St. Peter's By The Sea
The Episcopal Church in Narragansett, RI
August 17, 2008 - The Divine Feminie
Feast of St. Mary
Good morning. It’s good to be here with you this morning. Knowing that next Sunday is my last one with you makes being here together and worshipping together all the more special.
I think you all know the story of the woman who was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus by the scribes and the Pharisees. And they said to Jesus, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do you say?” And after a time Jesus said to them, “He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” And after a moment or two a rock came whizzing by and hit the woman, thump. And Jesus turned and looked and he said, “Ah Mom, cut it out.”
On a more serious note, this morning as we celebrate the Feast of Mary, the mother of Jesus, I would like to share a few thoughts with you about Jesus’ relationship and attitude towards women, and the role of women in the early church, and a feminine spirituality that has been missing in the church for a long time, but which is being rediscovered in our own time.
In the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery which I just told, of course what really happened is that the men who were so anxious to stone the woman were convicted by their own conscience and left one by one until Jesus was alone with the woman. Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are your accusers, has no man condemned you?” And she said, “No man, Lord.” And Jesus said to her “Neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more.” (John 
Jesus here undermines the whole religious and social attitude towards women of his time. The woman bears all the blame and the fault for adultery, no man is condemned or brought before Jesus. Jesus does not condemn the unjust law outright and so get caught in the trap the scribes and the Pharisees tried to set for him. Rather, he challenges them to look within themselves and to discover the projection of their own “sins” upon this woman.
And then he treats the woman with tenderness, he treats her with respect and with loving kindness, and he forgives her, for as Andrew Harvey says, “His kingdom is one of forgiveness and endless opportunity for transformation and growth.”1
We see in Jesus’ treatment of and respect for women one of the most radical aspects of his teaching as seen in the context of his own time. For again as Andrew Harvey writes, (In Jesus’ time …) “Women had few rights: they could not be witnesses in courts of law; they could not initiate divorce proceedings; they could not be taught the Torah; both childbirth and menstruation were considered ritually impure. In public life women were separated from men … middle and upper-class women did not go out of the house unescorted by a family member; adult women had to be veiled at all times when they were out in public. Meals outside the family were male-only occasions; if women were present they were thought of as harlots or courtesans. A woman’s identity in the world derived totally from her husband or father.”2
In contrast, Jesus travelled with women and ate meals with them and taught them. In short, he treated them as equals, which was unheard of. He was supported by wealthy women and at the cruxifiction it was his women followers who were present, while the men hid in fear. And it was a woman, Mary Magdalene, who was the first person he appeared to after his resurrection, and she was charged to tell the others. And this attitude of equality and openness and respect continued in the earliest churches, where women could teach, heal, prophesy and baptize. It was only later that the church was to suppress this aspect of Jesus’ teaching and ministry and claim that only men could be priests or broker access to the divine.
In our own time when Bishop Katherine Schori was elected Presiding Bishop, a number of Episcopal Dioceses found it impossible to accept the authority of a woman as Presiding Bishop. It seems we have lost sight of the teaching and practice of Jesus.
We have gained much new insight into Jesus’ relationship with women and their role in the early church with the discovery of lost early Gospels in Egypt at Nag Hanmadhi in the 1940’s. It’s only been in the last 30 years that we have had access to translations of the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Phillip, the Gospel of Mary and other early Christian writings that were later suppressed after Christianity became the official state religion, around 370 CE.
We see in these texts the special role that women played, and especially Mary Magdalene. We also see the opposition this aroused in some of the disciples and most notably Peter. In the Gospel of Mary, when Mary described to the disciples teachings she had received from Jesus, Peter became increasingly jealous. He says to the disciples, “Did he really speak with a woman without our knowledge and not openly? Did he prefer her to us?”
Then Mary wept and she asks Peter if he thinks she made all of this up, but Levi springs to her defense and says, “Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman just like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us.”
These new discoveries have produced much speculation on the nature of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and much of that is simply that, speculation, because we don’t know. However, what has become clear is that what was taught and practiced in the earliest church included a valuing of women and a more mystical and feminine spirituality that the church lost sight of, except for the mystics.
For example, in the Gospel of John when Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection, he gives them his peace. In John 14:27 Jesus says “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you; … let not your hearts be troubled.” And in John chapter 20 Jesus appears to the disciples behind closed doors and twice says to them “Peace be with you.” And in Luke Jesus appears among them and says “Peace to you.” (Luke 24:36)
However in the Gospel of Mary we read, “When the Blessed One had said this, he greeted them all. ‘Peace be with you!’ He said, ‘Acquire my peace within yourselves.’ ” (Gospel of Mary 4:1) The Gospel of Mary emphasizes the inner realization of Jesus’ peace in a way that the other gospels do not.3 As Karen King says of this in her study of the Gospel of Mary, “Here the command of the Savior relates directly to finding the child of true humanity within.”4
We see a similar difference in Jesus’ warnings about looking for the kingdom. In Mark Jesus says, “If anyone says to you ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it … they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” (Mark 13:21, 26)
But in the Gospel of Mary we read “Be on your guard so that no one leads you astray, saying ‘Look over here! Or Look over there!’ For the child of true humanity exists within you.” (Gospel of Mary 4:3-5)
According to the Gospel of Mary, we are not to look for some external power to deliver us, but that salvation lies in discovering the image of God, our own essential spark of divinity that he’s within the self. That this was a widespread teaching found in the earliest church is attested by somewhat similar formulations found in Luke, where we read, “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, “Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
And in the Gospel of Thomas we hear, “If your leaders say to you, “Look, the kingdom is in the sky,” then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father.” (Gospel of Thomas 3)
It is clear that one of the more radical aspects of Jesus’ teaching and practice was that he treated all people as equals, including women, children, and those who were considered sinners or outcasts. In his message of the presence of God and of God’s overwhelming love for us, he taught that we are all children of God.
So part of the meaning of the Feast of Mary lies in the straightforward question of gender in the history of the church, and the ways in which women have and have not been allowed to play the role Jesus seems to have envisioned for them. But another level of meaning is spiritual and speaks of the suppression of a more mystical relationship to the divine. For the feminine way, archetypically, is a more personal and intimate way, a more direct relationship with God. It is not mediated by the church or by men, or by certain rules or behaviors. It is a spirituality which springs from the interior, and is available to all of us.
My prayer is that one day each of you, will, like Mary, know the birth of God in you soul.
In Her Name. Amen.
1 Andrew Harvey, Fan of Man, p. 34.
2 Andrew Harvey, Ibid, p. 32.
3 I am indebted to Karen King’s wonderful book, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala, pp. 98 ff, for these insights.
4 Ibid, p. 100.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 2:02 pm
Category: Sermons