Taking Care of Jesus

Sermon on Mark 15:40-16:1

Last week, our sermon was about Peter’s denial. Pastor Daniel meticulously contrasted Peter’s denial and Jesus’ affirmation when on trial. In our darkest moments, when we feel like giving up, we learn to focus our attention on Jesus. He openly affirmed his identity when all odds were against him. To some, Jesus’ open confirmation of his Messianic identity may seem like foolishness. Who does this guy, arrested and on trial, think he is? Doesn’t he know that he is about to die? How can somebody in such a downtrodden state still claim to be the Messiah? However, what is ludicrous and even blasphemous to others should not be so to the disciples. Instead, to the disciples, Jesus’ predicament would have been the perfect confirmation of his identity. They were the only ones with inside information on this matter. They were the only ones who knew that the Messiah must suffer, be rejected, killed and eventually rise again. Perhaps at that juncture, it might be too much to ask of these disciples to hold on to their faith. It was after all a dangerous life-threatening situation. But I stress again, they were the only ones to know. They were told, not once, not twice, but three times. Let’s recollect these three moments, found respectively in Mark 8, 9 and 10.

Mark 8: 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
Mark 9: 30 Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. (That’s when he predicted his death and resurrection a second time.)
Mark 10: 32 Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. (Then he made the same predictions a third time.)

Now, imagine that you have been following the storyline up to this point. If anyone were to be the faithful ones, to be anticipating Jesus’ death, and also be awaiting his resurrection, you would have expected them to be these apostles. They were the only ones to know the truth. Yet, we were told how they fled in self-preservation. The boldest of them denied Jesus three times. We can’t help but feel sorely disappointed at this turn of events. If Jesus was the male lead of the drama, then the apostles would be the main supporting cast. Yet, just as we are coming to the climax of the show, the most pivotal scene, the supporting cast had faded away. As readers and listeners, we feel like shouting at the characters: Hang on! This is the moment you were prepared for. You are about to witness the death and resurrection of the Messiah. This is why you were chosen. You are to be with Jesus. Didn’t you ask to be at the right and left of Jesus in his glory? (10:37) Instead we ended up with two rebels with him on the Cross, one on his right and one on his left. (15:27)

Make no mistake, this was precisely Mark’s intention. We do not have brave apostles beside Jesus on the Cross. We do not see them guarding cautiously by the tomb, or proclaiming triumphantly after the resurrection. What we have instead is a bunch of aunties. Let’s spend some time getting to know them. The first aunty was called Mary Magdalene. Magdalene was not her surname. The name simply means she was Mary from a place called Magdala. From Luke 8 (and Mark 16:9 which is probably a later addition based on Luke), we have extra information that Mary was a generous aunty whom Jesus healed from a terrible sickness. These events happened while Jesus’ main activities were still in Galilee.

Luke 8: 1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Catholic traditions combine Mary of Magdala with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. But following our Protestant traditions, I disagree with the Catholic interpretation. This Mary of Magdala obviously came from Galilee and was an older, richer woman who could afford to support Jesus’ ministry. Mary of Bethany was based in Bethany, near Jerusalem, usually linked with her siblings. My conclusion is that they are two separate persons.

The Catholic interpretation would be further complicated by the Gospel of John which named Mary of Bethany as the one who anointed Jesus with the expensive perfume. So when Mary Magdalene was mentioned, she might seem like a familiar character to us. In my opinion, this is far removed from Mark’s presentation. In Mark’s Gospel, the one who anointed Jesus was an anonymous woman. And at the climax of the entire narrative, at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene was a new character appearing for the very first time. She is the first aunty in this story.

If you think that the identity of Mary Magdalene is confusing, the next two aunties are worse. You can tell that they are very confusing because Luke the diligent historian simply grouped them together. He called them “the women who had followed (Jesus) from Galilee” (Luke 23:49, 55). Very clever, Dr Luke. The second aunty was known as Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph. Unfortunately, there were many Marys because the name comes from Mariam, Moses’ sister, a popular scriptural figure. This is somewhat like the many Joshuas of Jubilee. There are many theories to the identity of this Mary[1], but I believe it refers to Jesus’ mother. My reasoning is because this interpretation fits with Mark’s usual presentation of Mary, as a mother of Jesus’ brothers.

Mark 3: 31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
Mark 6: 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?

