A little too ironic

Ellen Blue

Ironic, isn’t it? Funny, in a dry kind of way. Amusing, yes, but full of subversive undertones. No, I’m not trying to describe a wine to have with Easter dinner. I’m talking about the pattern in Jesus’s sense of humor. The stories, the scenes in the narratives that we have of his life and teachings, are absolutely full of in-your-face surprises that would leave us laughing, if only we didn’t suspect that we’re the ones who don’t quite get the joke.

Take, for instance, this: On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene becomes the first apostle of the resurrection. It is Mary to whom Jesus appears, and Mary is the one he sends with instructions to go tell the others, including Peter, that he is risen. It’s funny, you see, because women were not allowed to be a witness to anything – their testimony was utterly worthless in a religious court of the day.

If you read Mark, the first gospel written, you’ll see that Mary doesn’t appear until almost the very end – and we can speculate that if Jesus hadn’t chosen her to be that crucial first witness, Mark might have left her out completely. In fact, Mark insists that the women didn’t tell anyone, because they were afraid. But how, then, did Mark find out about it? Hmm.

Speaking about narrative, Tex Sample has written, “The story doesn’t have a point. The story is the point.” This story, where it is one woman (in John) or three women (in Mark) who discover and tell, is part of the pattern of Jesus’s turning things upside down. The point is the choosing of the one who is “not qualified” to be the very one who must go and tell.

Jesus has already established an insider-outsider theme with regard to who is capable of religious leadership. In chapter 11, John depicts Martha engaging in the longest recorded theological discussion that Jesus has with anyone, and in it, Martha recognizes and names Jesus as the Messiah – something that should have been the task of the High Priest. In the next chapter, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus – again filling the High Priest’s role.

In Luke’s gospel, we see Mary of Bethany sitting at Jesus’s feet. Jesus is forbidden by religious custom to teach a woman about spiritual things – yet when challenged, he keeps right on violating tradition and insists that she be allowed to stay and learn. Subversive? Oh, my, yes.

From the first word to the last, the four gospels show us a man who sees the world with different eyes and acts in total faithfulness to who and what is Holy, even when that faithfulness will lead him to his death. They show us a man who makes the point over and over and over again that it is not the expected person that he will choose to deliver the message – it is precisely the one to whom others are least likely to listen. It is Mary who will be that one on Easter morning. Mary who will run, breathing hard, to gasp out, “I have seen the Lord.” Mary, who will be included in the story because Jesus has seen to it that she will.

The first apostle is Mary? Why, she can’t be a witness! No one will listen to her! But perhaps, if you and I are wise enough, we will listen – and I’m pretty sure we’re also allowed to laugh.