#magdalene: the woman taken in adultery

[aboutbirds]

Teacher, they said to Jesus, The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? —John 8:5 You know how it is when your speeding car spins on the ice at night and you think here it is? When the deer spring across the headlights? When you begin to slip down the steep and icy steps? Now imagine someone is about to push you, someone you know and then they don’t.

Marie Howe, "Magdalene: The Woman Taken in Adultery," from Magdalene: Poems

[havingapoemwithyou]

magdalene: the woman taken in adultery by Marie Howe

[unproduciblesmackdown]

also, for interest/reference, the titles of the individual mini plays in the mysteries (and playwrights), according to the show's program

Act I - The Fall

Song of the Trimorph (Lucifer's Lament) - Dael Orlandersmith

Falling for You - Liz Duffy Adams

The Eighth Day (Creation Hymn) - Jason Williamson

God's Rules - Johnna Adams

A Worm Walks into a Garden, or The Fall of Man - Madeleine George

Right of Return - Jorge Ignacio Cortinas

Cain and Abel - David Henry Hwang

Build It - Trista Baldwin

The Flood - Mallery Avidon

Fruitful and Begettin' - Nick Jones

Bright New Devil - Matthew Stephen Smith

The Moses Story - Ann Marie Healy

The Prophecy - CollaborationTown

The Annunciation - Jordan Harrison

Joseph's Troubles About Mary - Kate Gersten

The Shepherds - Kimber Lee

King of Kings - Kate Moira Ryan

The Slaughter of the Innocents - Chris Dimond

The Flight into Egypt - Kenneth Lin

Act II - The Sacrifice

Christ with the PhDs - Erin Courtney

Jesus Grows Up Fast - CollaborationTown

New Periods of Pain Part I - Craig Lucas

Something in the Water - A. Rey Pamatmat

Transfiguration - Billy Porter/Kirsten Greenidge

The Woman Taken in Adultery - Max Posner

The Raising of Lazarus - Amy Freed

Jesus Enters Jerusalem - Gabriel Jason Dean

Turning the Tables - CollaborationTown

The Conspiracy - Yussef El Guindi

The Last Supper - Jeff Whitty

The Garden of Tears and Kisses - José Rivera

The Denial of Peter - Bess Wohl

Christ Before Herod - Qui Nguyen

Judgment? - Marc Acito

The Remorse - Sevan K. Greene

The Road to Calvary - Jenny Schwartz

Act III - The Kingdom

New Periods of Pain Part II - Craig Lucas

The Death of Christ - Don Nguyen

The Harrowing of Hell - Lucas Hnath

Resurrection - Bill Cain

The Next Supper - Lloyd Suh

The Appearance - Ellen McLaughlin

Thomas Doubting (or, Doubting Thomas Doubts His Doubt) - Jordan Seavey

The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene - Meghan Kennedy

Pentecost - Sean Graney

Walking Away from the Mirror and Forgetting What You Looked Like - Eisa Davis

The Death of Mary - Lillian Groag

The Assumption of Mary - Najla Said

The Coronation - Laura Marks

The Last Judgment - Michael Mitnick

Sermon of The Senses - José Rivera

[mortalpractice]

Magdalene: The Woman Taken in Adultery

Teacher, they said to Jesus, the law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? —John 8:5

You know how it is when your speeding car spins on the ice at night and you think here it is? When the deer spring across the headlights? When you begin to slip down the steep and icy steps? Now imagine someone is about to push you, someone you know and then they don't.

—Marie Howe, Magdalene: Poems

[kompelleintrare]

It is not because I have been preserved from mortal sin that I lift up my heart to God in trust and love. I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broken with sorrow, I would throw myself into the Arms of my Saviour. I know that He loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard His words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning His Mercy and His Love. And I know that all that multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace.

Therese Lisieux

[werejustpassingby]

Maybe God's not distant; maybe you're hiding

St Therese of Lisieux knew well her littleness before God. She lived joyfully surrendered in the present moment to him.

"It is not because I have been preserved from mortal sin that I lift up my heart to God in trust & in love. I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broken with sorrow, I would throw myself into the Arms of my Savior in know that he loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard his words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman in taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning his mercy and his Love. And I know that all multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace."

