The Da Vinci Code’s Claim: “Mary Magdalene’s most important role was being married to Jesus.”
- As we noted last week, Dan Brown claims in his book that Mary Magdalene is of monumental importance because she was married to Jesus. (We also noted that Brown claims that she had a child with Jesus and that that bloodline continues to this day in France, but that’s not our focus for this morning.)
- I want to spend most of this morning talking about how important Mary Magdalene is, only not at all in the way that Brown claims. But first, let me note again that there is no evidence in the Bible for the claim that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married.
- Brown claims backing from the Gospel of Phillip for his historical backing for Jesus being married. There are a few problems there. First of all, the Gospel of Phillip is a Gnostic text that is widely considered by scholars to have been written at least a century after the canonical gospels. So it’s not authoritative. Second, even that debunked book does not refer to Jesus having married Mary Magdalene, but simply states that he kissed her. The word used does not even denote a romantic kiss, but denotes something more like a kiss on the cheek or forehead. Third, there are no references in the New Testament or even among the Gnostic writings to Jesus being married. Nowhere is it even hinted at. Nowhere is the idea put forward by any of the early church fathers.
- In other words, this is fiction without even the pretext of a shred of historical evidence.
- Now let’s turn to the longest passage in the Bible about Mary Magdalene - John 20:11-18. Not coincidentally, it’s also where she plays her most important role.
- It is here that we see the importance of Mary Magdalene.
The Bible’s Claim:
“Mary Magdalene’s most important role was being the first to see the resurrected Jesus.”
- v. 16.
- Mary Magdalene here receives the immeasurable honor of being the first person to see the resurrected Jesus. In v. 16, she finally recognizes Jesus for who He is - the risen Son of God right there in front of her. What an incredible moment that must have been.
- Incidentally, for those who might argue in defense of Dan Brown, “Well, of course Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first - she was His wife!”, there are three things worth noting here.
a. First, it seems amazingly peculiar, if Mary Magdalene was in fact married to Jesus, that she would greet Him as “Teacher!” (v. 16).
b. Second, remember that Brown claims that the whole idea that Jesus was God was created in 325 A.D. by the Council of Nicea. Brown believes that Jesus was a good teacher who’s legacy got highjacked by His followers. Brown doesn’t believe that Jesus ever was raised from the dead. (After all, He wasn’t God - that was invented later.) So therefore this whole scene - to Brown’s way of thinking - is manufactured simply because it includes a resurrected Jesus.
c. Third, Brown claims that the disciples got into a huge power struggle with Mary Magdalene after Jesus’ death over who would control the legacy of His name and teachings. Brown claims that the disciples drove Mary Magdalene to flee to France with the child that she and Jesus had had. If that were so and the disciples were so adamantly against Mary Magdalene (and further, they were inventing these resurrection stories out of whole cloth), why in the world would they have made Mary Magdalene the first person Jesus appears to in their fictional account? Why would you put the person you despise the most and want to discredit the most in a position of such great honor?
- No, here we see that Mary Magdalene’s greatest role is not as the wife of Jesus but as the first person to see the risen Lord. She is the first to physically see the nail-scarred hands and know without any doubt that “He is alive!”
- Obviously, Mary Magdalene is an example for us in her faith in Jesus as the risen Lord. But as I dug into this passage it was also interesting to me the various other ways that she is an example in what she does to miss Jesus. She allows, like we do, some things to get in the way of her knowing Jesus is right there before us.
- We want to look at Mary Magdalene in her grief and confusion. In that, she is a lot like we often are. Even with the signs all around her, she misses what’s going on at first - that Jesus is alive again.
Six Ways To Miss Jesus:
1. Sometimes we miss Jesus until we’re stopped in our tracks.
- v. 11.
- Run here, run there. This scene is mostly action as we begin. Notice that she has been there before, but she quickly ran away (v. 2) to tell the others. Here come Peter and John, but in short order they’re on their way again (v. 10).
- And then Mary Magdalene is left lingering at the tomb. (I can’t help but wonder if Mary Magdalene was specifically chosen to be the first person to receive the news or if Jesus appeared to her simply because she was just the first person to linger for a while at the tomb.) It may be that Jesus had specifically chosen her to appear to first, but even then He chose to wait until she was lingering at the tomb (v. 11).
- We often race through life - get dressed, drop the kids off at school, hurry to work, errands at lunch, race home, grab a quick dinner, do homework and off to practices, put the kids to bed, get all the leftover stuff done, and then collapse into bed in time to do it all again in six hours. In such circumstances, often life becomes a blur.
- Here we see that it’s when Mary Magdalene stopped for a while that she saw Jesus. Often for us it isn’t until something “stops us in our tracks” that we see Jesus. It’s not that He wasn’t willing before that - it’s just that we were too busy running to notice Him.
- It may be a tragedy (the death of a loved one) or a problem (losing our job) that stops us in our tracks, and only then do we realize that we’ve been missing Jesus.
2. Sometimes we miss Jesus because of our tears.
- vv. 12-14.
- Mary Magdalene here isn’t just crying a little - it says that she is “weeping.”
- Normally in the Bible, when people come into contact with angels, their response is fear and awe. Here Mary Magdalene doesn’t even seem aware that the one asking her a question (v. 13) is an angel. Before her is a glorious creature who could (if she would recognize him as a divinely-sent being) tell her the good news about Jesus. But she is blinded by her tears.
