Mary Magdalene had a difficult couple of days after her best friend Jesus was crucified. She was numb all over. When she couldn’t stand it any longer she decided she would go to the place her friend was buried and mourn for him there.
She gathered up the spices of her religious custom to ensure that he was properly buried. She arrived at the tomb and found that Jesus’ body was gone. Immediately, Mary loses it. She goes to find a couple of Jesus’ guy friends to help her figure out what happened.
The guys showed up and sure enough Jesus’ body is no longer in the tomb. The guys totally forgot that Jesus’ was going to rise from the dead and they get angry. They looked at each other and said, “OK, it’s on. Let’s get everyone else and find the punk that took Jesus’ body and teach him a lesson.” They totally forgot that Mary was there and just leave her behind as they go to “save the day.”
Mary was not in a good place emotionally. Her good friend Jesus was crucified and when she came back to the tomb to care for him his body was gone. Her friends didn’t really ask how she was doing; they just came up with a plan to right the wrong and left her in the garden alone. After all of the emotion of the last few days she broke down in front of the tomb weeping for the friend she lost…not once, but twice.
Mary staggered toward the empty tomb with tears streaming down her face. She was close to hyperventilating as she leaned into the opening. She was most likely praying as she moved. Not because she realized that Jesus had risen, but because she spent so much time with her best friend Jesus and he always told her to pray.
She wiped the tears from her eyes as she leaned in and saw Angels there in the tomb. She turned around, runs smack into a man and it isn’t until he says, “MARY!!!!” That she realized it was Jesus, her best friend.
You know how I know this? It happened to me in Kindergarten on the first day of school. My mom dropped me off and I had to wait with all of the other children in the auditorium before we were released to go to our classrooms.
As the bell rang and I began to walk I was bumped and jostled by what seemed like hundreds of kids. I was spun around and ended up in the hallway and I was disoriented. I began to cry. As the tears welled in my eyes I couldn’t see. I ran smack into a woman in the hall and instinctively said, “Excuse me ma’am.”
The woman said, “It’s okay.” And I began to try and keep moving when she said, “Austin! It’s me! Your mom!” I had run smack into my mom in the hall. I didn’t recognize her because I was emotionally on edge, crying, and disoriented. It wasn’t until she said my name that I knew exactly who it was and that everything was going to be okay.
My mom knelt down and I threw myself into her arms as hard as I could.
Jesus called her name and Mary THREW herself into Jesus’ arms as hard as she could.
Jesus and Mary were passionate about each other. It wasn’t sexual and it wasn’t awkward, it was friendship. They laughed together, sang together, prayed together, and ate together. Jesus so loved his friend that when her brother died he brought him back to life. You don’t do that for someone you aren’t passionate about.
I was disappointed that the author wasted so much space trying to explain the spiritual connection of Male/Female friendship. It just isn’t as difficult to explain as the author made it out to be.
Jesus and Mary’s friendship was connected in a spiritual way because Jesus was intentional about talking about spiritual things with his friends. Had they talked about football they would have connected in a more athletic way.
What we talk about with our friends shapes our relationship with them. If I sit with a woman and discuss sexual matters frequently I should not be surprised if our relationship has a sexual component. Likewise, I should not be surprised that Jesus and Mary had a deep spiritual connection in their friendship.
I can’t get the last part of the story out of my head:
Jesus called her name and Mary THREW herself into Jesus’ arms as hard as she could.
Just like I did with my mom. It wasn’t a sexual embrace in the slightest. This was the embrace of a woman that had her friend back. She was safe, the world was right. And I have to believe at that moment all of the spiritual things they discussed were remembered and she knew why he was back.
That is passion. It’s not difficult.
good post Austin— I do think sometimes “passion” isn’t quite as complicated as people make it out to be. I think our pop culture definition always links passion to sexual intimacy and forgets that it’s quite easy to be passionate about both things and people without adding sexuality to the mix.
Yeah, the author did explain that point in the chapter…but unfortunately he went to unnecessary lengths to prove his point.
I think sometimes simpler is better.