The Twelve were with [Jesus], and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out… These women served him out of their own means. Luke 8:1-3
Last time we saw that purity of heart has to do with walking in the enabling power God gives us. God supplies whatever He requires of us. Magdalene found that to be true. When we see her washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, Jesus saw them as tears of repentance (7:47).
You see, we repent when we see things from the Father’s perspective. That’s true repentance in a nutshell. Repentance enables us to embrace the truth and that truth changes us. Anything else isn’t repentance.
The truth is, Jesus is real, sinning harms us and those around us, and God has provided us with an escape (1 Cor 10:13). Magdalene saw Jesus from the Father’s perspective. That’s all it took. She behaved in accordance with that truth.
Simon, the Pharisee who was giving the dinner, didn’t see Jesus from God’s perspective and that caused him to behave in certain ways, too…and Magdalene’s behavior at the dinner called him to the carpet on it. Magdalene’s truth-based actions exposed Simon the Pharisee’s failures.
I read a story recently that illustrates this: On a packed flight, travelers found themselves very annoyed with a fellow passenger. He would not even try to control his two young children who were crying, screaming and running up and down the aisle. Finally, a flight attendant asked him to do something with his children. He turned to her with tears in his eyes, apologized and and told her they were just returning from the funeral of the children’s mother, his wife.
Those sitting nearby heard his answer and the news passed swiftly among the passengers. Suddenly the kids were surrounded by people that wanted to bounce them on their knees and play with them. In this story, the passengers demonstrated repentance; they found out the truth, that truth changed their minds about the children and the father, and their behavior and attitude showed it. The truth changed everything.
So, back to Magdalene. The exchange between Magdalene and the 11 disciples after Jesus’ resurrection is a near-repeat of Magdalene at Simon’s dinner: Magdalene saw Jesus from the Father’s perspective (alive). That’s all it took. The disciples didn’t see Jesus from God’s perspective and that caused him to behave in disbelief both of Jesus’ promise to rise again and Magdalene’s report that she had seen him…and Magdalene’s behavior called them on the carpet. It exposed their failures.
Her actions after she had seen the resurrected Jesus demonstrate for us something that we can even see today. For the people who think it’s their job it is to lead (like the disciples), Magdalene might just be their worst nightmare. She’s on a different page than everyone else—and what’s more, she is impossible to write off as an immature or a phony or a lesser Christian—her life is full of Spirit-Fruit. She was undoubtedly connected to Jesus, but…
You know, even in our day leaders learn to deal with the holy phonies in the congregation, the snoozers in the pew, the self righteous with their hobby-horse causes… But what do you do with someone who is NOT moving with the program, but deep down inside, you’d rather be on their page than your own? They’ve got a connection to Jesus that you don’t. They are the ones who have been touched by Him in an extra special way.
Some leaders prefer to help people like Magdalene find the nearest exit. You know, ‘better that one person should be kicked out of the assembly than that the whole program gets disrupted’. (Kind of like Jn 11:50.) Others try to honor people like that, but they’re hard to honor.
Maybe today you’re are not feeling up to that kind of radical passion for Jesus? Has Jesus revealed Himself to you like He did to people in the Bible? Would you dare to want Him to?