THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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(6) Is the world impressed by a life of devotion to Christ?
There is, more th an this, a p riori consideration against such an in te r p retation of Mary. She was th e first a t the tomb (Mt. 28 :1 ; Mk. 16 :1 ; Lk. 2 4 :1 0 ). But she was also the last at th e cross— she and h er companions (Mt. 27:61; Mk. 15 :40 ). A glance a t th e whole brief n arrative of her life in th e Gospels will in te rp re t th is combi nation of statem ents. Mary first ap pears near the beginning of th e n ar rative of th e Galilean m inistry as one of a group consisting of “many” (Lk. 8 :3 ), among them , Joanna, wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward, who followed w ith th e twelve and m inistered to them of th e ir substance. Mary then disap pears from the text to reappear as one of the self-appointed w atchers of the cross th e re afte r to join th e company of witnesses to the resurrection. The sig nificance of these simple statem en ts for th e understanding of Mary’s character and position among th e followers of Jesus is not far to seek. She came w ith the circle of believers m arked out from the re st by an exceptional experience of th e Lord’s h ealing power. Henceforth, to the very end, w ith un wearied devotion, w ith in ten t and eager willingness, w ith undaunted courage even in th e face of dangers which broke th e courage of th e chosen twelve, she followed and served h er Lord. It is impossible th a t such singleness of pur pose, such streng th of will, and above all, such courage in danger, should have been exhibited by a weak, hys terical, neurotic incurable. The action of these women of whom Mary was one, in serving th eir M aster’s need while in life, and in adm inistering the last rites to His body in death, is char acteristic of woman a t her b e s t.g D r. L. M. Sweet, in In tern ation al Standard Bible Encyclopedia. " Conspicuous among the women who followed our Lord in his earth ly m in istry is the name of Mary of Magdala, a place on th e w estern shore of the lake of Galilee. She DEVOTIONAL had been saved and COMMENT healed from demon- F . W. F a r r iacal possession. There is no h in t in Scrip tu re th a t she was a woman of evil char acter. She was simply Unfortunate. Nevertheless our word “maudlin” is a
Mary Magdalene was a devoted fol-; lower of Jesus who entered th e circle of th e ta u g h t during the Galilean m in istry and became prom inent during the last days. As she COMMENT was the first to SELECTED By bear w itness to the K eith L. Brooks resu rrection o f Jesus, it is im port a n t th a t we should get a correct view of h er position and character. The idea th a t she was a penitent, drawn from the life of th e street, undoubtedly arose in the first instance from a miscon ception of the n atu re of h er malady, tog ether w ith an altogether impossible identification of h er w ith the woman who was a sinner, of th e preceding section of th e Gospel. The woman of Luke 7 is carefully covered w ith th e concealing cloak of namelessness. Her history is closed a t v. 50. The name of Mary is found a t th e beginning of a totally new section of th e Gospel, where th e name of Mary is introduced w ith a single m ark of identification, ap a rt from her form er residence, which points away from the preceding n ar rative and is incompatible w ith it. Jesus did not cast a demon out of the sinful woman of Chap. 7, and Mary of Magdala is not represented as having anointed th e Lord’s feet. The two statem en ts cannot be fitted together. Mary has been m isrepresented in ano th er way scarcely less serious. She was one of th e very first w itnesses to th e resurrection and her testimony is of sufficient importance to make it worth while for those who antagonize th e n arrativ e to discredit her te sti mony. This is done on th e basis of her mysterious malady by making her a paranoiac who was in the habit of “ seeing th ing s.” ' To begin with, it is to be rem arked th a t Mary had been cured of her mal ady in such a marked way, th a t hence forth, th roughout her life, she was a monument of th e healing power of Christ. W hat He had done for her became almost a p a rt of her name along w ith the name of her village. It is not to be supposed th a t a cure so signal would leave her a nervous wreck, weak of will, wavering in judgment, th e vic tim of hysterical trem ors and involun ta ry hallucinations.
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