Recently I attended a service in which the sermon mentioned Mary Magdalene and stated that she was not a prostitute. I had to think about that because I have also heard the opposite teaching. When I searched the Internet, I found that it is a long-standing controversy. For me then, I need to figure out which one is the "fake news."
In fact, however, I can't, because I did not live in the time of Mary Magdalene and can't "know" this information. However, if I "boil it down," I can come to a conclusion that I can live with in harmony.
What I know from the commonality of the Gospels is that Jesus lived among sinners and made all feel welcome. He asked that sinners leave that path of sin. Whether or not Mary Magdalene was a prostitute doesn't matter to me. He would have asked that she and everyone else he encountered to leave their sinful ways, whatever that constituted; for her, it might or might not have been prostitution, but it would have been something, because we all sin. The harmony then, for me, is that what matters is that all of us are welcome. This is the space where I can live and thrive and not pass judgment on who believes Mary Magdalene was a prostitute and who believes she was not.
Boiling things down in this way allows me to live in harmony. It's helpful to do this because no two of us have the same pathway. No two of us are exposed to the same information. For example, I recently became aware of the teachings of Buddha. Specifically, I watched a PBS special called The Buddha The Story of Siddhartha by David Grubin. With this information, I will need to continue to "boil things down" because my path now includes yet another perspective to incorporate.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you! Your comment could have a major impact on someone else. Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
Reflective questions:
1. What have you bumped up against lately that provides two different viewpoints?
2. What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)
* I use the term God as a universal term. You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today. It is not for me to decide.
Note: These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net)
I love this post, yes, this has been a long standing controversy, but I'm of the same opinion, what does it matter to me whether or not she was a prostitute, none of us are perfect, and for me, this label is probably more symbolic of the fact that we all sin, and we are all worthy of redemption, as opposed to necessarily believing or caring if it is historical fact. Thanks for the reflection :)
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