Jesus' Love for Mary Magdalene
John 15:13 "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. "
I am writing this in red, because the church has long used color to emphasize strong truths. So the red of a cardinal is to emphasize his willingness to die for the faith. So we have priests wear red vestments on days that memorialize the martyrs, those who died for the faith.
And all this is first and foremost based upon the act of love made by our Lord Jesus Christ, in dying for love of us, his friends. This was the kind of love that Jesus had for Mary of Magdala. People living today in a sexually distorted society cannot concieve of such a love. It was a chaste love, love that was restrained by the respect for another person which does not wish to violate their privacy. Such a love is deeper than we readily comprehend.
Even Mary's own words towards Jesus reveal the type of relationship that they shared. When she came upon him in the garden after the resurrection, we can read: "Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). from John 20:16
These are not the words of people who were lovers as we use that word today, but rather, of a teacher and disciple, of a man and woman who knew what kind of relationship was proper to their calling from God.
And truly, Jesus loved Mary Magdalene with a deeper and stronger love than any man has ever had for any woman. And Jesus has that same kind of love for all of the people on this earth. But again, it is a chaste love, restrained by respect from violating the rights of another. In fact, there is not within the love of Christ any element of the desires which are unworthy of such a chaste love. As is popularly said, "get your mind out of the gutter!" The mind of Christ is never to be found there. And we are encouraged to have such a mind: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Collosians 3:1 & 2
I am writing this in red, because the church has long used color to emphasize strong truths. So the red of a cardinal is to emphasize his willingness to die for the faith. So we have priests wear red vestments on days that memorialize the martyrs, those who died for the faith.
And all this is first and foremost based upon the act of love made by our Lord Jesus Christ, in dying for love of us, his friends. This was the kind of love that Jesus had for Mary of Magdala. People living today in a sexually distorted society cannot concieve of such a love. It was a chaste love, love that was restrained by the respect for another person which does not wish to violate their privacy. Such a love is deeper than we readily comprehend.
Even Mary's own words towards Jesus reveal the type of relationship that they shared. When she came upon him in the garden after the resurrection, we can read: "Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). from John 20:16
These are not the words of people who were lovers as we use that word today, but rather, of a teacher and disciple, of a man and woman who knew what kind of relationship was proper to their calling from God.
And truly, Jesus loved Mary Magdalene with a deeper and stronger love than any man has ever had for any woman. And Jesus has that same kind of love for all of the people on this earth. But again, it is a chaste love, restrained by respect from violating the rights of another. In fact, there is not within the love of Christ any element of the desires which are unworthy of such a chaste love. As is popularly said, "get your mind out of the gutter!" The mind of Christ is never to be found there. And we are encouraged to have such a mind: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Collosians 3:1 & 2
posted by A Pilgrim at 7:45 AM
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