Last week I mentioned that I still had to do my taxes. Well I didn’t get them done on Sunday, but I took Monday off. I got the filed by 3:30 pm. That was eleven and a half hours before the deadline. You will be glad to hear that I won’t be going to jail for failing to file. Maybe after the audit, but not for failure to file.
Cities in Ohio can have income taxes too. Sort of like counties in Indiana. There is a difference. Ohio cities make their own rules, create their own forms, and write their own instructions. These are actual quotes from the tax instructions for Middletown, Ohio.
If you want the official definition of qualifying wages, take two aspirins and go to the IRS Code Section 3121.
Cities may choose to exclude stock options from tax, but we do not. Put another way, if we can tax it we will.
Free advice: If you don’t have a profit in a five-year period, you might want to consider another line of work.
Other income can include fees or our favorite, gambling winnings. When you win the lottery, we feel as though we win, too.
Dan Brown caused a real stir a few years back. He is the author of the Da Vinci Code. A movie based on that book will be out in May. The Da Vinci Code raises a number of issues, not just for Christians, but for others who are interested in the history of the church and what the church teaches. The purpose of this series is not a review of the book. In fact, this is the only sermon in the series in which I will talk about the Da Vinci Code at any length. Instead, if you are interested in that book and the issues it raises, we will be sponsoring a Da Vinci Code discussion group on Monday nights beginning May 22.
This sermon series looks at only one issue raised by the book. That issue is the role of women in the church. In coming weeks, we will be talking about Ruth, Dorcas, and the Virgin Mary.
Today’s topic is Mary Magdalene who plays an extremely important role in the Da Vinci Code. Brown claims that she was married to Jesus, that they had a daughter named Sarah, and that a line of French kings were descended from Sarah.
Why are we unaware of this? According to Brown’s book, Peter and later church leaders were hostile to the role of women in the faith, so they sought to diminish Mary Magdalene
The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction. How much of what the book says about Mary is based on fact?
Who was Mary Magdalene? Was she married to Jesus? What would it mean if she was? If Mary and Jesus were not married, what was their relationship? What happened to Mary after the crucifixion and resurrection? Did the church attempt to give Mary a bad reputation? And most importantly, what does Mary have to teach us?
Was Jesus Married?
First, I want to say that there is nothing that I am aware of theologically that would preclude Jesus from being married. Marriage, and sex within marriage, is a gift from God and is perfectly holy. If we were to find some sort of archeological evidence today, I can’t imagine what, but something that proved without a doubt that Jesus was married, or specifically that he was married to Mary Magdalene, it would not change the faith one iota.
Having said that, I don’t think that he was. While it is true that women in this day were considered almost property and histories of prominent men were often written without any reference at all to their wives or female children, I suspect that if Jesus had been married that we would have heard about it. One uncommon aspect of the gospels is that they do talk about women in Jesus’ inner circle and they do mention female members of his family. It would be odd indeed if Jesus had a wife and family and that fact failed to attract the attention of any gospel writer or early church father. In fact, Paul engages in a discussion in 1 Corinthians 7 about whether single and widowed Christians should marry. His answer is, only if you have to, but that is not particularly relevant here. If Jesus had been married or if a family of Jesus existed, one would expect Paul to mention that. Also, think about Jesus on the cross. One of the last things that he did was to ask the Disciple John to take care of his mother. If Jesus had a wife, wouldn’t he have made provision for her too? Can you imagine Jesus saying, Take care of mom, but who cares about the little lady. I don’t think so.
Both those are arguments from silence. Doesn’t Dan Brown offer real evidence that Jesus was married?
While Brown, through the character Teabing, asserts that there are more than eighty gospels and that many of these reveal that relationship, he only cites one and that is the Gospel of Phillip. The big blockbuster piece of evidence, the only one quoted, says that Mary was Jesus’ companion and that Jesus kissed her.
