Gospel of Mary 10
Last week we read about Mary’s vision of Jesus, in which she saw her soul meeting each of the powers that wanted to bind her to the material world and overcoming them. She travels upward through many tests to the spiritual realm, overcoming darkness, desire, ignorance, and wrath. Passing these tests gains her eternal life after death, but it also sets her free from negative qualities to live this life in freedom. She knows herself by her true nature – Child of the True Human – because she lives by the positive values Jesus taught her.
You might remember that Mary told the story of her vision to the disciples because Peter asked her to share with them things Jesus had taught her that he hadn’t shared with the others. After hearing the story, Andrew says, “I don’t believe a word of it! This is too strange to be a true teaching of Jesus!” And Peter, who asked Mary to share in the first place, becomes incensed that Jesus would have told a woman things he didn’t tell the others. He disparages Mary and her vision. It’s interesting that one of the Powers Mary has overcome is wrath, and Peter vents his wrath on her. We might call him “exhibit A” of how to get it wrong, being controlled by anger rather than by good.
When Mary weeps at their criticism, Levi comes to her defense. He calls Peter out for his habitual anger and his jealousy, reminding the disciples that they have been called to share good news. The gospel ends by them dispersing to do just that.
It’s interesting that the gospel doesn’t say what good news they will share. There isn’t a moment when they come to consensus about their message. We’re left hanging, not knowing if they will share Mary’s vision or another. I suspect that’s an accurate reality of the earliest Jesus followers. They held a variety of opinions about the core message Jesus gave them. They all agreed that knowing Jesus and his teachings was life-changing, but they didn’t agree about the details.
Those of us who grew up in the church often think of Christianity as a settled belief system. We’re taught in Sunday School or confirmation what we should believe about Jesus. We may have recited creeds as summaries of what our spiritual ancestors thought was most important. There’s not a lot of variety there. When I was a pastor in Seattle, our church hosted a Bible study by a beloved teacher. She had a Master’s in Theology and was knowledgeable about the Bible. She would spend hours every week reading all the Bible commentaries so she could share what scholars thought about each verse. At the end of each lesson, she would say, “Now which of these is the correct thought.” It would drive me crazy! There was no room for diversity of opinion or novel insights into each passage. There was one right answer. That’s just not how faith works. Since the beginning of Christianity, people have held a variety of opinions and stressed many different priorities about what Jesus’ teachings were and what they mean. When we encounter differences of opinion today, a variety of emphasis among various churches, we’re just continuing the way it’s always been. We don’t have to agree on the details to be following Jesus. When you have a question about theology, trust your gut. Get in touch with “the Child of true Humanity” within you and rely on the wisdom God gives you. Nothing says we have to be in perfect agreement to be Jesus’ people in today’s world.
One thing Mary tells us through her vision is that the qualities that help us connect with our spiritual nature, also help us live joyfully in this world. Over time, faith has come to be about life after death. Believe the right things about Jesus and you’ll go to heaven after you die. That’s true. But following Jesus didn’t start out to be about the next life. The good news disciples shared was about a better way to live in the here and now. Mary’s vision tells us to overcome darkness, desire, ignorance and wrath and our lives will be more joyful, more in tune with our spiritual nature. Heaven on earth. Peter is a great example of someone who hasn’t yet overcome wrath, and is paying the price for it. Rather than spiritual harmony, the result is anger, discord and disrespect. We can wish he’d said, “That’s not what I remember Jesus saying, but I want to know more.” Instead he starts and argument which leads nowhere.
Living in early Christian communities wasn’t any easier than living in community is today. There are plenty of ways to stir up irritation. Jesus helps us learn how to get along. By practicing his values, we can support and encourage each other. We can learn from each other. We can work together and we can divide the work according to our unique abilities. The good news is that there are ways to bring the goodness of God into daily living and find joy in it.
How do we know what’s right and what’s wrong? How do we deal with diversity and get along? Even as I’m writing about respecting the variety of ways to follow Jesus, I’m aware that there are people calling themselves Christian today and advocating policies I find ungodly. I read a poster this week suggesting one can’t love God and be in favor of reproductive rights. Is that true? Some suggest that God wants to bless America by making us white again. Is that true? How are we going to decide the best way for each of us to follow Jesus?
My good friend Kathy made an excellent suggestion when we were talking about this during the week. She suggests that the measure of goodness and fidelity to Jesus be this: love one another. In any situation, what would love do? Love treats people with respect and dignity. Love is kind, forgiving and generous. We can look for those qualities as we’re working to live in community today. And the same qualities apply to more than Christianity. Contrary to what some say, we have never lived in an exclusively Christian nation. While the world has been influenced by Christianity, it’s not the only way to live. But the measure of love applies across all the world’s religions and to those who practice no religion. Virtually every faith or world view has a version of the Golden Rule: Love your neighbor as yourself. When we look for unity and consensus about the best way to live, the golden rule serves us well. We can recognize differences of opinion and practice, but when we choose how we will live and what policies we will support, we start and end with love.