Working Notes
by
Sylvia Dooling
*Note #1*
Titles of studies are designed to focus our attention on the teacher’s ‘key
idea” for any given lesson. The title for Lesson Eight, in particular,
caught my attention. ‘Testimony of an Apostle” immediately sets up a
question in my mind. What is your definition of the word ‘apostle?” Lesson
Seven, Page 56, in the sidebar defines how Dale Lindsay Morgan is going to
assign the title of ‘apostle” to Mary Magdalene. She writes that an apostle
is
_’One who is sent out to proclaim the gospel. Not all apostles were
disciples; some, like Paul, lived after the time of Christ. Not all
apostles were men; in fact, the very first apostle, as we shall see in
Lesson 8, was a woman.”_
This definition as ‘one who is sent out to proclaim the gospel” is one
alternative meaning. However, there is more than one meaning to the word. I
found this note in _The New Geneva Study Bible_ to be most helpful.
‘Paul describes himself as ‘apostle,” but not his associate (also 1
Cor. 1:1; Col. 1:1. An apostle was an eyewitness of the Resurrection
(Acts 1:22; 1 Cor. 15:8) who had been personally appointed by Christ
(Matt. 10:1-7; Acts 1:24-26; Gal. 1:1) to govern the early church (1
Thess. 4:8; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14), and to teach or write with authority ( 1
Cor. 14:37; 1 Thess. 2:13; 4:15; 2 Pet. 3:15, 16). The term is used as a
title of the twelve disciples and Paul. It is also used in a broader
sense (Rom. 16:7), while in general or nontechnical use it means a
‘messenger” or representative” (8:23; Phil. 2:25).
The latter meaning would be the proper definition for Mary Magdalene.
*Note #2*
By way of correting a commonly held misunderstanding, the author makes the
point in the first section of her lesson that Mary was never identified as a
prostitute in the gospel accounts. She is the woman out of whom Jesus cast
seven demons. That is true. But, in my opinion, that is enough time to spend
on that particular issue. If I were teaching the lesson, I would skip over
the section on _’What Tradition Added”_ on P. 65-66. It is more important
to study what the scriptures teach than to dwell on misunderstandings from
the past.
* Note #3*
Dale Lindsay Morgan makes the point on page 64 that ‘although Jesus
frequently tells those whom he has healed to go back to their village or to
get validation from a priest for their cure, here he seems to have allowed
or, more possibly, invited the women to travel with him.” I would suggest
that it would be helpful to turn to the scripture to see what Jesus had to
say about demon possession. One can draw some conclusions from his teaching
that would apply to Mary Magdalene and to her healing of demon possession.
One of the important things that Jesus said was this:
_’When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through
waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it
says, I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it
finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other
spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the
last state of that person is worse than the first.”_ Luke 11:24-26
Jesus did not leave Mary Magdalene’s life ‘swept and put in order” with
nothing to replace what had sought to destroy her. She was given the
privilege of traveling with him, along with the other disciples and several
other women who ‘provided for them out of their resources.” Luke 8:1-3
Then came the crucifixion and three long days without her Lord. No longer
did she have the physical presence of Jesus. Sunday morning, we see her in
the garden, desolate grieving for her ‘Teacher,” begging the man who she
supposed was the gardener to at least let her have Jesus’ dead body.
However, Jesus gave her much more than she was asking for. He gave her
himself the first witness to his resurrection and the command to ‘go to my
brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God.”’ Mary’s life would not simply be ‘swept and put in
order.” It would be filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus would
not leave her alone for all eternity!
*Note #4*
It’s most important to emphasize that Jesus broke down the dividing wall
that had been erected between males and females. Throughout his ministry he
treated women with respect. He taught them and treated them as equals to
men. He chose the women to be the first eyewitnesses to his resurrection and
then to go and tell the others. Paul, the Apostle, taught the churches in
Galatia that ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or
free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ
Jesus.” Gal. 3:28 Sadly, the universal church is still challenged to
dismantle the walls that separate Christians from each other.
*Note #5*
I found the questions raised in the Suggestions for Leaders on page 71 to be
the most challenging in their use for the application of this study of