Books:

Orual

The Great Divorce

Till We Have Faces

[treatiseongrace]

“I remember his love for the prodigal son, I have heard his words to Mary Magdalene, to the woman taken in adultery, to the woman of Samaria. No - there is no one who could frighten me, for I know too well what to believe concerning his mercy and his love”

St. Thérèse the Little Flower

[andrivete]

Marie Howe, Magdalene: The Woman Taken in Adultery

[madewithonerib]

Interesting exchange today, was Mary Magdalane JESUS’ wife. It is untrue, for several reasons:

     JESUS lived faultless life, divine of birth, no wo/man in heaven,      no purpose for marriage (procreation/protection/lust issue)

     per the biblical stance on marriage, it was only provided      as a means to limit sexual immorality.

           1 Corinthians 7:2 | But because there is so much            sexual immorality, each man should have his own            wife, & each woman her own husband.

     Though tempted in every way as we are, JESUS sinned not.

     So no, Mary Magdalene was never wed to JESUS.

     There are many other false narratives floating about, you      can read about it below if you care to see how easily      carried away people get when no confirmation is required.

     Mary Magdalene was a woman from whom JESUS      cast out seven demons [Luke 8:2].

           Luke 8:2 | as well as some women who had been            healed of evil spirits & infirmities: Mary called            Magdalene, from whom 7 demons had gone out,

     The name Magdalene likely indicates that she came      from Magdala, a city on the southwest coast of the      Sea of Galilee.

     After JESUS cast seven demons from her,      she became one of HIS followers.

     Mary Magdalene has been associated with the      "woman in the city who was a sinner" [Luke 7:37]      who washed JESUS’ feet, but there is no      scriptural basis for this.

     The city of Magdala did have a reputation for prostitution.

     This information, coupled with the fact that Luke      first mentions Mary Magdalene immediately      following his account of the sinful woman      [Luke 7:36-50],

     has led some to equate the two women.

     But there is no scriptural evidence to      support this idea.

     Mary Magdalene is nowhere identified as a      prostitute or as a sinful woman, despite popular      portrayals of her as such.

     Mary Magdalene is also often associated with the      woman whom JESUS saved from stoning after      she had been taken in adultery [John 8:1-11].

           John 8:1-11 | But JESUS went to the Mount of Olives.

           Early in the morning HE went back into            the temple courts. All the people came to HIM, &            HE sat down to teach them.

           The scribes & Pharisees, however, brought to HIM            a woman caught in adultery.

           They made her stand before them & said,            “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

           In the Law Moses commanded us to            stone such a woman. So what do YOU say?”

           They said this to test HIM, in order to have a            basis for accusing HIM. But JESUS bent down &            began to write on the ground with HIS finger.

           When they continued to question HIM,            HE straightened up & said to them,

           “Let him who is without sin among you be the            first to cast a stone at her.”

           And again HE bent down & wrote on the ground.            When they heard this, they began to go away            one by one, beginning with the older ones, until            only JESUS was left, with the woman standing there.

           Then JESUS straightened up & asked her,            “Woman, where are your accusers?            Has no one condemned you?”

           “No one, LORD,” she answered.

           “Then neither do I condemn you,” JESUS declared.

           “Now go & sin no more.”

     But again this is an association with no evidence.

     The movie “The Passion of the CHRIST”      made this connection.

     This view is possible, but not likely &      certainly not taught in the BIBLE.

     Mary Magdalene witnessed most of the events      surrounding the crucifixion. She was present at      the mock trial of JESUS;

     she heard Pontius Pilate pronounce the death sentence;      & she saw JESUS beaten & humiliated by the crowd.

     She was one of the women who stood near JESUS      during the crucifixion to try to comfort HIM.

     The earliest witness to the resurrection of JESUS, she      was sent by JESUS to tell the others [John 20:11-18].

     Although this is the last mention of her in the BIBLE, she      was probably among the women who gathered with the      apostles to await the promised coming of the      HOLY SPIRIT [Acts 1:14].

     The recent fiction novel “The DaVinci Code” makes the      claim that JESUS & Mary Magdalene were married.

     Some of the non-biblical early Christian writings      [considered heresy by the early Christians] hint at a      special relationship between Mary Magdalene & JESUS.

     However, there is no evidence whatsoever to support      the belief that JESUS & Mary Magdalene were married.

     The BIBLE does not even hint at such an idea.

gotquestions.org/Mary-Magdalene.html Dialog with Peggy & Dennis Joseph Jr.