But before you dramatize the scene into a touching mother and son moment, you must understand that there is no Christmas story in Mark. We may have idealized Mary into a perfect submissive God-bearer, but in Mark, our only impression of Jesus’ mother is that of a bossy woman waiting outside the room.[2] She is yet another unfamiliar character to us. She was just another aunty watching at a distance.

The third aunty was known as Salome. Matthew’s version is very helpful to us. He identified Salome as the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, Jesus’ apostles.[3]

Matthew 27: 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Matthew also gave prominence to Salome, describing her initiative to approach Jesus.

Matthew 20: 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.    21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

But observe how Salome was downplayed in Mark’s version of the same story.

Mark 10: 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”    36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

Salome was missing in this version. In Mark, James and John made the request themselves. At the cross, Salome was just Salome. She was not wife of Zebedee. She was not mother of James and John. She was just another aunty watching at a distance.

Before I come back to talk about these aunties, I want to talk about our final character called Joseph of Arimathea. He was a member of the Jewish Council meaning that he is at least indirectly responsible of Jesus’ death. Luke defended him in his Gospel saying he is “a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action.” (Luke 23:50-51) Matthew and John further revealed to us that Joseph was actually a secret disciple of Jesus. (Matthew 27:57, John 19:38) But in Mark, we see nothing of these justifications. Joseph simply did what he did because he abided with the Jewish Law. In Mark, he was described simply as one “waiting for the kingdom of God”. And the Law states this:

Deuteronomy 21: 22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, 23 you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

In Mark, Joseph did not have a special relationship with Jesus. He came forward boldly to bury Jesus simply because it was the right thing to do. We could say the same about the rest of the aunties who were there. They were described as “41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs.” They were there not because they had inside information about Jesus. I don’t think that they expected any miracles after Jesus died on the Cross. As good aunties do, they cared for Jesus and his needs. Yet, unknowingly they became witnesses to the most critical event of Jesus’ life: his death and resurrection.

Mary Magdalene is known as the Apostle to the Apostles. She was given that title because she was the one who announced Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles. Apostle literally means “the one who was sent”. The title is somewhat ironic because the apostles were supposed to be the apostles, yet Mary Magdalene and other aunties had become apostles to them instead.

This is my reflection on what we have learned. Sometimes in church we aim to do big things and like Peter we may passionately and emphatically say: “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” (Mark 14:31) We celebrate the heroes on difficult missions and the leaders with their honourable duties. But to me, I have a different yardstick. Are you faithful in the little things? It is such faithfulness that matters in the moments which truly count. I have talented people, I have brilliant minds, but some are never around when I need them. But in Jubilee I am thankful to my aunties, who are also talented and brilliant. They prepare the Holy Communion without fail. They change the liturgical colors at the appropriate times. They feed the cell groups and they pray for me. I believe whenever Jubilee is given miracles. They are our true apostles.

Footnotes
[1] The Catholics believe this Mary to be another Mary because of the identity of James the Younger/Less. See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08280a.htm. But since I believe Mary had children after Jesus, James the Younger could simply be James the Just, the younger brother of Jesus. My main opposition to the Catholic interpretation would be that Jesus’ mother is too critical a character to leave out at this juncture (unless we dismiss John’s account that Jesus’ mother was there).
[2] See my previous sermon on Jesus’ family: http://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/id/340/
[3] But what Matthew simplified for us is now complicated by John. John mentions that Jesus’ mother has a sister. And at the Cross, Jesus hands over his mother to his beloved disciple, whom we traditionally assume to be his apostle John.

John 19: 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

If you think that Jesus’ mother’s sister refers to Mary the wife of Clopas, then there is no problem. There are good grounds for this interpretation because Clopas is Joseph’s (Mary’s husband) brother, making Mary of Clopas Mary’s sister-in-law. Clopas appears in early Christian writings such as the 2nd century writers Papias and Hegesippus as a brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus, and as the father of Simeon, the second bishop of Jerusalem. Eusebius of Caesarea relates in his Church History (Book III, ch. 11), that after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Christians of Jerusalem: "all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph."

But there is a theory: that Jesus’ mother’s sister refers to Salome. This theory would make Salome Jesus’ aunty, and James and John Jesus’ cousin. It would explain why Jesus handed over his mother to John, since they are family. It would also explain why Salome had the audacity to ask for special positions for her sons, because that’s what aunties do. It is up to you to decide, but personally I like this theory a lot.