“He told me to tell you, and I have done so.” (Mary Magdalene) Amazing!

The messengers of God are, for the most part, strong characters.
There are Moses, the Prophets, Samson, generally men. But today Jesus
startles us in his selection of messenger for his most important
message: “I am alive. Death does not have the final answer.” For this
message, he chose a woman, a woman who is not afraid to stand at the
foot of his cross and watch him die a terrible death, to bring this
message of Resurrection to a group of scared and huddled men. Amazing!

Today we celebrate the feast of this woman messenger, this apostle to
the apostles, St. Mary Magdalene. And there are so many aspects of
her life that we could ponder. I selected three: mistaken identity,
fear and surprise.

First of all, mistaken identity.... Mary Magdalene might be
considered one of history’s first cases of identity theft. For
centuries, she was mis-identified as one of the prostitutes in the
gospel, by a Pope, no less. And yet, in the story today we find out
that she mis-identified Jesus for the gardener. Reminds me of a
story....

Many years ago, I was teaching in a very poor school in South
Central Los Angeles, and our principal came to us in the morning and
said, “Be prepared. We’re having a visitor. A monsignor from the
Archdiocesan Education Office will be here to check up on our
religion program. So, please just carry on with your class when he
comes in. Have a chair for him. Don’t introduce yourselves.” So,
that’s exactly what I did., when a rather shabbily dressed monsignor
arrived and sat in the chair I had prepared. Well, being from the Bay
Area, I was accustomed to a better dressed clergy, but, after all,
this was Los Angeles. (No offense to you...) So, I continued my
lesson as I was told and I said to my students, something like “Boys
and girls, Jesus wants us to be kind to each other.” With that, the
monsignor jumped out of the chair and yelled in a loud voice,
“That’s me. I’m Jesus!” Startled, I realized “Oh no, no. This is not
the monsignor. This is a homeless man from the neighborhood.” I
always tell people when you are a teacher, you’ve just got to be
ready for anything. So, I took him down to the office and returned to
my class when one of my very innocent students looked up and said,
“Was that really Jesus?” I paused for a moment and said, “Yes, as a
matter of fact, that was.” First, I mistook him for the monsignor.
Then I mistook him for a homeless man. And finally, I understood his
true identity. Mary Magdalene and I share an amazing discovery.

Fear. Fear is good. I am a teacher. I asked a couple of my colleagues
what they want their students to be afraid of. One said, “I want them
to be afraid of drugs and alcohol. I’ve seen too many shatter their
lives against these addictions. Another, “I want them to fear the
popular culture that tricks them into thinking that happiness can be
bought for the price tag of a designer purse or a beautiful home.”
Me, I want my students to be afraid when they go to bed tonight that
they have not made the world a better place. These are good fears.
These are life-saving fears. And yet, today’s gospel challenges us to
get rid of self-centered fear.

I teach World Religions and come across some amazing rituals and
practices. One such is practiced by Buddhist Monks. Many of them will
spend hours a day meditating on a human corpse. Our own Christian
tradition has monks who will have a human skull on their desks,
meditating on them daily. Why? Because they are trying to get rid of
fear. And yet, Mary Magdalene teaches us a better way. She had the
courage to stand at the foot of the cross. Why? Because of love.
Again, a story...

The story is of the Island of Molakai. Many of you know that this
island was dedicated to the care of lepers after the Europeans
brought, not just the gospel, but this disease to the native
population. By the late 1800’s, most of the lepers were, on that
island, taken care of by priests and nuns. The story goes that Mark
Twain was visiting one of the leper asylums when he noticed a young
nun who was caring for a very badly deformed leper. She was washing
his wounds and bandaging him and comforting him. Mark Twain was
reported to have said to her, “Sister, I wouldn’t do what you’re
doing for a million dollars.” To which, she responded, “Neither would
I.” Love casts out fear.

And finally, surprise.... Perhaps the biggest surprise in today’s
gospel, other than the Resurrection itself, is Jesus’ choice of
messenger, a woman. Historians tell us that women at the time of
Jesus were under severe restrictions. They could not go out in public
without being accompanied by a husband or a father. They could not
speak to strangers. They had to be doubly veiled. And yet, surprise!
Jesus disregards these restrictions. He speaks to women in public,
much to the chagrin and disapproval of his own disciples. He confided
in women. Mary and Martha of Bethany were two of his closest friends.
And I think that Jesus gives us a strong message in his selection of
messenger. He tells us, through his choice of Mary Magdalene, that
women can be apostles. And so, on this feast of Mary Magdalene, I
would like to reinstate the title that was given to her by the early
Christian Community. And that is, “Apostle to the Apostles.”

And so I ask today that Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, pray
for us. I was told to tell you her story and I did because she had
the courage to tell us hers. Christ is risen. He is truly risen. Amen.