I am an avid fan of the CHOSEN series on Jesus and his apostles and the part of season 1 that broke my heart and made me cry was when Jesus calls out to Mary Magdalene and hugs her. While she was claimed to be possessed by demons and have been assaulted by Romans, she was forgiven and healed by Jesus. Not only was the scene enacted and shot so aesthetically but I know it resonated with every woman who watched the series.
Season 2 shows how Mary Magdalene follows Jesus all through His teachings and healings and strays away again from Jesus and sits all ashamed at the market when she is picked up by Mathew and Simon Peter but my heart took another leap when the scene of Jesus forgives Mary and hugs her and assures her that she is loved just as before.
I do not know much about the reality of the life of Mary Magdalene except from the bible and its 12 mentions especially that she was fascinated with the words of our Lord and even sat by His feet listening to Him. She is representative of us women followers of Christ who sin and ask for forgiveness and then sin again and repeatedly ask for forgiveness!!!
While it is a constant struggle for us women, from gossip and vanity and jealousy being a daily event, we do realise that the feet of Jesus is where we need to sit and talk our problems out, listen to His word and work on ourselves everyday to be better women and humans.
As a woman and a doctor of women,I notice women are often used to putting ourselves on a backseat in faith and issues of the heart, and end up following instructions and adhering to social norms and often forget our own values and basic faithfulness to the Lord. While the current society does emphasize on women being equal at all states of work and personal life, in this battle of sexes, we often forget to be better humans!
While Mary of Magdala showed us faith with her love for Christ by standing by His side through his ministry. Today as we celebrate the feast of the saint, let us take her example and learn to accept Jesus in our sinful life and ask for His forgiveness and follow Him through His ministry from heaven despite of our past.
Its is never going to be easy. But as a woman we are all gifted with the art of multitasking and we have to slip in our faith and prayer life in the busyness of our lives and families. Let us all women encourage more women to follow the faith and uplift them with our words and deeds.
PRAYER:
Dearest Jesus, I thank you for all the women in my life , from my mother to my sisters in faith and others. Help me to guide my fellow women in health and sickness and seek their guidance as I walk along the path of your faith. Help me to fight the societal pressure and stressors to do otherwise. Bless every women today!
AMEN
