Three Mary's and I (Excerpt)

Introduction

There are so many stories in the bible both relatable and unrelatable. Some of the women in the bible went down in history as some of the vilest creatures whose stories were told (see Jezebel) while others rose above occasions so high, that their stories must be told and retold.

Every single time I try sharing the word of God, I find myself sharing tales of my own life that I believe relate to the particular message. You will find a bit of that in this book where I retell stories of four very famous women found in the gospels. Three of them share a name and the last one is a culmination of my own life and maybe yours.

I pray that you are blessed by the words in this book.

The Maybe Prostitute - Part 1

Her story is simple. It is a woman meets man kind of story but it is of a very different variation. Her name was Mary who hailed from Magdalene. Mary simply met a Man whose pure heart and kindness alone saved her from evil spirits and eternal damnation. (John 20 and Luke 8)

Mary started following Christ after seven demons were cast out of her. She is mentioned several times in the gospels including being the first person whom Jesus appeared to after His resurrection. Now, why I chose to get into her story deeper was because of the taint that seems to follow her name everywhere it’s mentioned. I found myself relating to a bit of her story and therefore here it goes.

All I See is Gratitude

I am awed by the gratitude and the spirit of servitude that was evident from her story. This is similar to another man who was demon-possessed and whose situation was so dire that he lived in the tombs and mountains. Not only that, but he would also cut himself with stones and break any chains anyone thought to bind him with. (Mark 5: 1- 20 and Luke 8: 26-39)

This man and Mary have two things in common; demons were cast from them and afterward all they wanted was to follow their savior wherever He went. Have you ever experienced that...gratitude so deep, you would be willing to give your very last breath if asked?

At times it seems as if the people who give their lives in service of others are from another planet. Maybe they were just raised right. Perhaps they couldn’t possibly understand the kind of troubles we go through so of course, they have the heart and time to serve.

This, however, doesn’t seem to be the case when you consider Mary’s and the demon-possessed man’s stories. Compared to most of us, these two clearly had it rough. Could their level of gratitude be equivalent to the depth of trouble they were saved from?

Could their level of servitude be a direct result of the gratitude they felt towards the freedom they had been granted?

A Change in Perspective

Mary Magdalene wasn’t alone and is often mentioned together with a number of other women in the gospels. These women were also freed from various troubles and it seems the way they chose to say thank you was by dedicating whatever they had to serve their master.

He didn’t ask for much for a regular human, and as a savior who deserved it all, He asked even less.

From the story, it seems like all these women knew after they were freed from their various bondages was to serve the One who had restored life back to them. They chose to provide for Jesus and His disciples from their own provision. A friend of mine always says there is no greater gift than a healthy body. Well, maybe we should classify that as the second greatest gift because the first one is salvation.

Losing simple bodily functions quickly brings back one’s perspective at how irrelevant most things we spend our lives chasing after are. Realizing how little worth our material goods are to us is like a swift kick in the rear and you find yourself freely giving to those who are in more need than you are.

I mean, of what worth is that Louboutin shoe if now you can’t even walk? Of what worth is that Ferrari if the simple act of breathing becomes as difficult as climbing the Everest? Of what worth are the things you spend time chasing after? Oh, I know the answer here is simply validation. Being recognized and praised by others is one of the main drivers of the lifestyles we choose to lead.

Until you lose those things and the praises go too. You go down the social ladder for a while and the vanity validation fades too. So were these things important, to begin with? In this story, we see that these women started serving and following Jesus when they were healed of their ailments. Is it to say that before Jesus came along that they had nothing else to occupy their time? Is it to say that they had no families, husbands, chores to get back to the moment they were healed? Of course not, they were the regular you and I of that time. They had busy schedules and people relying on them but the moment they really met Jesus, everything else fell in the background.

Does it Matter?

Mary and her friends followed Christ wherever He went and soon were recognized as part of His appointed family. They were there during his lessons, during His betrayal, and even during His crucifixion.

Those were clearly trying times and His death must have been devastating. Being with the other disciples and even His family members may have been comforting but couldn’t fill the hole He had left.

