Due to weather conditions, all in-person daytime and evening programs have been canceled across the church’s locations for Wednesday, except for the Recovery programs and Food Pantry at Overland Park. Decisions for Thursday daytime programs will correspond with local school district decisions and will be posted on the church’s website.
Scheduled programming has resumed for Thursday, February 13 at all Resurrection locations.
Matthew 28
1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb.
Mark 16
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus’ dead body.
Jesus’ resurrection is just a “given” in our culture, whether we believe it or not. But neither Matthew nor Mark tried to pretend that Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” went to the tomb on that fateful Sunday morning because they expected Jesus to be alive. Matthew made it sound like curiosity led them there. Mark was even more direct in saying they brought the traditional spices to finish anointing Jesus’ dead body. After all, they’d seen him die, hadn’t they?
Jesus, thank you for Mary Magdalene’s faithfulness to you when she thought you were dead. Thank you that she went to the tomb to make her amazing discovery that Sunday morning! Amen.
Dr. Amy Oden is Professor of Early Church History and Spirituality, teaching at several seminaries. Teaching is her calling, and she looks forward to every day with students. Her latest book (Right Here, Right Now: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness, Abingdon Press, 2017) traces ancient mindfulness practice for Christians today.
Christian tradition has long held that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a close friendship. Mary supported Jesus’ ministry from her own resources and is one of the few who do not run away when he suffers on the cross. Jesus loved many, yet his connection to Mary seems different.
It helps me to see that Jesus had friends, even needed friends. He was not above needing support, care, companionship. Mary Magdalene seems to have been a key friend to Jesus. She shared in the messiness of ministry and the challenge of itinerate preaching, moving from village to village, as she provided resources along the way. Jesus trusted her. She was close enough to Jesus to step in to anoint his dead body with spices, a final act of love usually done by women of the family.
The Celtic spiritual tradition has a name for this kind of friendship: anam cara or soul friend. Soul friends accompany each other on the spiritual journey, carrying sacred touchpoints in each other’s lives and helping each other listen for God’s invitations.
Soul friends help me carry my life. Soul friends call me to see myself more clearly, both good and bad. My soul friends are memory keepers, especially during crisis or hardship when all I can do is put one foot in front of the other. Soul friends help me see the big picture when I get fixated on one thing. They often identify God in my life before I can see it. My soul friends see me as God sees me, reminding me I am beloved of God.
Jesus had soul friends. We can, too. God loves us through our soul friends. I’m so grateful.
* Yancey, Philip, The Jesus I Never Knew (p. 214). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
** Ibid., p. 211.