Grislis, Egil

Skuja-Grislis, Indra

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 30Issue 1 Globalization Article 75-1-2005Peter and Mary Magdalene in conversation: adialogue sermonEgil GrislisIndra Skuja-GrislisFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationGrislis, Egil and Skuja-Grislis, Indra (2005) "Peter and Mary Magdalene in conversation: a dialogue sermon ," Consensus: Vol. 30 : Iss.1 , Article 7.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol30/iss1/7Peter and Mary Magdalene in Conversation:A Dialogue Sermon1Egil Grislis and Indra Skuja-GrislisEgil Grislis is Professor of Religion, Chair of Graduate Studies inReligion, University of Manitoba, and an ordained pastor of theEvangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.At the time of preaching, Indra Skuja-Grislis was a full-time studentin the School of Art, University of Manitoba, and an ordainedPastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad.[That was a wonderful age when the followers of Jesus could actuallyconverse with him and subsequently among themselves. Can we ever,even in part, imagine these encounters? Perhaps not ever fully, but atleast we can seek to picture for ourselves some moments in theirlives. Hence the attempt made by this dialogue sermon.]Peter: I admit, as is well known, that I did not respond to Jesus’ callimmediately. I had my family, my work. And I loved fishing!2 It wasa good life, but something was missing. When I met Jesus – or, moreaccurately, when my brother Andrew who had been a disciple of Johnthe Baptist introduced me to Jesus – something immediately changedin my life.3 I could no longer continue to live as I had till then.Mary Magdalene: My life had taken a different course, and yet ithad some similarities with yours. I really did not understand what hadhappened to me. There did dwell in me seven evil spirits.4 Do youhave any idea what it means when your soul is pulled in severaldirections at once? When you no longer are in charge of your life, butare obsessed by the Evil One? That was dreadful. But then Jesuscame into my life and on his orders the evil spirits left me. I was free!Liberated! Born anew! And now I could love and believe.Peter: It is possible to lead a good and respectable life without thedemons – and yet to feel empty. To be with Jesus was absolutelywonderful! But to follow Him meant to distance myself from myfamily. Increasingly, I spent more and more time with Jesus and awayfrom my wife and home. Initially I visited often, and Jesus and theother disciples came with me. Jesus even healed my wife’s mother.5101Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2005But eventually to be a disciple demanded more and more time. Evenwhen at times my wife travelled with me6 the family ties suffered.Mary Magdalene: It was much easier for me, since I had noimmediate family. And in following Jesus I made wonderfulfriendships. These were intelligent, gracious women.7 Together, weprovided the means for the mission of Jesus. And all of us proclaimedthe good news. Those were remarkably beautiful days!Peter: Soon enough Jesus told me that he will have to die for thecause. That frightened me, and I hoped this would never happen.8Obviously, I had not understood what Jesus meant. Nor was I reallyin agreement with Him when I wanted to build three booths andthus to continue with the thrilling mountain top experience.9 Ilonged for such a life of glory where there would be no sufferingand no death. Then Jesus warned me that I will soon deny Him!10 Iprotested vigorously that I would certainly never do anything likethat! But then Jesus was arrested, and it all happened as He hadforetold. The threefold cock crow shocked me back into the realityof my sinfulness. Now my fear was stronger than my faith. To savemy life, I lied to a simple servant and denied my calling and myLord!11Mary Magdalene: I understand you have much to regret, as, in someways, do we all. Yet even though your sins were great, Jesus forgaveyou. Don’t ever forget that all of us followers knew not only of yourweakness, but also of your initial strength of faith and the forgivenessyou received. At the same time, don’t forget that we are haunted notonly by the memory of forgiven sins but also by malicious gossip andsuspicions. You will remember the woman “who was a sinner.”12 Shehad lived in sin, and now expressed her remorse publicly, eventactlessly. She poured expensive perfume on Jesus, then she dried hisfeet with her hair, and then she sobbed. Of course, she was ridiculedby others who thought of themselves as righteous. But Jesusdefended her. I was not that woman! I, Mary Magdalene, have beenwrongly identified with her. Despite what evil people say, I havenever been a prostitute!Peter: I understand that. And I have never supported maliciousgossip. But I have never said that you, dear Mary Magdalene, havebeen one of the disciples. In my view, only men could represent thetwelve tribes of Israel and therefore constitute the inner core of thetwelve disciples.102 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol30/iss1/7Mary Magdalene: And I have never said a word about Judas, a man,a coward and a traitor, and one of the twelve like you. While hebetrayed our Lord, several of us women stood firm in the faith andfearless. Have you thought about that?Peter: I admit that I envy your courage. When I fled and cared moreabout my life than for my calling, you, together with our Lord’smother, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas, and John the disciple,remained at the cross.13Mary Magdalene: You are speaking about courage. But think amoment! Courage does not depend on a person’s physical strength orgender. Courage is rooted in faith and love. We women at the crossdid not doubt, and so in faith we risked our honour and our lives. It isour faith that enabled us to remain lovingly at the cross.Peter: I know that. And I acknowledge that you brought us the newsthat Jesus is risen from the dead, and that I did not quite believeyou.14 Here you were way ahead of me, even though I was the onewho had been given authority over my brethren. After all, Jesus saidthat I shall be the rock on which he will build His Church.15 If that’snot real power, what is power?Mary Magdalene: My dear Peter, do you not realize that allChristian power rests on faith? Without faith, there is no power andno authority. Without faith, the rock crumbles into a pile of dust!Peter: I find it very difficult to think about those days immediatelyafter the crucifixion. They were filled with tears and doubt.16 