Today we honor women who love Jesus dearly.

7/22/14

Today we honor that Mary Magdalene who went by that name because she came from Magdala, one of those fishing villages on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.

I have always taken pains to make it clear that Mary Magdalene was not the sister of Martha and Lazarus who had anointed the feet of Jesus with precious nard, drying them with her hair. Perhaps, though, with both women representing the same kind of love, it is not necessary to tell them apart.

The Bible features stories featuring that warmer type of love that women give to the Lord.

Mary Magdalene, searching for Jesus who had been removed from the tomb, echoes the concern of the Shulamite woman in the Song of Songs. She had said, “I will seek him whom my heart loves.” And Mary Magdalene further imitated that woman, who when she found her beloved, “Took hold of him and would not let him go.”

Mary Magdalene showed similarities with the Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well. That woman’s loving heart had seen Jesus as her Lord.

When the Beloved Apostle John stood by the cross of Jesus, there were three women there as well. There was his mother Mary, there was her cousin, who was also Mary; and there was also Mary Magdalene. That was three women to one man. Maybe women outdo men three to one in loving the Lord.