[pilgrimjim]

Magdalene: The Poetic Gospel of Marie Howe

"Magdalene," Marie Howe's haunting suite of poems, reimagines the woman closest to Jesus in terms of contemporary struggles and longings. This luminous work makes perfect Easter reading. Click and see.

Donatello, Mary Magdalene (late 1430s)

‘I have come to die for your sins,’ Jesus told a stooped figure passing him on the road. ‘Then what am I to die for?’ the old man asked. Jesus took a small notebook from his pocket and copied the question. ‘If I may have your name and address” he said, “an answer will be sent to you.’ 

 –– A. J. Langguth, Jesus Christs

Everyone wanted to pour his wine, to…

[fear-not-beloved]

I know how much He loves the prodigal son. I have heard what He said to Mary Magdalene, to the woman taken in adultery, and the Samaritan woman. No one can make me frightened any more, because I know what to believe about His mercy and His love || St. Thérèse of Lisieux . 👀 unexpected click 😉

[stupid-damn-harp]

Notes on “Magdalene: The Woman Taken in Adultery”

“here it is”

I’m a little curious about this line. In the split second when your car starts to spin on ice, are we even able to think? In the second before it hits something else or miraculously rights itself, aren’t we just trying desperately to save ourselves? I’ve only had this happen once, and my reflexes completely took over - I didn’t think about what I was doing until after the danger had passed. Of course, this would be different in the biblical situation, as being taken from the house would have taken longer than a car spinning on ice.

“deer spring”

Using “deer spring” instead of “deer springs” states that there’s multiple deer that are going in front of the car. I wonder if this could be referring to multiple things that are going on in the woman’s life that feel like they’re spinning out of control? Multiple things outside of the adultery?

“begin to slip

It’s striking here that this refers to the beginning of the moment when you’re still filled with adrenaline. By the time they had dragged the woman taken in adultery to the place where Jesus was at, that adrenaline must have subsided some. It’s also interesting that the beginning of the moment is referenced in the third of four lines, when the first two reference moments in the middle of the potentially catastrophic experience. Is this mix-up referencing the difference between the expected ending and reality?

“someone you know”

I didn’t think that the woman knew who Jesus was until after he had told her to go in peace. Is this “someone you know” supposed to refer to everyone else that was willing to stone her for her crimes? Or is it referring to the man she was having relations with (since “knowing someone” was a euphemism for sleeping with them in the bible)?

This poem fits into the anthology because of the modern-day imagery applied to the biblical story of the woman taken in adultery. The original biblical story is supposed to highlight the fairness of Christ, but it also teaches us about how women would be stoned to death for sleeping with a married man - and the man would receive no comparable punishments.

Bibliographical Information:

https://poets.org/poem/magdalene-woman-taken-adultery

[brucedinsman]

Daily Service: no stone to Throw

Daily Service: no stone to Throw

Revised and updated from previous volumes I am pretty sure I have posted on this topic before (yes, repeatedly).  The woman taken in adultery.  This might even have been Mary Magdalene; commentaries differ on the point. Anyway, I’ve been talking about love a lot lately.  Trying to make this point:  Your job is to get people to see Jesus as savior, not as judge.  Specifically, the Bible tells us…

[jf64]

Notes from Bible study with Reverend Joanne Coleman on 2017-09-04. These aren't my notes. I missed almost all of this particular bit, which is part of why I took this photo and neglected to take other photos, so I don't fully understand what everything here refers to.

My take on what this weekend course was about is that Jesus was a real live human rabbi whose teachings went against what most rabbis were teaching at the time. He inspired his followers enough that they changed the world after his death. When he was alive, he spoke Aramaic, with something of a rural accent. He often spoke poetically, used metaphor, cracked jokes. Even at the time, he belonged to a minority culture and spoke a minority language, and his words have suffered in translation, despite everyone's best efforts and intentions.

