Musical Prelude and Service.

John 11:1-45
I have looked at focusing today on Jesus’ offer of new life, but there is also some new scholarship on this passage that I also believe you should know about. But how do I transmit this information to you?
I need to be careful sharing this information while streaming it to the internet.
So, this information is very recent, and it has been made clear that those of us standing in pulpits on a Sunday morning need to be cautious using it.
Student of biblical scholarship, Elizabeth Schrader noticed that there were some alterations made to Papyrus 66 which holds the oldest known version of chapter 11 of John. It is dated to the second century. In further research, she found the same thing happening in another ancient text Codex Alexandrinus and a third Codex Colbertinus which was not corrected but refers to a single sister.
On this papyrus, Mary’s name is frequently crossed out and replaced with the name Martha. In fact, when these alterations are considered, there is no reference to Martha in the Gospel of John. Now, Schrader is very careful to insist the idea that Martha was merely a later editorial addition to John’s gospel is currently a theory that she and others are exploring. We do not possess any original transcripts of the Gospel of John or any of the other three gospels. How this gospel looked in its original form remains a mystery. But the oldest version we can point to has Mary’s name removed in certain places and replaced with Martha. In other places, reference to sisters is added. By making these changes, Martha is the one we hear who confesses to Jesus being the Messiah.
The important events are divided between two sisters instead of being the actions and words of one very authoritative woman.
Schrader backs up this notion by pointing out second century patriarch Tertullian writes that Mary is the one who makes this Christological confession.
Now, again, we need to be very careful. Especially for all of you who are fans of Martha – the one who serves Jesus at the dinner chronicled in Luke. This does not touch on the Martha we encounter there. In fact, there is a strong suspicion that perhaps whoever added Martha to John’s story was looking to synchronize the two gospels. If Mary and Martha are sisters in Luke, it would make sense that they are sisters in John.
But from a literary standpoint, having Mary weeping at a tomb in the story of Lazarus and acknowledging Jesus as the resurrection and the life at that point, beautifully foreshadows what comes in John chapter 20. When Mary Magdalene comes to Jesus’s tomb alone and weeps and encounters the risen Christ and is commissioned to go and tell the other followers.
Now, once again, we are not told this is the same Mary. Mary of Bethany is not definitively Mary Magdalene. But you can certainly draw a line from the Mary who kneels at Jesus’ feet – anoints him and then, confesses he is the Messiah – to the Mary at the tomb of Jesus.
But as I said, this is a theory that is just now beginning to gain some traction. It is beginning to be added as footnotes to bibles and commentaries.
I would encourage you to look up the work of Elizabeth Schrader if you are curious to learn more about this growing discussion.
We have frequently been taught that Mary Magdalene is often known as Mary of Magdala. But there is another possibility. One that has been discussed going back at least as far as St. Jerome, who translated scripture into Latin, who saw Magdalene as a title. In Aramaic, Magdalene is the Tower.
So, Mary becomes Mary the Tower. The one who in the Gospel of John confesses that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. The Messiah, the Son of God who is coming into the world. In this light she stands next to Peter the Rock who confesses that Jesus is the Messiah in the synoptic Gospels.
I cannot tell you what this all means in terms of how we approach Jesus. How we experience Jesus. I cannot tell you with any certainty why these textual changes may have been made two millennia ago. I do not know if this information makes any difference to you. It perhaps speaks to an incredible erasure of the witness of a remarkable woman in our history.
Except, Mary remained with us. Perhaps there was an attempt made to diminish her significance. But her importance never died, and now is experiencing its own resurrection.
Other readings that I did for this scripture notes that Jewish belief at that time said that it took three days for the soul to leave the body. So, by the time Jesus arrives in Bethany there is nothing left but the empty shell that was the body of Lazarus. Another reading for today comes from Ezekiel that describes the vision of a valley filled with dry bones. In both instances, God brings life to what is considered a lifeless and hopeless body. Where our human experience and wisdom tells us there is only death, God gives us life.
For close to 2000 years, we have been told a story that quite possibly was altered to minimize the significance of a woman. I don’t think that should be a complete shock, but it is still difficult to hear. But where there can seem little hope of another chance, seeds can spring into life.
I am constantly reminded that this is one of the most important facets of our faith. God makes all things new. God offers life where we can only see death. All things and everyone can change, and we need to be open to that idea. We need to be ready to recognize the new life taking bloom around us. We need to be careful not to give in completely to the grief that can overwhelm us, to descend into absolute despair.
Let me be clear here. Grief is natural and grief should never be denied. In today’s story, Jesus weeps. He weeps at the realization of Lazarus’s death. He weeps upon witnessing the grief of his friends and the family of Lazarus. He does not scold Mary and the other people of Bethany for their tears. He weeps alongside them and then brings new life from that place of death.
Heartbreak and loss are a part of our human experience. We cannot and should not attempt to deny these parts of our life. But so too is hope. So too is the drive to keep moving forward into a world of beauty and joy.
The Gospel message is that Jesus defeats death. Our God lives, and through our God we too live. Life continues to move. Life is to be experienced and enjoyed. And that is how we should approach scripture, the gospel message, our faith – with joy – savouring the mystery of God’s presence in our lives and staying awake to the hope and the new life that is constantly offered to us. So that we may say thanks be to God.
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789