Gospel imperatives
Direct commands from Jesus, given to and about women + Mary Magdalene, at the tomb that first Easter Sunday
Gentle reader,
Command is not the predominant genre represented in scripture, but when scripture speaks in the imperative, theology is rightly interested in those commands and seeks to take them with great seriousness.
We write whole books on the ten commandments, and Protestant theology often sees Jesus’s direct commands as constitutive of the sacraments. (We respond to this “dominical institution,” that is, “the Lord started it;” “go,” “make disciples,” “baptize,” in Matthew 28:19 and “do this in remembrance of me,” in Luke 22:19).
And yet.
We’ve paid remarkably little attention to a number of direct biblical commands given to women and about women.
Imperatives from Jesus
“Leave her alone” (Mark 14:1)
Mary has anointed Jesus’s feet with her jar of costly perfume. The men in the room are indignant, rebuking her “harshly,” and Jesus tells them to cut it out, to leave her be.
Now, this isn’t a universal command for all men to leave all women alone all the time. (I suppose we could explore that interpretation, but I think it would be hard to defend.)
Let us, then, note the context in which Jesus speaks. Why are the men in the room commanded to leave Mary alone? What has she just done?
She has poured herself out for the love of Jesus, given abundantly to Jesus. (Perhaps her dowry? Her very future?) She has ministered to Jesus. It seems reasonable to conclude that women who are doing similarly shouldn’t be messed with.
Christ and Mary Magdalene in the House of Simon, 1645, by Carlo Dolci, via Wikimedia commons, with a word bubble addition from me.
“Have courage, daughter” (Matthew 9:22).
The woman has been bleeding for years. She is “unclean” but dares to touch Jesus’s cloak. Jesus doesn’t command her to get back or wash herself or apologize for her transgression.
His command?
“Take heart” or “have courage.” And, perhaps, so commanded are other women who would dare to touch him, crossing religious boundaries that would have kept female bodies out.
“Do not weep” (Luke 7:13).
The woman had lost her son. Jesus does not yell at her to stop having emotions. Instead, he acts from compassion; “his heart went out to her.” He raises her son from the dead. “Do not weep,” comes with resurrection, and resurrection is the reason she can dry her tears. To all of us weeping under the reign of sin and death, Jesus brings the solace and joy of new creation. To all who weep because of gendered violence and the sinful ramifications of patriarchy, Jesus brings healing and hope.
Take a listen to Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” as though it were Midrash to the widow at Nain. I’m partial to the Fugees version.
“Go … and tell” (John 20:17).
This is my favorite of Jesus’s commands to women.
Near the tomb, Mary Magdalene has met the risen Lord. Jesus’s first command to her is easily misunderstood. His “don’t touch me” (often seen in the Latin, noli me tangere) is, I think, not a reprimand, but a lead in to his next command, that “go and tell.” The phrase might better be translated “don’t cling to me;” the Greek is Μή μου ἅπτου οὔπω γὰρ: that ἅπτου is: fasten to, adhere to, cling to. The NIV has “do not hold on to.”
I imagine Mary has already thrown herself into Jesus’s arms, he’s welcomed her in that embrace, and they’ve been hugging and laughing, when he gets to that, “time to let go of me for now…”
It’s not that Jesus shouldn’t be touched. It’s that Mary has work to do; she is commanded, not to stay there, but to go and preach the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of this, the Christian tradition has named Mary Apostola Apostolorum, “the apostle to the apostles.”
To any who would try to prevent women from following Jesus’s command to go and tell, we can say, with Jesus, “leave her alone!”
This design is available on print products, with a number of color and design variations, at my Redbubble store.
“Noli me tangere, commissioning Mary Magdalene,” a digital collage, with AI elements, by Beth Felker Jones.
We see the scar on Jesus’s hand (a quote from an icon) as he sends Mary to go and tell. Behind them, the scene is from “The Tomb” (1891) by Ernst Stuckelberg. The irises in the foreground are quotes from “Irises in the graveyard” by Maksymilian Neuman. This an image of reunion, sending, and joyful acceptance; Mary will not cling to Jesus because she accepts her commission.
Feel free to download and share this image, which is also available in hi-res, without the watermarks at my Redbubble store.
Grace & peace,
BFJ
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This is a great moment to preorder a copy of Jennifer Powell McNutt’s new book on Mary Magdalene, The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today.
