of cash to get her to pretend to be “his girl” for a month so that he will acquire some status at school through association with her.  Both young people learn a great deal about what is truly important in life through this “experiment.”  “Why spend money for what is not bread,” Isaiah reminds. 

   The gospel today from Matthew opens up our hearts in much the same way as the movie does.  Jesus has just learned that John the Baptist has been beheaded.  We know these two were most likely close, 2^nd cousins in fact.  Yet, as Jesus seeks solace and refuge, he cannot really care for himself  because the “crowds have followed him.” Jesus’ reaction is to be “moved with pity.”

   There is much in our world my friends that calls for the same reaction from us—that we be moved with pity. The chaplain in me always adds that we look for balance in the good that try to do, caring for ourselves as well. 

   The 2^nd part of today’s gospel gives us another wonderful key in modeling our brother, Jesus. The people gathered, many no doubt sick, lonely, or bereft in other ways, are physically hungry too.  Jesus shows us how to help.

   Scripture says, [He] “looked up to heaven, blessed the food, broke it, and gave it to the people.”  In looking deeper, as I often encourage us to do, there are Scripture scholars who have suggested that Jesus “brought forth” enough bread to feed everyone by suggesting that those with food share what they have with others, thus making enough for all. 

   “Breaking” and “opening up” ourselves to others cannot only feed physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.  And when you think about it, isn’t that what the “Eucharist” is all about – meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual hungers we find in our world?  What we do here, at this table, is just the beginning …

   And friends, in all the good that we attempt to do in our world – we have a great companion assisting us in our brother Jesus.  Paul affirms this for us in the 2^nd reading from Romans today, one of the more beautiful quotes from him:

“What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Trial, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword? … For I am certain that neither death nor life … or any pain, neither the present or the future, neither heights or depths, nor anything else … will be able to separate us from the love of God … in Christ Jesus.”

   I believe most of us turn to God in times of trouble and we should … we might also turn to our God with praise when good things happen as well,  because this God loves us mightily and is interested in all that happens to us.  The psalmist in #145 today lets us know that our God is, “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness … just in all … ways, holy in all works.”

   So, you might be thinking, well pastor, how do you know this is so?  I know it because Jesus said as much before leaving us – “I will be with you all days …

   In all my years, I have never met anyone who has testified to have seen God, but I have met countless others who are grateful for much good in their lives. 

I believe, and I hope you do as well that our God is loving us through each act of goodness we see and receive in our lifetime. 

   In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his followers who are worried about feeding so many, “You give them something to eat” … you and you and you …  Amen? Amen!

35 of us gathered on the Redig Family farm today for an outdoor Mass celebrating Mary Magdala and all women called to ministry – in fact all women in whatever the fields they pursue. And in the end, it is a day for all men as well, because when each and all are given respect for who they are and what they do, men and women, all, are better. We followed with a potluck lunch and much good community time. We were additionally joined by several of our sister community from First Congregational where we share space. We prayed well together!

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My friends, for those who have joined us for this special feast uplifting Mary Magdala’s true image –not of a prostitute, but as a prophet and priest and loyal follower of Jesus of Nazareth, the new exegesis that became available in 2017 about this Mary, through the work of Elizabeth Schrader, a then master’s candidate in New Testament studies, has been shared in full for several years now, so today, I won’t share all of it again, but just the highlights.  Those of you who might want a “deeper dive,” let me know and I can send it to you. 

   To begin with then, as your program says, “Once there was a follower of Jesus who loved him enough to show the courage necessary to watch him be crucified. He is turn loved her enough to choose her as the first to know of his resurrection.”

   This wonderful example of our brother Jesus toward inclusivity of both women and men called to serve the People of God was unfortunately not carried through by the men who ultimately took power in the early days of the Church. 

   In the past, I have shared that Pope Gregory I in the 6^th Century “put” all the Mary’s in Scripture, except for Jesus’ mother, into a composite giving them one character trait, that of prostitute, so as to discount any other exemplary traits they may have had. Thanks Gregory!  By the way, I discovered that this same Gregory is a canonized saint, hopefully not for the above action!  —  because…

   This action took away the honor and integrity of these women, along with any reason to take them seriously, then or now, with women in general. We may wonder why this was done, and the answer has to be about “power,” being in control.  We have all seen examples both in Church and State of what those afraid of losing their power, or even sharing it, are capable of – it shows itself in excommunication, firing, bullying, denying the truth, and more. 

   Thus, these celebrations are meant to set the record straight – to tell the truth – even if the powers that be in our Church never hop on board –the Spirit is today calling women as She did in the past, and as Jesus once did, in order that all the voices are heard. 

