Mary Magdalene: The Burning Bush

This past Sunday, the scripture lesson focused on Exodus 3, Moses and the Burning Bush.

As the story goes, Moses encounters a burning bush tending a flock of sheep in the wilderness. Through the encounter, Moses hears God’s voice. God wants Moses to return to Egypt and free the Hebrew people who are slaves of the Egyptians.

In my book The Ecumenical Affair, the Woman is that Burning Bush. She is on fire for women’s liberation. The year is 1983. She is sure Jesus and Mary Magdalene had an illicit affair and that sexism has suppressed this story to support the religious view that sex outside marriage is a carnal sin that Jesus would never have committed. The traditional view presents the Woman Caught in Adultery as someone Jesus refuses to condemn even though he knows she has committed adultery.

In 2011, I successfully defended my Master of Arts Liberal Studies thesis project Mary Magdalene: Her image and relationship to Jesus. I claimed Mary Magdalene was the Woman Caught in Adultery and her co-respondent was Jesus. My thesis held.

My thesis maintains that Jesus the Teacher, the Rabboni of John 20, was married to Martha, the beloved. As scripture says, Jesus the Teacher loved both Martha, the housewife and her sister Mary (John 11:5). Did Mary Magdalene ever marry is another question?

Since writing my thesis, I have brought Jesus the Rock into view. Jesus the Rabboni is clearly married.  And this is the Jesus the Woman encounters in the garden of the tombs.  Here in the garden, the Woman is weeping (John 20:15). She is not so sure the prophecy has come true.  She’s looking for her Lord.  Jesus the Rabboni is not the Gardener and he has not taken her Lord’s body…so where should the Woman look for her Lord’s body.

The Weeping Woman is looking for her Lord who is her Rock (Psalm 18:2) and her Gardener, her Husbandman, the Vinedresser (John 10: 30; John 15:1; and Psalm 128: 1-3).

Responding to her tears, Jesus the Rabboni calls her Mary. This is interesting and important because in the book of Ruth, the Widow Naomi returning to her people, says, “do not call me Naomi, call me Mara for the Almighty has treated me exceedingly bitter.”

Is this bitterly treated Woman, the Vine?

In the Exodus story, the voice of God calling from a burning bush in the wilderness sends Moses back to Egypt to liberate the Hebrew slaves from an idolatrous nation that is keeping them in physical and spiritual bondage.

When Moses asks the voice who shall he say is sending him? The Voice says, tell the Israelites that “I am has sent me to you.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus the Rabboni is standing on Holy ground, in a garden adjacent to a burial ground. The Rabboni standing “face to face” to the Woman says, “do not cling to me” as if she were indeed a clinging vine. Then the Rabboni tells her to go to his brethren and say, “I am ascending to my Father and your father, to my God and your God.”

What is the Rabboni saying? Is he going to the Father? Or is she going to the Father. I believe she is going to the Father and she is to tell the Father and the disciples…that she is the I am. She is the I am that is created in God’s image as an eternal person. She is the I am of the flame in the burning bush and the flaming torch that is ascending to take her divine place as the Father and the Son’s equal.

Who is the incarnate Father to whom she ascends? Is he the Rock the builders rejected? I think so. Here’s why.

Who is called the Rock in the Gospels? Think about it. It is Simon! Does Simon take anyone’s hand after the Woman’s encounter with the Risen Rabboni at the tomb?  Yes.

In Acts 9: 36-42, Simon takes Dorcas’ hand and lifts her up. Don’t let Simon aka Satan trip you up. Simon Peter has a mother in law who has a fever. This does not mean he is married. It may mean he was married and is either divorced or a widow. Or it may mean, the Woman he is to marry with a new covenant is the Mother of the Law and the Prophets that is now aflame.

As the Rock and Groom of the New Testament, Simon Peter remains unmarried until he lifts up Dorcas as her Lord coming in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Rock that she is waiting and looking for and the one the builders rejected (Acts 4:11). He is also the Simon that carries the Cross of Jesus…Mark 15:21 the Father of Alexander and the Red Haired One (Rufus), the flame, the torch, the helene.

Don’t let the names and the commas in the different stories confuse you.  Take out the commas and read the scriptures again. Commas and verses are a modern editorial thing.  The name Dorcas is the Greek translation for the Aramaic name Tabitha which means Gazelle. Dorcas is the Gazelle…that the STAG of Song of Songs revives (SOS 8:14).

In my book “The Ecumenical Affair” the Woman has a conversation with an Orthodox Bishop. They talk about the secrets, the sacraments of the Gospel. The Bishop maintains that keeping these secrets are important because without the sacraments (secrets), new Christians would not be curious enough to participate in seeking their own salvation. The Woman counters, saying she thinks the secrets are keeping the Truth hidden and making it difficult for modern people to believe.

So, dear readers, I appreciate the fact that you have studied the Scriptures and are faithful followers of Jesus. There are books and blogs out there my own included that help Christians see Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus the Rabboni more clearly so that Martha and Mary come into view as their beloved Ladies full of Divine Love and Grace.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Groom, the husbandman, the Gardener of the New Testament. Jesus the Rabboni is not that man. He is the faithful husband of Martha. He did not divorce Martha, his beloved Lady. He loved both Martha and Mary. Mary is the Bride of the New Testament. She wanted something more. She wanted a new way of being a wife…a way that did not make the Woman subservient to the Law and her husband.  She turned away from sin and chose the better part. She was able to dry her tears because this better part was not taken away from her.

I look forward to hearing more from you. The World needs mature Christians to rally other Christians together so that Christianity can be a mega helene…a great torch, a Light for all nations and a great body of peacemakers. Peacemakers are gap crossers. They find ways to bridge heaven and earth and make friends with their enemies.