Back when I was in Seminary, I did a special study on something called “New Testament Backgrounds.” The idea was to look at the texts, not included in the Bible, which might have influenced the direction of the faith. There are about 30 of these texts that might be called gospels. I have read every one that was available in English translation, including the Gospel of Phillip. The gospels that did not make it into the Bible were written by various Christian sects, usually Gnostic groups, and were written in the late second and early third century in order to recast the teachings of Jesus in a way that supported their particular belief system. Let me repeat, these are phony gospels that were written long after the fact in order to promote a particular agenda. Their value is in what they tell us about the authors, not in what they tell us about Jesus.
What do real scholars really say? When I use the term scholars, I mean all serious scholars, both conservative and liberal, and both Christian and secular. Scholars overwhelmingly agree that three gospels were written in the first century. Those three are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Generally the first three gospels are dated a few years before or after 70 AD. The majority of scholars believe that the Gospel of John was written about a decade later, but there are a few who date John as late as 120 AD. Most scholars believe that there was another early gospel, they call it “Q”, that was written in the before 50 AD, but that gospel, if it ever existed, has been lost and we can only guess at what it said. I am not aware of a single serious scholar who places any other known gospel any earlier 150 AD. These other gospels were written more than a century after the events they describe and long after their claimed authors were dead.
None of these gospels, not even the Gospel of Phillip, claims that Jesus is married. A kiss was a common way for men to greet each other. Phillip, in mentioning that Jesus kissed Mary, is telling us that he treated her like other disciples. Brown makes a big deal about the word “companion” which he claims, in Aramaic, is equivalent to “spouse”. First, I think his Aramaic is questionable, but that doesn’t matter. The Gospel of Philip was written in Coptic. Dan Brown didn’t even get the language right.
Brown makes a cultural argument. He says that all good Jewish boys got married. Brown is correct that the majority of young Jewish men in the first century got married, but that is not universally true. There are at least two good reasons why Jesus might not have been married. There was a particular group of Jews called the Essenes who taught that a total devotion to God required that one be celibate. It is often suggested that John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, might have been an Essenes. At a minimum, there is plenty of evidence that both John and Jesus were familiar with Essene teaching. Another possibility has to do with Joseph. We know that Joseph was dead by the time of the crucifixion, but we don’t know exactly when he died. If he died before Jesus reached marrying age, Jesus would have become responsible for Joseph’s family and would not have been expected to have a family of his own.
What happened to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection?
There is no real proof, but the oldest tradition of the church is that Mary Magdalene left Jerusalem and settled in Ephesus.
During the thirteenth century, more than a thousand years after the actual events, a legend emerged that she fled Jerusalem with Joseph of Arimathea and went to France by way of Egypt. Also in the group, according to legend, were Lazarus and Martha. This legend arose during a time when there was a dispute over whether the Pope should reside in Italy or in France. According to the legend, a servant girl named Sarah was part of the entourage. According to Brown, this Sarah is the daughter of Jesus and Mary. One problem is that there is absolutely no evidence of any historical basis to the legend. The second problem is that these same legends clearly identify Sarah as African and she is always depicted as black. In contrast, Mary is generally depicted as a red head.
Did the church attempt to give Mary a bad reputation?
In Catholic Church writings, Mary Magdalene is often identified as a prostitute. Brown claims that this is part of the church’s attempt to discredit her.
There is no good reason to identify Mary as prostitute, but those who do so are not acting maliciously. They are making an understandable mistake. What is the source of the error?
A contributing factor is the name Magdalene. In fact, it probably derives from the name of the town Magdala. However, it sounds similar to a word that is used in the Talmud to refer to adultery.
The bigger problem was a sermon given by Pope Gregory the Great in 591. His sermon was about the adulterous woman in Luke chapter seven. That woman is never identified in the gospel. In the very next chapter, Luke introduces us to the female followers of Jesus, he mentions Mary Magdalene first, and he identifies her as the woman from whom seven demons had come out. It sounds as if the reader should be aware of this story, but it is not told in any of the gospels, and the only story in the first seven chapters of Luke about Jesus interacting with a particular woman is the story about the prostitute. Pope Gregory made the obvious, though unsupported connection.