   So, let’s look at the highlights of Elizabeth Schrader’s research and exegesis:

1. Throughout most of time as we know it, our Mary celebrated today was known as Mary of Magdala – the thing is, in Jesus’ time there was no city of Magdala!
2. Elizabeth Schrader was interested in knowing more about this Mary and so she studied the Greek, Aramaic, and Coptic languages. In the earliest texts, specifically, Papyrus 66 from 200 A.D. in John’s gospel, chapter 11, in the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, she discovered that “Martha” was probably “an addition” to the story! 
3. There is a similar story in Luke’s gospel, chapter 10: 38-42, and we are made to think that the two stories speak about the same 3 people.
4. Taking a look at the story from Luke, we read, “Jesus entered a village where a woman, Martha, welcomed him to her house.”  This is telling in that women in Jesus’ time didn’t own property if they had a father, brother, son or husband.  Reading further, she had a sister Mary – no mention is made of a brother, Lazarus. 
5. Going back to the reading from John, Schrader found that the earliest texts had been changed by someone in the 4^th Century giving Lazarus two sisters, one Mary, the other Martha. 
6. Again, we have to ask why this was done. Schrader makes the case that it solves the early Church “problem” of leadership – was it Peter or Mary, maybe both, whom Jesus called to lead…maybe he intended them to share this awesome responsibility!  Think what it could mean for our Church if men could have seen women as Jesus did!  Just like Pope Gregory making an unflattering composite of all the Mary’s, — someone in the 4^th Century did the same!
7. Schrader goes on to demonstrate that in the John text, Lazarus has only one sister, Mary, and that it was she, and not Martha who proclaimed as did Peter that, “Jesus is the Christ, come into the world”[!]
8. Even Tertulian, early 2^nd Century Church father, known for being the most misogynist of his time, stated that Lazarus had one sister, Mary. 
9. “Magdala,” as stated above, was not the city where Mary was from, but a character trait – in  the Greek, “magdala” means, “tower” and was most likely given her because she was, “a tower of faith.”

   So, what are our takeaways?

• The Luke and John stories are about two separate families.
• Mary, formerly thought to be from “Magdala” is now reclaimed as “Mary, the Tower of Faith,” and was most likely from Bethany where the supposed family, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, Jesus’ friends were from. 
• It is this Mary, not Martha, in Matthew’s gospel who utters the same words as Peter, naming Jesus as the Christ.  You might be asking why it matters that Mary, rather than Martha uttered these prophetic words … in this story from Matthew, Martha is depicted as a housemaid, and cook – nothing wrong with that, whereas Mary is depicted as one sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to his every word  — learning from him. If the words are put in Martha’s mouth, then Mary can be dismissed as a “starry-eyed girl” rather than the prophet that she was!
• It is this Mary, “the Tower of Faith” who remained faithful to the end, and proclaimed the Resurrection to the men hiding in the Upper Room. 

   So, my friends, at the end of the day, why is this important?

1. The truth should always be told, because when it is not, people get hurt, misused, abused and dishonored.
2. If our Mary is no more than a prostitute, she doesn’t have to be listened to, nor any woman, for that matter.
3. I can think of 3 women who were called to be priests in a Church whose men said, “No,” at a time when there were no other options for answering that call, as in present time, and if I know 3, certainly there are more. 
4. There have been orders of religious women, some called “Magdalens” who offered their “reformed” lives to God on a lie, and suffered needlessly from the powers over them. 
5. On the merit of so much misogyny throughout the history of our beloved Church, Pope Benedict XVI, in present time, in all sincerity claimed that women seeking ordination as priests were committing sin on the level of male priests who abuse children!  Think of that!  As my sister priest Alice would say, “It’s crazymaking!”
6. On a personal note, in a Church that uplifts men over women, I am reminded of my days back in the 9o’s serving on the Pastoral Council at the Cathedral in Winona.  We were advocating then for girl servers.  One of the younger men on the council who was originally against the idea shared a personal example that changed his mind. One Sunday at Mass, his 7-year-old daughter asked why she couldn’t be a server – he looked at her and realized, “there was no good reason why she couldn’t. 

This also reminds me of the early days of Roman Catholic Women Priests, when many of the women were already quite elderly who were getting ordained – I specifically remember a 70-something year-old woman who said one of the reasons beyond service that she wanted to be ordained was so that little girls could see someone at the altar [table] who looked  like them!

• My friends, when truth is told, whether it ever bears fruit in change or not, in our patriarchal church, we know that Jesus had no problem with women, seeing them as an image of the divine, nor should we!
• The changes made to Scripture over time to accommodate men after power speaks profoundly to Scripture scholar, Sister Sandra Schneiders’ comment that, “Scripture was written by men, about men, and for men!”  Sister Sandra also has an article—copies on the table, “God is More Than Two Men and a Bird.”
• Another interesting comment that always makes me smile comes from another Scripture scholar , Sister Elizabeth Johnson in her book, She Who Is, with regard to men and their power. When asked if she didn’t think it would have been better for women had Jesus come as a woman, she said, and I paraphrase – no, he needed to be a man to model for men what women already knew how to do – serve! In other words, and here I quote her, “The problem is not that Jesus was a man, but that more men are not like Jesus!”
• And again, this exegesis proves that Mary, the Tower of Faith proclaimed the same truth as Peter whom Jesus supposedly called, “The Rock.”   We might think what our Church could be like if instead of being led by “Peter, the Rock,” a title which seems more about him, it was led by “Mary, the Tower of Faith,” which seems more about service … or perhaps a Church led by both…

Amen? Amen!