The tomb was empty when Mary got there Monday morning. What had they done to His body? Wasn’t it enough that they had already beaten and killed Him like a thief when He was anything but? She clearly couldn’t take it anymore and so she broke down crying and that was when He appeared again. He was alive. That which He had told them before everything went south had come to pass!

👁‍🗨Mary Magdalene has been called a prostitute, she has even been accused of being Jesus’s wife.

I wonder if Mary cares, knowing what some people in today’s world think of her. Does it matter now, centuries after she ceased to exist? I think not because she made it. Her mission was accomplished and no matter what we all think, she awaits her “well done my daughter” crown. (Mathew 25:21)

I remember when I was starting out in the hotel industry as a commis chef, I was in my early twenties and I carried the burden of caring what others thought of me everywhere I went. In the hotel industry, filthy talk is the way of life both for the male and female population, if you couldn’t handle it, you didn’t last long in the environment.

It is no wonder rumors spread like wildfire and I got my share of the misfortune when I was accused of sleeping with my boss who was a friend but was also considerably older than I was. This bothered me, of course, because it wasn’t true.

Why I bring this story up is because when I told him what people were saying about us, he said something like; people will always talk June, that shouldn’t bother you!

Honestly, I was surprised by his nonchalance but boy was he right because trying to please human beings is futile and a disservice to oneself. It is like trying to wash a chicken then letting it loose on the farm once more. It is like trying to count the hair follicles on your head, it’s useless and impossible.

Mary Magdalene couldn’t have had it easy. It is even possible that what people say of her now is what they said of her then. My short stint in the hotel industry gave me thick skin and I was able to confidently strut through those pavements even when I later got pregnant by my boyfriend who would later become my husband. They continued to believe that my pregnancy was by my old and married boss but I knew the truth and kept going through my days oblivious of the noise.

All this to say, people will always talk but what you do with what they say is what matters. You can choose to let it bother you or you can choose to let it roll off your back. By choosing to let it bother you, you are giving them the power to offend you every time they choose. You are giving them power over you. The power of people’s words over us is equivalent to the power we have granted.

Jesus Still Answers

Some may wonder why Jesus didn’t bother to prove himself to His naysayers and His persecutors when they sought to kill Him. I mean it would have taken very little on His part.

Just recently I came across this article that a Kenyan lawyer was suing the nation of Israel for the illegal trial of Jesus Christ! I find this hilarious on one part and sad on another part because Jesus came to die. That was His whole ministry, to die for our sins.

So, mourning His death doesn’t make sense to me, because His death gave me life and it accomplished his purpose on earth. His death gives us lessons in what kind of God we serve and how much pain we were spared by that crucifixion. Instead of focusing on how Jesus died, and the injustice that surrounded it, shouldn’t we be focusing on the why. Why did He die? Because I believe right now Jesus doesn’t spend time thinking of how He was wronged by those who persecuted Him, His interest is in if the Message He came to deliver is reaching those who need it.

When I read the book of acts, one thing stood out; the angel of the Lord only appeared to those who believed. It is the same case with when Jesus was resurrected, only His disciples got to see Him. Only those who already believed in Him saw Him. The Romans were probably still out celebrating their “triumph” for killing Jesus while He was busy visiting those who believed. No matter what those who were against Jesus thought, His interest wasn’t in the noise that He knew was irrelevant, His interest was in those who had believed in Him when He was just a Man.

Being a Believer in a Non-believing World

At times I wonder why Jesus doesn’t obliterate our generation with a snap of His fingers: surely at this point, we have given Him enough reason to. However, in these modern times when the world is filled with filth, it is wonderful that those of us who believe still get to see and hear from Jesus.

We live in a world where the prophecy of the end times has never been clearer. Read Mathew 24. The love of people is growing colder each day, parents towards their kids and vice versa, neighbor against neighbor, man towards God, etc. Don’t believe me? Just turn on the news and see.

I personally cannot tell you how many times I have come across comments on social media of people calling our Heavenly Father all sorts of names. It’s atrocious and disheartening yet, that is the world we live in.

We have the burden to share Christ with everyone who will care to listen. It is painful to see someone get shot down on those social media streets just because they dared express their faith in a place where the majority of the population believes otherwise.

Some of us watch helplessly as these courageous souls get their beating while others try to jump in the ring and take some of the blows from the victim. This kind of experience can do a number on your self-esteem.