Hiddenaway in the upper room we lamented the loss of a Saviour.17 And thenyou arrived and declared that Jesus had risen from the dead!18Mary Magdalene: I’m glad you remember that! Yes, indeed! I, MaryMagdalene, proclaimed the resurrection to you and to all thedisciples!19 This was a great honour for me, to be the one from amongall the disciples of Jesus to proclaim the miracle of the resurrection!Doesn’t that say anything to you and to other Christian men about therole of women in the Church?Peter: At that time I felt terribly depressed and powerless. I could notforgive myself that I, too, had betrayed Jesus. You did not see that, Iknow. But precisely then Jesus visited us! He came into the upperroom through closed doors, and spoke first of all to Thomas.20 Again,I felt I was born anew.Mary Magdalene: It was an act of God’s mercy that the truth of theresurrection emerged just in time before all of us succumbed toPeter and Mary in Conversation 103Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2005despair and unbelief. Strictly speaking, none of us can insist that wedeserved to hear of this miracle. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Iheard of it first, and that I was able to preach, let us say, the very firstEaster sermon! Perhaps in years to come some believers may call me“the apostle to the apostles!”Peter: Well, don’t forget that I also had a distinctive calling andtherefore a special leadership role. Three times the Lord asked mewhether I loved Him – and then He entrusted to me the role of theshepherd.21 I often think this is a remarkable expression of grace thatleadership was entrusted to me despite my shortcomings.Mary Magdalene: I agree. But I also think that among the people offaith leadership rests far more on love than on power. After all, haveyou overlooked that Jesus inquired about your capacity for loving andcaring – and not about power and might? You are not the only onewho has been called to love. And in the measure of our love there isalso found the degree of our authority. Love is the source, the onlysource, of all faithful leadership. The Holy Spirit has preferred it thatway.Peter: It seems to me that you are now reflecting more on the days tocome than on the present. Unpredictable as the future always is, wecan at least assume that there will always be somemisunderstandings. It just might happen that for many centuries youwill be mistaken for a former prostitute. And I would not be tooshocked if my leadership would be misrepresented in terms ofworldly might and splendour. But true faith will always yearn for thelove of which you spoke rather than grasp for power. The best of ourlives is always faithful love.Mary Magdalene: Here we are of one mind and heart. But in the endour deeds will always speak louder than words, as you yourself havewritten.22 Often our opponents notice that very clearly. Do you knowthat among the Gnostic heretics there circulates a story that is toocritical of you, and too flattering of me? Yet, perhaps, in the midst ofthe distortions it may provide a direction for both of us. Here is thestory, from the so-called Gospel of Mary:When it is told that Mary Magdalene was taught by Jesus somefurther wisdom which had not been disclosed to the other disciples,Peter denied that. Mary Magdalene now felt rejected … Mary weptand said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what do you then believe? Doyou believe that I imagined this myself in my heart, or that I would104 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol30/iss1/7lie about the Saviour?” Levi answered and said to Peter: “Peter, youhave been of a hasty temper. Now I see you do exercise yourselfagainst the woman like the adversaries. But if the Saviour has madeher worthy, who then are you, that you reject her? Certainly theSaviour knows her surely enough. Therefore did he love her morethan us. Let us rather be ashamed, put on the perfect Man,23 formourselves as he charged us, and proclaim the Gospel, withoutrequiring any further command or any further law beyond that theSaviour said....”24Peter: But as you already warned, your story comes from the hereticsand thus from outside the Church. In the Church your voice has nevercommunicated power. The appropriate role for women is to obey andnot to rule.25Mary Magdalene: I would not be surprised if some day even somemale apostles would contradict you.26 In the hearts of many, therewill continue to echo the words of our Saviour, that “there is neithermale nor female” because all of us are “one in Christ Jesus.”27 Anddo not forget that in the list of faith, hope, and love, love is thegreatest of them all; power is not even mentioned!28Peter: History will disclose the truth.Mary Magdalene: Which is that the love of Christ is aboveeverything else![According to legend Peter’s life ended in martyrdom in the city ofRome. His earthly remains are said to be preserved there. Of MaryMagdalene’s death and burial we have no information. But, asalready Cicero knew, wherever located, our graves are in an equaldistance from heaven. And as Christians we believe that when all issaid and done, we must listen only to Christ, our Saviour.29]Notes1 The couple dedicates this sermon to the Rev. Dr. Faith Rohrbough, thePast-President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon,Saskatchewan, in appreciation of her friendship and scholarship.2 Luke 5:1-113 John 1:40-424 Luke 8:2; Mark 16:95 Mark 1:30Peter and Mary in Conversation 105Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 20056 1 Corinthians 9:57 Luke 8:2-38 Matthew 16:21-239 Matthew 17:410 Matthew 26:33-3511 Matthew 26:70-7512 Luke 7:3713 John 19:25-2714 Mark 16:1115 Matthew 16:1816 Mark 16:1017 John 20:1918 Mark 16:1019 Mark 16:9-1020 John 20:26-2921 John 21:15-1722 1 Peter 2:1223 Cf. Romans 13:4 and James 3:224 Edgar Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha; Volume One: Gospels andRelated Writings, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ed., trans. & ed. R. McL.Wilson (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963), p. 343.25 Cf. 1 Corinthians 7:426 Galatians 2:1127 Galatians 3:2828 1 Corinthians 13:1329 Matthew 17:5106 Consensushttp://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol30/iss1/7

Peter and Mary Magdalene in conversation: a dialogue sermon

Scholars Commons

https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1205&amp;context=consensus

Peter and Mary Magdalene in conversation: a dialogue sermon

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Wilfrid Laurier University

Scholars Commons