John 20:15-18
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Mary Magdalene-
said to be a sinner
by the keepers of tradition
and authors of history
who didn’t know what to do
with a woman who refused to conform
who didn’t fit their neat and tidy boxes
but spilled out
smudging the lines
so carefully drawn
to curtail and contain.
Mary Magdalene -
said to be demon possessed
by a narrow minded community
that couldn’t accommodate
her passion and spontaneity,
her love expressed in full view
that threatened to disrupt
prescribed teaching and ritual
Mary Magdalene - a woman
Maligned
Misunderstood
Like every woman
who dares to rock the boat
and refuses to fit the mould
prescribed by the patriarchy
in every age.
Thankfully, God confounds the rule makers
by choosing misfits and mystics
to be prophets
and witnesses to resurrection.
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