- In our lives, our pain and suffering can cause us tears. There may be those nearby who are trying to share the good news of what Jesus can do in our lives, but we can’t see it because of our tears.
- It’s not that tears are always bad. We need to release those emotions. Even Jesus wept. It’s just that sometimes we allow those tears to blind us to the fact that Jesus is there..
3. Sometimes we miss Jesus because we are expecting so little.
- v. 15 - “Whom are you seeking?”, “. . . laid Him. . .”
- Mary Magdalene, in spite of Jesus’ predictions about His resurrection, in spite of the empty tomb, in spite of the angel’s words (see the other gospels) about what had happened, is still just wanting to find the dead body so that she can finish the burial process. She is expecting so little.
- Jesus’ question to her is so open: “Whom are you seeking?” She could have said, “The living Jesus!” but all she wants to known is where the dead body has been “laid.”
- We often expect so little from God. “Could you help me a little with this problem?” “Could you answer this one prayer?” “Could you reduce my fear a little?” In reality, God offers us new, abundant, and ever-lasting life! It almost seems too good to be true and so we don’t think that big.
4. Sometimes we miss Jesus because of our presumptions.
- v. 15 - “supposing Him to be the gardener”
- Mary Magdalene presumes that the voice speaking to her is the voice of the gardener without looking to see for sure. She’s wrong and if Jesus hadn’t been forceful in His response she could have missed Him.
- Often people don’t turn to Jesus because of what they presume that they already know what His response would be:
a. “God isn’t interested in me.” (Actually, He’s as interested in you as you are in your kids.)
b. “You don’t know the things I’ve done.” (Actually, God does and He’s still ready to forgive.)
c. “The church roof would cave in if I came.” (Actually, the church is here for sinners - in fact, everyone in church is just a sinner saved by grace.)
- You may not have asked for Jesus or His help because you didn’t think there was any way He’d give it to you. Yet your thoughts are based on your presumptions, not on what the Bible says.
5. Sometimes we miss Jesus because we want to fix it ourselves.
- v. 15 - “. . . I will take Him away.”
- Mary Magdalene doesn’t say how she, alone, is going to move this heavy body, but that doesn’t matter to her - she can handle this problem all by herself if someone can just point her to the body’s location.
- Often we don’t call God in until everything’s a complete mess because we were sure that we could handle the situation. And there Jesus stands with more resources and power than we could ever imagine having and He’s just waiting for us to call on Him.
6. Sometimes we miss Jesus because we’re focused on looking at our problem.
- v. 14, 16 - “turned”
- Mary Magdalene turns in v. 14 toward Jesus, but through her tears she doesn’t recognize Him. Since it also says in v. 16 that she turned toward Jesus, I presume that she just turned momentarily in v. 14 to talk to this person and quickly turned back to focus on the tomb with the missing body. Looking again at the tomb, she makes her statement in v. 15, then, when Jesus grabs her attention in v. 16, she turns once again.
- For her, the problem that she is focused on looking at is that the body of Jesus is gone and she wants to find it so she can finish the burial process.
- She is so focused on her problem that it isn’t until Jesus raises His voice a little (“Mary!”) that she finally “turned.” That’s the key word here - “turned.”
- Many of us are good at worrying and obsessing about the problems that we’re facing. Jesus stands nearby, ready to help us overcome that sin or that burden, but we don’t see Him because we’re so focused on our problem.
When Jesus Does Get Our Attention And We Call On Him, Then What Happens?
- In v. 17 we see Jesus’ response to Mary Magdalene’s exclamation. . . and we see what He offers us as well when we call on Him.
1. Jesus’ Father is our Father.
- v. 17 - “My Father and you Father, and to My God and your God”
- Through our faith in Jesus and the power of His resurrection, God the Father can become our personal Father. We are in the family.
2. Jesus calls us “brothers” (and “sisters”).
- v. 17 - “go to My brethren”
- Jesus claims us as His brothers and sisters. We are in the family.
3. We have access to the Father’s “right hand man.”
- v. 17 - “ascended”
- This verse seems to teach that on the day of His resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven. The instructions not to cling to Him are not indicative of His followers being forbidden to touch Him (see John 20:27), but rather here Jesus seems to be saying, “Don’t keep clinging to Me. You’ve got a message to go tell the disciples and I’ve going to My Father to celebrate the victory I’ve won. Come on now, there’s important work to be done!”
- I wonder what it was like in heaven that day when Jesus arrived. I can’t help by wonder about how loud the shout from the angels and all the others assembled was when Jesus arrived - victorious and having faithfully completed the most difficult mission ever.
- Jesus, of course, returned to earth to encourage His disciples for forty days before the final Ascension. Now, He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Our brother sitting in power at the right hand of our Father - what an incredible gift Christ has given to us!
Conclusion:
- Dan Brown is wrong about Mary Magdalene. Her importance is not in being the wife of Jesus. Her importance is in being the first to proclaim a message that is still changing lives today - “I have seen the risen Savior!”
- Have you “missed” Jesus for one of the reasons we’ve talked about this morning? Do you see Him as He truly is right now? He’s the resurrected Lord.