WOMEN JESUS LOVED

AT THE EDGE OF WHAT IS ALLOWED

ANACHRONISM

USE MODERN WORD

IN INCORRECT CONTEXT

IN DIFFERENT TIME

MARY MAGDALENE (MIRIAM)

7 DEMONS (HABITS WITH PAYOFF)

ENOUGH/COMPLETE

HER LANDS ARE OCCUPIED BY ROMAN GOV'T

WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY

WOMAN AT THE WELL

WOMAN WHO IS BLEEDING

HIS MOTHER - MIRIAM

"WOMAN BEHOLD YOUR SON"

TO PROTECT AFTER HIS DEATH

JOSEPH IS DEAD

JESUS ONLY MALE CHILD

HIS RELATIONSHIP W/ WOMEN COULD HAVE GOTTEN HIM CRUCIFIED

LAZARUS' 2 SISTERS

[kabane52]

Maternal Bride

What does it mean to say that Our Lady is the New Eve? Does it simply mean that the narratives of the Annunciation resonate with the story of the Fall? That is certainly part of it, but if that is all there is, then one might equally insist that the Woman caught in Adultery is the New Eve, because John 8 describes this “Woman” in the terms of Eve- the same is true of Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Christ in John 20. To say Mary is the New Eve in a particular, special sense is to say that a promise was made to Eve that is fulfilled in Mary. To understand this, one ought to understand what “Eve” actually means. Sometimes, Christians assume that “mother of all living” simply means that Eve is the mother of all human beings. This is not true. Eve was not actually named Eve until after the Fall. Take a look:

(Genesis 3:13-20)  Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Why is the Woman named Eve at this point? Because it is here that God gave the promise of the Seed who would crush the head of the death-dealing Serpent. Eve is named “mother of all living” because she is the mother of the son who would bring life back into the world. Throughout the Scriptures, then, two of the principal themes in which characters fit are the Woman and the Seed. Deborah, for example, is the Woman. Barak is the Seed. Hannah is the Woman. Samuel is the Seed. And so on.

That promise that was made to our Mother Eve is fulfilled in Our Lady. She personally bears the Seed who brings life back into the world. As Woman is taken from the side of Man, so she reflects the activities of the Man. The curse of Eve is her bond to fallen Adam. Humanity as bride has a husband who has fallen- this is why in Isaiah, Daughter Zion weeps because her husband can bring forth no seed. The Servant solves this problem because He takes the City as Bride and brings forth offspring so that He shall "see His seed" (Isaiah 53:10). This is the symbolic meaning of Levirate marriage. A woman's husband dies, so the brother of the husband marries her and brings forth seed on behalf of his dead brother. The Lord Jesus is the brother of dead Adam and marries humanity so as to bring forth life from it. Humanity, the bride of Christ, mirrors the life of the true Adam. So also does the Woman in the Scriptures. Genesis 3 says that the Seed shall crush the head of the Serpent, and in Judges 5, we are told that Jael, who crushed the head of the Canaanite Sisera (Canaan is described in Genesis 9 with language used for the Serpent) is the "most blessed of all women." This is what Our Lady is called in the Gospel of St. Luke.

The Church, as the bride of the Last Adam, is the New Eve. Our Lady, as the mother of the Seed, is the New Eve. Hence, Our Lady embodies what it means to be the Church- the language used in Revelation 12 for Our Lady is applied to the city of God in Revelation 21. In the narrative of Revelation 12 itself, the events in the life of the Holy Virgin and her Divine Son are then mirrored in the life of the corporate bride. But how does the reality of Eve as Mother of the Seed and the reality of Eve as bride of Adam fit together? Does Mary reflect what it means to be the bride of Christ? Absolutely. In order to understand this, one must turn to a strange narrative in Exodus 4:

(Exodus 4:22-26)  Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'" At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched his feet with it and said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!" So he let him alone. It was then that she said, "A bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.

One must understand that this event is related to the meaning of "firstborn son", the meaning present in the immediate context. The "him" who is not circumcised is Moses' firstborn son, not Moses himself. As in the wilderness when Israel did not circumcise (see Joshua 5) and as the period in Genesis 16 between covenant and circumcision, Moses did not circumsise his sons while he was in exile. The meaning of "firstborn son" is illumined by what occurs in Passover. At Passover, the Angel of Yahweh comes to strike Egypt with death, but He protects those households with blood marked on the doorpost. Here, circumcision is a type of that event. The Lord comes to strike Moses' son with death, but He passes by when blood is brought forth and displayed on his feet. What, then, is meant by "bridegroom of blood"? To grasp this, one must grasp the symbolism of Deuteronomy 25. Here, if a Woman is accused of lying about her virginity before her wedding, the evidence of her virginity must be publicly displayed or else she is put to death. That evidence is the bloody sheets which result from the loss of virginity at the consummation of one's marriage. If that evidence is presented, the Woman is redeemed. But there's a problem. Israel as the bride of God had lost its virginity by the worship of Egyptian idols, as we are informed in Joshua 24. How then can Israel be saved? The answer is that another must provide her with evidence of virginity. That is the Lord, who "covers over" the doors with blood (as is argued by Meredith Kline) thereby redeeming the household. Likewise in the story of Rahab the harlot, the scarlet thread over the window corresponds to the bloody doors of Passover- through faith, the virginity of the harlot is restored. God is the one who provides the blood which redeems, foreshadowing the coming of Jesus Christ, whose blood redeems fallen humanity.

