Apostle to the Apostles

In this episode, Fr Richard Healey reflects on Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Jesus from the Gospel of John. He explores the profound transformation from sorrow to joy that Mary experiences upon recognising Jesus, highlighting her role as the first to proclaim the resurrection. Fr Richard addresses historical misconceptions about Mary Magdalene, emphasising her true identity as a devoted follower of Christ. He invites us to embrace the transformative power of encountering Jesus and to share our faith with others, inspired by Mary’s courage and devotion. This homily encourages a deeper understanding of redemption and renewal in our own lives.

(00:00:00) – The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

It was very early on the first day of the week, and still dark when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb, she saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, she said, and we don’t know where they have put him. Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then still weeping, she stooped to look inside and saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, woman, why are you weeping? She replied, they have taken my lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him. As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognize him. And Jesus said, woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.

(00:01:15) – Jesus said, Mary, she knew him then and said to him Rabbuni, which means master. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to my father. But go and find the brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. The gospel of the Lord.

We have seven accounts of the resurrection, seven stories that fill our hearts with such joy and wonder. But there is something that is absolutely precious in this story of this encounter between Mary and these angels, and then with Jesus, the one that she loved. There is such intimacy, such delight, just the movements that she experiences along the way, so filled with sorrow, this one that had so absolutely, radically changed and transformed her life. Because all that we know from the scriptures is that she had seven demons that the Lord cast out.

(00:02:33) – There is absolutely no hint of anything to do with sexual sin, sexual infidelity. And unfortunately, that’s one of the legacies of popes and Gregory that he was the first or the first documented person anyway, to conflate the woman caught in adultery or the woman had been and a prostitute with Mary Magdalene. Nothing absolutely in the scriptures to connect the two people. And yet that has been the tradition ever since. You know, I think it just kind of goes to show how often we conflate those stories. When you hear this negative rumor about someone, we just seem to want to believe that garbage, even when there’s no proof, nothing at all. And so it’s only been perhaps the last 40 or 50 years in scholarship that has been desperately trying to remove that stain from Mary Magdalene’s history. And from our record, it was, again, nothing, absolutely nothing in the scriptures that would indicate that that was the case. And yet, how many people still believe this lie still continue to to tarnish the wonderful reputation? And I suspect it’s this story that is so powerful that kind of causes this.

(00:03:56) – There is this kind of misogynistic tendency in both men and women to want to disbelieve the power of how someone can be changed and transformed. And we see this so powerfully in Mary, this person that is so filled with joy and delight, this delight that she has in her Lord. And of course she is the first to to see him, the first to recognize him, the first to encounter him. And this tender moment when she’s there, just so filled with sorrow and grief, and she’s weeping and still weeping. And yet when she is there and she won’t accept the answer of the the two angels to start with, she has to to know the answer. She needs to know where is he so that I can go and grieve with his body. I can make sure that he receives all of the respect that is his due. This, the tenderness that is there and this little line that the John gives us. Supposing him to be the gardener. John, of course, knows the scriptures. He knows the way that the story began with the innocence in the garden, that the Garden of Eden represented the very best of what was possible for us, this gift of the union between God and human, between heaven and earth, all came together in that precious moment in the garden.

(00:05:23) – So of course, she presumes that he is the gardener, because she’s understanding that in this moment there is the first signs of heaven and earth coming back together again. And so Mary becomes this great model of the apostle, the one who goes to tell the goes to profess this declaration. And it’s such a contrast to that furtive ending that we have to the gospel of Mark that we’re reading this year in Mark 16 verse eight, where we’re told that the women just couldn’t understand, couldn’t make sense of what they had seen. And so they went home in disbelief and didn’t tell anyone. But now we see the true story. The Mary was the first. Mary was the one who understood Mary because of the depth of her experience, and because she had seen so much in her own heart and experience that from the depth of her, her love for Jesus, that of course she’s changed and transformed, and she goes and tells and goes and makes that announcement. I have seen the Lord and he said these things to me.

(00:06:28) – That’s what we need to profess. That’s the belief that we need to to join Mary in, to be called into this place of transformation, to allow the Lord to embrace us and to invite us into his life and into his freedom. Let’s indeed really pray through Mary’s intercession today, that we might also have that same faith that we might be able to believe and profess. I’ve seen the Lord, and he said these things to me.