But Pope Gregory’s sermon is not a trashing of Mary. It is a tribute to the grace of God that can transform any person. It elevates her as a faithful follower of Christ. In fact, Mary Magdalene is recognized as a Catholic Saint.
The Rumors are not true.
What are the various rumors about Mary Magdalene? As we have said, she is sometimes identified as Jesus’ wife or lover, but there is nothing to support that. It is occasionally claimed that she, not John, is real author of the forth gospel. There is no reason to believe that. She is sometimes identified as the author of Hebrews, but there is no evidence of that either. She has been identified with the prostitute that wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, but there is no basis for that. Mary Magdalene has been identified as the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but that is a mistake. What do we know?
What do we know?
We know that Mary had a very difficult past and that Jesus brought her salvation from that. Whatever her problem was, it was described by Luke as being possessed by seven demons. Was that mental illness? Was it a physical problem? Could Gregory have been right in identifying it as a sexual sin? We simply do not know.
We know that much of the financing of the ministry of Jesus came from female followers. The men gave up their careers and traveled with Jesus. In general, the women are the ones who providing the financing. The most notable of these is Joanna. She was the wife of Cuza. Cuza was the manager of King Herod’s household. Cuza would have been part of the aristocracy and quite wealthy. Joanna used her position of power and money to support the ministry.
Mary Magdalene existed somewhere between the men and the other women. She was a companion and student of Jesus, she was devoted to him, she owed him her life. She was present at both Jesus’ crucifixion and His burial. She was so devoted that she stayed through the dangers of that weekend. She was one of the devoted women who came to the tomb early that morning. She was the very first to see the risen Jesus. She was the very first evangelist. She was the first person to proclaim the resurrection.
One thing that we can learn from Mary is persistence. She stood by Jesus through the most difficult of times and her devotion persisted beyond His death. We need to remember that when Mary went to the tomb, she did not expect to find a risen Christ. She expected to find a body that needed to be dressed. She acted out of genuine love.
Sometimes we give up on God too quickly. We offer a quick prayer and expect God to be at our beck and call and do our bidding immediately. If nothing happens we wonder why God would have ignored our prayer. Or we ask for God’s help, and then we take matters into our own hands. Mary persisted. She waited.
We can learn sincerity from Mary. She was not putting on airs or playing a role. The purity of her devotion can be seen throughout the gospel accounts. That is in sharp contrast to what we do. Too often, we only act faithfully only when others can see and appreciate our deeds. Mary was consistent. How different are our private and public selves? That sort of duplicity is unknown in Mary’s heart.
Finally, Mary exudes an air of enthusiasm. Look at her attitude as she attempts to convince the skeptical disciples that Jesus is risen. She bubbles over with the news.
We understand enthusiasm too. When our favorite team wins the big game, there is no shutting us up. We talk about a good book or a great movie. We talk about our kids and grand kids. We’ll even talk about a new restaurant. That is what “live Out Loud”, the song we heard during the offertory, was about. We get excited about so many things.
But what happens when it comes to our faith or our church. If we have a particularly moving service on a Sunday, do we talk about it with our friends on Monday? More importantly, how often do we talk with excitement about the difference that the risen Christ has made in our lives?
There is probably no person in Scripture about whom there is so much misinformation and unsubstantiated conjecture. It is a shame because it obscures the real lessons that we could learn from her.
If Mary were here today, she would want to introduce you to the Savior who took the broken pieces of her life and made her new. She would speak with devotion about His love and forgiveness. And yes, she would be thrilled to tell you the story of the empty tomb and the risen Christ.
If you have never encountered the Christ that Mary proclaimed, she would invite you to at this moment.
For those of us who have already felt his forgiving love, her message would be different. She would encourage us to proclaim the truth of the gospel loudly and often. She would remind us of the trials and crucifixion, but she would not dwell there long. Instead, she would tell us that our world needs to hear the story of the risen Christ. She would expect us to be excited.
Like Peter and John on that morning, let us run to the tomb with Mary. And when we find it empty, let us open ourselves to the risen Christ. It is time to tell every one who will listen that Jesus is alive.