Another such challenge is living with loved ones who do not share your faith. I tend to be careful where I post about my faith when it comes to social media but the challenge of living with a non-believer hasn’t escaped me. The number of conversations that I’ve had with this person that ended up feeling like a personal attack on my faith is countless. At one time, it got so bad until I said: whatever I believe is my own business so leave me the hell alone!

Yes, that was said in anger because I couldn’t understand why my life choices, which had no effect on this person, needed so much scrutiny and commentary.

Over time, I have learned not to care so much. This book comes in the wake of a conversation I recently had with this person. He was telling me that Harry and Meghan, formerly of the British Royal family, had given an interview with Oprah where Harry said that he didn’t want to see what happened to his mother happen to his wife.

My conversation mate was of the opinion that was the first time they were speaking out but I knew otherwise because I had watched a video during their huge royal exit a couple of months back where Harry said the same thing. This person couldn’t believe that such a video existed, even after I explained exactly what I had seen, he still couldn’t believe it. It was annoying because as a grown-up, why would I lie about such a futile and unbelievably useless fact?

I was of the mind to stop what I had been doing to prove that the video existed but another part of me was like: so he doesn’t believe you, so what? I let it go and continued cooking and scrolling through Facebook.

This, to me, is growth. In the past the urge to say “I told you so!” would have been so great and I would have gone for that video search just because of my need for this person to believe me and value my words. I have done it in the past. I have stopped everything just to prove him wrong whenever I was 100% sure of something yet, the disagreements still continue which leaves me wondering what proving myself all those times in the past was worth?

What is everything you do to make them think that you are succeeding worth? Whatever you are doing just to fit in, is it worth it? Whatever image you are putting out there for them to approve, is it worth it? What is it all worth?

So they think that you are crazy for being a Christian...what does it matter?

Some even go ahead and tell you of their belief of the Bible being full of bedtime stories...so what?

Where are you letting people’s contrary opinions affect your way of life?

Mary’s story shows us a woman who experienced the Messiah and she turned her life to serve Him alone. That’s it, right there is the answer to adopting “so what” as your motto; getting to know Jesus! There is no way around this, everything else aligns itself once this happens.

My housemate has seen how I have believed for healing in the past and seen results but this person continues to question Christianity. One time this person even asked me whether I believed everything that was written in the bible because he only believes certain things, like Jesus is Lord but he is skeptical that Jesus will come again.

My take is this: they will make noise, they will call you names, they will ‘unfriend’ you and everything along those lines but as long as you know what you stand for, as long as you have met your Messiah and know what He is about, I encourage you to keep the faith, keep strong and stand firm and remember do not quit doing good. (Galatians 6:9)

Looking at the above story, all I see is beauty and redemption. Mary was clearly in bondage before meeting Jesus. I mean, being possessed by seven demons isn’t a joke. The resulting service ministry that followed from the gratitude that she clearly felt towards her savior is just beautiful.

A pastor once said, do not judge people when you see them shout and jump in praise of their savior because you don’t know what they were delivered from. You don’t know what they have been through, you don’t know their story.

I believe the same applies to Mary here, as the world looked on and probably disowned her for her demon possession, here came a Man who took it all away. Who quieted the voices in her head. Who reminded her that she was worth something and so she decided that she would follow Him wherever He went.

As I said earlier, I imagine that the way people perceive Mary Magdalene today may not have been far off from what they believed her to be when she was alive. Yet, this woman did as her heart led her to because she had seen the Messiah face to face and had been shown a life she could have never believed to be hers before meeting Him. So, she lived her life. She and her friends followed Him everywhere, they used their provision and provided for Him and His disciples from their own sustenance. This remains to be a fact no matter who says anything to the contrary.

I have come to learn that frogs don’t stop cows from drinking water from the river no matter how much they croak or stare at them. This is the attitude we Christians should adopt in these times because we must live boldly as Christians no matter how much resistance we get.

Are you in need of freedom dear reader because it is available for you in Christ Jesus. It only takes a simple belief that He indeed is the Messiah and that He is alive.

This is an excerpt of my upcoming E-book titled: "Three Marys and I" Keep a lookout for it.

Until next time my friends.

God bless.

June