{"id":1821,"date":"2018-07-23T08:11:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T08:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=1821"},"modified":"2018-07-23T08:11:19","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T08:11:19","slug":"sermon-22nd-july-2018-evening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-22nd-july-2018-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 22nd July 2018 – evening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n

St Mary Magdalene – evening<\/h1>\n
\n

Sunday 22nd July 2018<\/h3>\n

St Mary Magdalene – evening
\n
\nZeph 3. 14-20
\nMark 15. 40 \u2013 16.7<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

\n

\"MaureenMary Magdalene. My guess is that you have all heard of her, but what do we know about her? ……………<\/p>\n

In fact let\u2019s have a little quiz this evening! No prizes, but then no penalties either!<\/p>\n

How many of Jesus\u2019 male disciples can we name between us? …..<\/p>\n

Now in addition to Mary Mags, how many other women can you think of in the Gospels who demonstrated their faith in Jesus? Who were the women he reached out to? The women he touched with his words? The women who followed this itinerant preacher as he travelled around Palestine? Not all of them have names, and confusingly a good few seem to have been called \u2018Mary\u2019 \u2013 (it seems that there was a distinct lack of imagination going on in 1st Century Palestine when it came to naming girls!)<\/p>\n

Would it surprise you to know that, for example, the un-named woman at the well in Samaria has a whole chapter of one gospel devoted to her story. And she brings a whole village to listen to Jesus. Andrew brings a few Greeks and gets the patronage of Scotland as a reward!<\/p>\n

And while Martha may have complained that her sister Mary was shirking the domestic duties to sit at Jesus\u2019 feet and study scripture along with the men, it is she who later expressed faith that Jesus could raise her brother from the dead. The more pious Mary has more doubt.<\/p>\n

In fact it has been calculated that there are over twenty women mentioned in the Gospels who were admirers or followers of Jesus… surprising isn\u2019t it!<\/p>\n

And even more surprising \u2013 Jesus never speaks to a woman as to an inferior or tells one off. He often uses the example of women to show models of faithfulness to God\u2019s ideal of living \u2013 and if it isn\u2019t women, then it is frequently foreigners rather than Jewish men! The faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman even causes Jesus apparently to change his mind as she begs for him to heal her sick daughter. And it is the widow with her two copper coins who is singled out as a model for generosity.<\/p>\n

His openness with women, his ability to affirm them, to use their life experience in his parables and the clear ability of Jesus to be comfortable around them and to enable them to be comfortable in his presence is singular \u2013 not only for his own time, but even with many men of faith even today.<\/p>\n

Mary of Magdala stands out as a strong and significant person in her own right within the story of Jesus and his work of Salvation. Her name may relate to the village she came from \u2013 a small settlement on the shore of Galilee, but there may also be a play on words, for the word magdala in Hebrew means a tower. So if Simon Peter is the rock on which Jesus will build his church, maybe Mary was to be the tower that stood in firm defence of his teaching?<\/p>\n

And while the male disciples are still sleeping in the exhaustion of their grief, fear and shame, it is Mary Magdalene and the other women who get up early as soon as Sabbath is over. Who come with their burden of spices to do one last act of love and service for their dead friend and teacher. And it is they, not the men, who know precisely where the tomb is and so must have witnessed that hurried burial. It is the women, not the men, that are the first to discover that the body has gone and to be told to take the message back to the others. Jesus will go on before them \u2013 they will see him in Galilee.<\/p>\n

But it is Mary Magdalene who will be the very first witness and who will always have the memory of that encounter with the risen Lord to sustain and strengthen her through all the days and years to come…<\/p>\n

A meditation on Mark 16… The women see… <\/p>\n

Stone is heavy with the weight
\nof nothing:
\nthere at the beginning;
\nthere when Mary comes early
\nto the tomb
\nand sees the emptiness
\ncontaining everything;<\/p>\n

Sees the morning rays
\nof a rising sun;
\nlight and shadow
\non each blade of grass,
\nfragile, transient, moving
\nwith the weight
\nof eternity and endless
\ncrucifixion.<\/p>\n

Nothing to hold;
\nnothing to know.
\nOnly the surprise
\nand the communion:
\nbutterfly and bird,
\nher flowing tears;
\nlove without condition
\nand a shout of joy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermons index St Mary Magdalene – evening Sunday 22nd July 2018 St Mary Magdalene – evening Zeph 3. 14-20 Mark 15. 40 \u2013 16.7 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Mary Magdalene. My guess is that you have all heard of her, but what do we know about her? …………… In fact let\u2019s have a little quiz … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sermon – 22nd July 2018 – evening”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":270,"menu_order":65,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1821","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1822,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1821\/revisions\/1822"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}