FAITHFULNESS: Mary Magdalene

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - July 22, 2007

When one picks up a technical Bible commentary, it is quickly discovered that it is not exactly a Harry Potter type best-seller.

It is very dense prose, many footnotes, citations, and excurses, and seldom any pictures.

It is usually dry enough to make the Sahara seem well-watered.

The tendency in such books is to spend much time on very small details.

Now sometimes the details are helpful to understanding the Bible, and sometimes they are just details.

For example, scholars have spent years puzzling over the names of the characters in the book of Ruth.

--What are the origins of the names?

--From whence did they come?

--Do the meanings of the names help us to understand the story? etc.

After reading pages and pages of the commentary, the answer is No!

They are just names, meanings uncertain, which could have been used in Israel during the time of the historic setting of the story .

That scholarly investigation is apparently a dead end.

For all of their detailed work, however, the commentaries tend not to ask the questions which are our perennial concern:

1 What is there about this story that makes it scripture?

2 What is the Word of God in this story for us?

3 What word of authority is presented here, and what effect does that authoritative word have on us?

4 So what?

So today we wade into these big questions which the commentaries won't help us answer, and discover Good News!

Some possibilities:

We can make a logical guess that the story was written down and kept because it is about an ancestor of King David.

Not only is David a great hero, but he comes from a family of people who have demonstrated bravery, hard work, and generosity.

This may indeed be true, but it doesn't move us along very far.

We have had the good fortune today of hearing the whole story of Ruth and not just a few verses as we generally do.

What might we choose as a single-word summary of the subject of the story?

I would choose “faithfulness.”

Especially if “faithfulness” means holding on, trusting, in spite of the appearances of the situation.

To whom then shall we apply that word “faithfulness.”?

The obvious candidate is Ruth herself.

--She has no good prospects in hanging onto the old widow Naomi.

--She might have a better chance of survival if she were to go back to her father's family in Moab.

--Despite it all she says:

Do not press me to abandon you,

for where you go I wil go.

Your people shall be my people.

Your God is now my God.

Her faithfulness is recognized by Boaz in their very first encounter:

He says: “It has been made quite clear to me all that you have done for Naomi, how you forsook family and land, and came to a land that you did not know. May God bless you.

Boaz points to her faithfulness another time, when, at the threshing floor Ruth asks him to marry her, not only for her sake and for Naomi, but also for the sake of her late husband.

Boaz is asked to “redeem” Mahlon's name, that is, to sire and raise up a son for his dead relative so that Mahlon will not be forgotten.

Is this, then, just another hero-story, with the brave and resourceful heroine Ruth?

Or is there still another hero in the tale?

One time I asked a group of catechetical students that question.

There was a long silence, until one of them said, “Well, if you're waiting this long for an answer, it must be either 'baptism' or 'God', so I'll pick 'God.'”

Good answer!

If the book of Ruth is about a heroine's faithfulness to her mother-in-law and the memory of her dead husband, it is one story among many.

But if it is a story of her faithfulness to God, or, even better, of God's faithfulness to her, then it is scripture.

God put before her many choices:

--will she worship the Lord God, or some other?

--will she stick with Naomi, or do the reasonable thing and go home when disaster strikes?

--will she work in the field belonging to Boaz, or some other?

--will she fall for just anyone who smiles at her, or will she follow Naomi's advice?

--will she challenge Boaz to honor the obligations of next-of-kin, or forget about it?

--will she marry Boaz, or someone else?

It turns out that each time she chooses rightly,

each time she does what honors God and also what cares for those for whom she has accepted responsibility.

And now we have hit upon the “so what?” of the story of Ruth for us.

Our circumstances are different, but our obligation to make choices is just the same.

Will we hold on in the tough times, or give up on God?

Will we persevere?

Will we choose the things which honor God, or things which honor ourselves?

Will we choose those things which care for those for whom we have responsibility, or pick only those things which comfort ourselves?

Will we make the faithful choices, or some other ones?

The question of faithfulness is why the story of Ruth has been paired with Mary Magdalene today.

She, too, had choices.

She could have turned away from Jesus when she first met him, but she didn't.

She could have left after being healed, as did so many others.

She could have avoided the dangerous and terrible events of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, but she observed what was happening and where Jesus was buried.

She could have kept the news of the resurrection to herself, as an ultimate “my Jesus and me” moment, but she doesn't.

She becomes the “apostle to the apostles” as an ancient writer termed it; she carried Good news to the fearful and disbelieving disciples.

Faithful choices were made by Ruth and by Mary Magdalene.

These two women are in front of us today as examples and encouragement.

Choices...we have to make choices.

Will they be faithful ones, or the ones into which we can slide without thinking?

Remember and rejoice that when Ruth and Mary Magdalene faced those dark and difficult days, the Lord God placed in front of them just what they needed, a little bit at a time.

Remember and rejoice that Ruth and Mary Magdalene chose well, and used those gifts and opportunities well.

Remember and rejoice that it is not just Ruth and Mary Magdalene whom we honor this day.

For the one who demonstrates faithfulness most fully and completely is the Lord God himself.

God is the one who continues his good gifts to us day after day.

(The catechetical students will remember from our study this week that the word for God's continuing good gifts is “grace.”)

The faithfulness of Ruth and the faithfulness of Mary Magdalene were made possible because of the faithfulness of the Lord God.

His is a word that is good forever.

His is a word once given that is never forgotten.

His is a word that calls us to faithfulness because he is faithful to us.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.