Introduction:
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- Today is a special day. We are observing this day for a Bible woman �Mary Magdalene�. She was a so faithful follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today�s gospel reading leads us to think about this glorious woman of Jesus days. �
- I do not want to talk about movies �De Vinci Code and The Last Temptation of Jesus or any other controversial stories. Those stories are garbage, thrown by the early Church Fathers. �
- Do not believe them. They are not any help for our spiritual lives. We believe the Gospels: Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. These Gospels were written in the first century and they knew what were true stories concerning about Jesus and His followers. �
- Mary Magdalene is mentioned only one other place in the Gospels. Luke 8:1-3 tells us that Jesus had cast out seven demons from her. And, she was only of several women who contributed �out of their won means� to support Jesus and his disciples. �
- From these verses we understand that from the beginning of Christian Ministry, women have an important roll. They are the supporters of our Church Ministries. Many women followed Jesus because they were healed by Jesus and received the forgiveness of sins. In those days, women were not given any importance as men. �
- A Jew�s prayer was like this: �Lord, thank you for not creating me as a gentile or a woman.� But Jesus Himself regarded women on the contrary of his days. �
- One theologian said, �If the apostles select an apostle in the place of Judah Iscariot even among women, Mary Magdalene was the first person to chose, because she was an �apostle to apostles.� She was the first evangelist to bring the news from the risen Lord; Saying, �I have seen the Lord.� �
- Many apostles do not believe until the risen Lord came to them. She had a mission to talk about Jesus� resurrection. �
- My question to you is, �have you seen the Lord as Mary Magdalene had seen?� �
- Many times we read the God�s word but we do not understand. Many times God is speaking to us but we are unable to recognize His voice. We should see the Lord with our spiritual eyes. �
- If you want to see Jesus and if you want to know Him, do as Many Magdalene did. Even though she was a woman, her roll is a wonderful model to all of us.
She was a Faithful Follower of Jesus:
�- In one of our previous Sundays we meditated on the topic to follow Jesus. Some one asked Jesus that he wants to follow him. Jesus knows his mind and told him that he has nothing of his own. �
- And to another Jesus asked him to follow. He wanted to burry his father. Later, another person wanted to follow Jesus, but he needed to get a permission from his house hold. �
- These kind of people were not worthy to follow Jesus, because they love the world more than Jesus. �
- Well, here we see, Mary Magdalene followed Jesus leaving every thing behind and serving him and his disciples all the way until the crucifixion and resurrection. �
- Jesus rewarded her by appearing first after his resurrection. The early church had a great respect for her than any other disciples. She was given an important place in their worships. �
- We Lutherans stated to observe her special day from 1970s. � Our sinful nature makes us to follow the world and its glorious things. Finally it will lead us into destruction. �
- Compare our church attendance for fifty or sixty years from today. What is going on now? Why people do not attend the Church? People do not want to go to a church on Sundays, but they are going to spend time on many kinds of entertainments. �
- They are unable to give time to God and meditation on his word. But they are using God�s time for their own. As we know to follow Jesus is not that easy but it cost you some thing: like leaving all worldly things behind and seeking God�s grace and his forgiveness. �
- Mary Magdalene did this through out her life. She left all things and followed Jesus.
She Loved Jesus so much:
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- The love that Mary Magdalene had for her Master is a fitting example for the believers of all times. �
- All disciples except John left Jesus when he was betrayed. �
- Mary Magdalene stood on the side of the Cross weeping and comforting His mother Mary with a brave heart and true love for Jesus. She showed her perfect love by attending the tomb in the early morning still it was dark to respect Jesus body with ritual perfumes. �
- Luther said, �This Mary is a fine, beautiful type and an excellent example of all those that cling to Christ, that their hearts should burn in pure and true love toward Christ. For she forgets everything, both her feminine modesty and person, is not bothered by the fact that she sees the two angels before her, does not remember that Hannas and Caiaphas are filled with hostile wroth. In brief, she sees nothing, she hears nothing but Christ only. If she could only find the dead Christ, then she would be perfectly satisfied. And the evangelist for that reason has described it so diligently in order that we, who preach and hear it, may also, according to this example, gain desire, love and eagerness toward Christ the Lord.� (Luther, 8, 985) �
- She loved Jesus so much. That�s why she was weeping loudly, and helplessly, thinking that some one had stolen Jesus� body from the grave. �
- So she did not put an attention to the angels and their words. Jesus knew her love, so he appeared to her to console and to stop crying because he was alive. �
- Though He was taking to her she did not recognize him because she did not expect Jesus there. She was looking for a body of Jesus not a living Jesus. �
- Many theologians and historians, now a days, are looking for a historical Jesus than a living Jesus as a Savior and the Lord. That�s why they could not find him. �
- Their knowledge makes them blind that they could not see him. �
- If you want to see the living Jesus you should search him with a pure heart and a perfect love. �
- Mary Magdalene had seen the resurrected Jesus through her pure love. Jesus called her, �Miriam�. She recognized his voice and responded immediately calling him �Rabboni� meaning �my teacher.� Jesus said in John 10:27, �My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.� �
- She made a move to worship him but Jesus sent her with an important mission.
She became an Evangelist:
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- Jesus made her as a first evangelist in the history of Christianity. �
- She was not only an evangelist but she was an �apostle to apostles�. �
- God did not see your sexuality but he sees your heart and soul. Because he created us not only with flesh and blood but with spirit. He has no difference between man and woman. All are equal to him. �
- Once Mary realized that Jesus was risen from the dead, she wanted to cling to her Savior, who had freed her from seven demons. �
- But Jesus sent her out to proclaim, �aggellousa�, �I have seen the Lord!� which was very impossible to believe to all disciples on that Sunday morning. �
- First she gave her personal witness and then she gave them the Gospel of resurrected Lord. �
- I think she did not stop there by telling her story to his disciples. �
- But she continued to proclaim this true Gospel to all people wherever Jesus preached and did miracles in the Lands of Judea, Samaria and Gallia. �
- It is still good news in the 21st century not because of the one who said it, but because what Mary Magdalene says is Gospel truth. Conclusion: �
- Dear Friends, Have you ever seen the Lord? Have you ever proclaim your personal witness? Let us cling to the Lord our Savior by our Baptism and sacrament of the Alter. Let us proclaim the forgiveness we have received from the Cross of Calvary. �
- Now, we are free from our sins as Magdalene was freed from seven demonic powers. As she saw resurrected Jesus at the empty tomb, we have also seen the resurrected Lord by our death to sin and experienced a new life with living Lord. We are a new creation of God. �
- Let us take this example from Mary Magdalene, to follow Jesus faithfully, to love Him with a true love and be as evangelists to take this Gospel truth. �
- May the Lord our God will give us ability to proclaim our Lord by our personal witness in this falling world. Amen.