{"id":4444,"date":"2024-04-14T20:55:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T20:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2024\/04\/14\/the-tower-based-on-psalm-148-and-john-201-28\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T20:55:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T20:55:55","slug":"the-tower-based-on-psalm-148-and-john-201-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2024\/04\/14\/the-tower-based-on-psalm-148-and-john-201-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Untitled"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Tower\u201d based on Psalm 148 and John 20:1-28<\/h1>\n
<\/figure>\n

You know that saying about how people need to hear things seven times before it sinks in? This is a sermon that I’ve preached before \u2013 kinda. I’ve preached the main idea of it, but it is a BIG HUGE IDEA, and it turns out that one time through it didn’t manage to get it to sink in \u2013 not even for the nerdiest among you. Truthfully, I’m still working on letting it sink in for ME. So, I’m going to go over the idea of \u201cMary the Tower\u201d again. It fits: our scripture, the We Cry Justice Reading today, our values as a church, the needs we have to see hope in the world, and the need for changes within the church at large.<\/p>\n

Recent scholarship reveals that there is an textual error in John 11 and 12. John 11 is the story of the rising of Lazarus, which we have known in in our Bibles as the story of the sisters Mary and Martha and their grief over their brother Lazarus. The scholarship shows that there is not, in fact, a Martha. Someone changed the text.1<\/a><\/p>\n

The relevant parts are now known to read:<\/p>\n

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and HIS sister MARY. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, \u2018Lord, he whom you love is ill.\u2019 But when Jesus heard it, he said, \u2018This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God\u2019s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.\u2019 Accordingly, though Jesus loved MARY and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.<\/small><\/p>\n

\u2026 then Jesus debates with his disciples and finally shows up…<\/p>\n

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to MARY console HER about HER brother. When MARY heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. MARY said to Jesus, \u2018Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.\u2019 Jesus said to her, \u2018Your brother will rise again.\u2019 MARY said to him, \u2018I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.\u2019 Jesus said to her, \u2018I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?\u2019 She said to him, \u2018Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.\u2019<\/small><\/p>\n

\u2026 Jesus raises Lazarus, and the plot to kill Jesus strengthens…<\/p>\n

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. MARY served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus\u2019 feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, \u2018Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?\u2019 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, \u2018Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.\u2019<\/small><\/p>\n

Great, now you’ve heard the story as it is believed to have been written. All Mary. One sister of Lazarus, who is the one who claims Jesus as Messiah. She is the first one to say so in John. And then she prepares him for his burial.<\/p>\n

Now, it is NOT clear for sure if Mary of John 11 and 12 is Mary Magdalene of John 20, but it has long been assumed to be, especially now that scholarship has figured out something about the name Mary Magdalene. Namely, it isn’t that Mary is from Magdala, because such a place doesn’t exist. Instead, Magdalene is a title. Magdala means \u201ctower\u201d in Araemic. So, kinda like Peter becomes \u201cthe rock\u201d after he says Jesus is the Messiah in the other gospels, Mary gets a title change after she says he is the Messiah in John. She becomes Mary the Tower. Mary Magdalene. Mary the Tower.<\/p>\n

So then, Mary the TOWER is back again in John 20. Now you may remember that the Gospel of John is associated with the disciple John, who is throughout the book of John called \u201cthe beloved disciple.\u201d And in John there is some tension between John and Peter that sounds a whole lot like later communities of faith arguing over who was better. This culminates in the Easter morning footrace between them, the one John wins but shows that Peter is braver? Yes, that ridiculous footrace.<\/p>\n

But, the funny thing is, that given the rest of this information it seems like John and Peter were racing for second. Mary already say that Jesus was the Messiah. She saw him as he was. Mary already saw the stone had been removed. She saw. And the first appearance of the post-resurrection Christ was to Mary. She saw. She who came to know his resurrection because she heard her name on his lips. She who then was the first to tell the disciples, \u201cI have seen the Lord.\u201d She saw.<\/p>\n

ONE person. The one who saw him raise Lazarus and saw him raised. The witness to the power of God over even death itself.<\/p>\n

And, friends, a WOMAN.<\/p>\n

We are not simply the recipients of tradition built on the power of men, even if this information has been obscured since 200 CE. Peter and Mary. Mary and Peter. The tower and the rock.<\/p>\n

The stories of women, which are the stories of Easter, are certainly worth hearing. They are the stories we struggle to make sense of because there is too much hope and goodness in them. We’re tempted to turn away.<\/p>\n

But, Mary the Tower keeps us both grounded and able to see beyond the walls that hold us in. The church founded by Jesus is a radical one where the least, the last, and the lost \u2013 the orphans, the widows, and the children have always been center stage. We know because it was the women who are rarely believed \u2013 the women who are often DENIGRATED AND DISMISSED (Mary Magdalene prostitution rumors anyone?) who are the ones to tell us the key stories.<\/p>\n

Mary the Tower sent us, and she said there is hope, there is life, there is a God who cares. We, too, can see. Thanks be to God. Amen<\/p>\n

1<\/a>The story of how this was found is AMAZING, came to my attention via Diana Bulter Bass’s Wilde Goose Festival Sermon which can be downloaded by clicking here: https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https:\/\/dianabutlerbass.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mary-the-Tower.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjGjMXKv7qFAxU6EFkFHcQdDb8QFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2qAIrS7kX87OxdrYJ1EDJB<\/a> or watched here: https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https:\/\/dianabutlerbass.substack.com\/p\/all-the-marys&ved=2ahUKEwjGjMXKv7qFAxU6EFkFHcQdDb8QFnoECAcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw24F4hwzT5F53i7I96ru9gi<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

April 14, 2024<\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron\u00a0
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady\u00a0
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305\u00a0
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers\u00a0
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/\u00a0<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Tower\u201d based on Psalm 148 and John 20:1-28 You know that saying about how people need to hear things … Continue reading Untitled<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,38,28,39,33,1265,1414,464,1412,1411,56,185,57,1413],"class_list":["post-4444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fumc-schenectady","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-thinking-church","tag-umc","tag-first-umc-schenectady","tag-grounded-and-able-to-see","tag-mary","tag-mary-magdalene","tag-mary-the-tower","tag-schenectady","tag-season-of-easter","tag-sorry-about-the-umc","tag-tower-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}