Tuesday 22 July 2025
St Mary Magdalene
Song of Songs 3:1-4 / 2 Corinthians 5:14-17. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord, my God – Ps 62(63):2-6, 8-9. John 20:1-2, 11-18.
Jesus’ command that Mary should not cling to him but go to the Apostles has been the subject of much discussion. Some have built whole edifices of speculation, often quite fanciful, on this verse. Despite the confusion, we can draw much from the line. One important dimension is the challenge it poses to limited understandings of women’s roles. In essentially telling Mary to get on with her work, Jesus affirms a role that is outside of the familial or domestic world to which women have often been restricted. Mary has a crucial role as a servant of God in proclaiming Jesus’ Resurrection to her community. The implication in the text of her position as a student of Jesus, a role ordinarily reserved for men, fits with this. This is a challenge to us, individually and corporately, to value women’s place in proclaiming the Gospel.
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