Saint Mary Magdalene: Prophetess of Eucharistic Love by Sean Davidson

Author:Sean Davidson [Davidson, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 2019b Uncategorized
ISBN: 9781681497396
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2017-02-24T05:00:00+00:00

4

A Love Stronger than Death

After his visit to the house of Martha and Mary in Bethany, the Lord Jesus crossed over the Mount of Olives and continued his pilgrimage to the temple of Jerusalem for the feast of the Dedication. In these cold winter months, in the final year of his short life, he taught at length in the temple. In this place his teaching was different from that in Galilee, where his language was simpler and he seemed to adapt his words to the rural mentality of his audience, as in his use of parables (for example, see the parable of the sower in Lk 8:5). But in Jerusalem, amidst the doctors of the Law and the Scripture experts, he opened up deeper levels of the mysteries he had come to reveal to the world. For those who had the patience and the openness to ponder his message, rather than just pick out apparently controversial statements, he was explaining how the rituals of worship, in place since the days of Moses and David, were all preparing the way for what he had come to bestow upon them (Jn 7:37–38). The temple rituals had almost run their course, for the glorious reality had finally arrived (Jn 8:12). Above all, in Jerusalem he unveiled the mystery of his own divine identity (Jn 10:30).

After much debate in the holy city, it was his hints at his divine nature that were seized upon and definitively rejected, not by the ordinary sons and daughters of Abraham, but by the corrupt and powerful temple authorities. They knew that, if accepted, the implications of his message would completely transform the status quo and revolutionise the faith and worship of all of Israel. In spite of his signs and wonders, this was a prospect too disturbing to consider, especially for those who profited the most from the business of religion. Their attachment to long-held positions of power and the benefits that went with them was stronger than their openness to the will of God. Caiaphas, the high priest, did not care how wise Jesus was, he was a threat to his position and the order of things in Jerusalem and so was not to be tolerated. The chief priests and the Pharisees were freely choosing to blind themselves to the light of his truth (Jn 9:40–41), for in blindness there was the comfort of familiarity. If they were to accept Jesus’ words as true, their own future status in Israel would be uncertain. Those who are set in their ways and attached to their privileges refuse to listen to any message that might bring an unsettling change.

The attitude towards Jesus among the Jerusalem elite became even colder than the winter weather. Not only were the authorities wary of the institutional upheaval his message would bring, but they were also bitterly envious of the reaction to his words among the simple faithful (Mk 15:10). His way of speaking was so sublime and his demeanour so majestic, that their own teaching and pomp seemed empty and vain.

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