Dear Mary Magdalen,Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
In my readings I have met some of the greatest Christian theologians, philosophers, writers, and preachers of all time. Many of these greats have written about the art of preaching and have many of their spiritually inspiring sermons published. Among these greats I feel compelled to write you.
I am writing you as part of a class I am taking in preaching. We are to write a great preacher from the past. So it may seem odd that I am writing you since we have only one record of your preaching and you didn’t write any theological treatise on the form and function of preaching.
I write you because, your story is amazing and you are an inspiration to all of us who dare proclaim the good news of Christ risen. Your devoted service to, and love for Jesus after your healing has been shared with me in story and song. I have heard of you providing for Jesus as he ministered in Galilee, you staying close to him during his horrific death when others had abandoned him, your desire to care for his body in the tomb, and your faithfulness in the face of your own fears and the ridicule of Peter and the others to proclaim the good news - “Jesus is risen!”
Though some would try to silence your witness as a women by making you the great repentant whore or the exception to the rule of who is allowed to preach. You are the Apostle to the Apostles and your legend has grown. I imagine you comforting and teaching the early church. I find myself dreaming of you taking the gospel message to modern day France. I can see you, in your faithfulness and strength, sharing your message with those who would listen and those who would ridicule and insult you.
I chose to write you because in you I see clearly what Augustine (maybe you have met him, he didn’t have the highest opinion of women when he was with us) meant that “the Christian teacher cannot be persuasive, however, unless his/her (my addition) life proclaims what his/her preaching does (Concise Encyclopedia, p. 193).” In my class we call this the “Preaching LIfe.” Our whole life is witnessing to Jesus Christ risen. You are the epitome of the “Preaching LIfe.” You, who was given a new life in your healing, lived new life by ministering to Jesus, witnessed new life in Jesus’ rising from the dead, offered new life to those around you in your proclamation of the good news.
As I imagine you traveling those many miles, you must have faced a great deal of resistance. Resistance to a message that is foolishness. Resistance to a stranger in strange lands. Resistance to a woman preaching. I wonder how you were able to carry on in the face of so much resistance.
I am the pastor of a small “progressive” congregation. We try to be an inclusive community that recognizes the gifts that each person brings to the community of faith. We believe that all followers of Jesus Christ should be able to serve the church in all capacities regardless of gender, age, race, or sexual orientation. We believe in the radical and inclusive love of Jesus Christ. Mary, your relationship with Jesus, a scandal to many, is an example of this radical and inclusive love we feel compelled to preach.
But our voice is drowned out by the accusations of unfaithfulness to God’s “natural plan,” unfaithfulness to the gospel, and heresy. Accusations often made against women and minorities. Accusations that were made against you. I find myself discouraged by the resistance to the message of the radical love and new life that Jesus Christ offers. I am discouraged by the hatred that is proclaimed in the name of Jesus, from “God hates fags” to “God will bless you with material wealth if you believe in him.” I am discouraged by the resistance of those to whom I preach. I am discouraged by my own resistance and do not feel that I live up to Augustine’s ideal of the preacher’s words and life matching. I sometimes wonder, “Why keep preaching?”
Dearest Mary, what kept you going? How did you overcome the ridicule? How did you overcome the attempts to keep you in your place?
I ask you because you did overcome. You are the one the risen Christ chose to show himself to. You are the Apostle to the Apostles. I give thanks to God for your strength and your continuing witness - “Jesus is risen!”
In Christ’s peace,
Your brother,
Robert Hagel
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