I say all of this to explicate what Zipporah means by "bridegroom of blood." She speaks not of Moses, but the son who was circumcised- her son has redeemed his mother by providing the bloody token of virginity through circumcision. St. Paul speaks of the cross, then, as the "circumcision of Christ" in his letter to the Colossians. This is how the identity of Mary as Mother of the Seed and the identity of Mary as symbol of the Bride of the Last Adam nests together. Indeed, one can turn to Isaiah 62 to see how this symbolism plays out in the prophetic promises of the new covenant:

(Isaiah 62:3-5)  You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

This richly points to the incarnation of the Lord God into the flesh of Eve's offspring. "Your sons shall marry you" and the Lord rejoices as the "bridegroom rejoices over the bride." Jesus Christ is the seed who redeems his mother, the fallen descendants of Eve, and marries her. The Holy Virgin in her persons sums up this rich truth.

[tigris-euphrates]

Feminism in the New Testament

The first Christians were women–Mary, our Holy Mother, and her cousin, Elizabeth. The first to praise Jesus was Elizabeth when she said “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Luke 1:43).  She is the first to recognize that Jesus is the Son of God

Jesus performed His first miracle at the request of His mother, showing His respect for women (”The Wedding at Cana, book of John)

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria—even Christ’s disciples were surprised to see Him speaking to a woman so earnestly.  He wanted to educate her, and He spoke to her just as He would speak to a man.  Throughout the New Testament, Jesus spends a lot of time with His female followers, making sure that they are just as educated as His male followers (Book of John, 4.21)

The Beatitudes (Mathew Chapter 5)–These teachings are what should be at the heart of Christianity.  Here, Jesus gives loving attention to the marginalized and powerless in society, and who is more powerless than women? Jesus takes the side of the oppressed and offers them blessings

“….I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5.28)  To me, this verse is particularly feminist because instead of blaming women for the problem of sexual harassment, or asking them to cover up so that they don’t tempt men, Jesus is putting the sin on men ONLY–to me, He is very clearly saying here that lust in these situations is not the women’s fault for not covering up, but it’s the mans fault for looking at her in a lustful way 

“…a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one flesh” (Mark 10.7)  Here, Jesus describes a marriage in which man and wife are joined together as equals.  One is not dominant over the other, but rather they become One. 

In Luke 8.1, many women were described as being followers of Jesus, and it even says that the women “provided for them out of their resources”. meaning that the women funded Christ’s ministry, making them an integral part of the beginning of Christianity

Luke 10.38–Martha gets mad at her sister Mary because while Martha was cooking and preparing, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet to learn from Him.  Jesus says “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her”.  Here, Jesus is advocating for the education of women, saying that women should focus on being educated rather than being good home-makers.  He recognizes that education will lead to fulfillment, which is why He describes Mary as choosing what “will not be taken away from her”

Mary Magdalene: Her presence is felt everywhere throughout the New Testament, because she followed Jesus even more than the other apostles did.  She stayed with Jesus when most of the other apostles had abandoned Him at the hour of His death.  Jesus appeared to her first when He resurrected from the dead, and asked her to go tell the others, even though a woman’s testimony at the time was only ½ of a man’s.  Jesus knew that, but asked her to go and proclaim it anyway, which shows His immense respect for women.  Mary Magdalene was even given the title of “Apostle of the Apostles” because of this, because she was the first to preach the good news

Also, to me, the fact that Jesus never married is very comforting for me.  Marriage can be such a patriarchal institution, especially in Christ’s time when very young girls would marry older men.  The fact that Christ never took part in this institution shows me that He never intended to have power over women in any way possible

Feel free to add to this list!