What’s in a Name? Rhoda & Mary Magdalene - A Sermon for All Saints Sunday November 3 2024

SECOND READING: Acts 12:6-17

A reading from Acts.

  6 The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
  12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. 14 On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” 16 Meanwhile Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the gate they saw him and were amazed. 17 He motioned to them with his hand to be silent and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, “Tell this to James and to the brothers and sisters.” Then he left and went to another place.

Word of God, word of life.

Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL: Mark 16:1-11

The holy gospel according to Mark.

Glory to you, O Lord.

  1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint (Jesus). 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

  9 [[Now after (Jesus) rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

On All Saints Sunday,

my mind goes to the saints that I love

who have died before me.

People who shared the Gospel with me.

I think of my grandparents

and memories of going to church with them.

I think of my mom,

who died back in 2019.

I remember a time in which my mom talked about her faith,

and she did so in vulnerability,

sharing some of her own experiences of God.

She said she could, at times, see visions.

Like God offering her peace

with the assurance of what will happen.

I remember the look on mom’s face,

she was serious,

and I gleaned from our conversation

that others had difficulty believing her,

and it wasn’t something she shared often.

As I grew up,

grew in faith,

studied at seminary,

I found myself becoming sceptical.

Her experience of God

didn’t quite align with my own understanding

of how God operates.

There was a family that had endured far too much death,

and it was time for another son, brother, uncle

in the family to die.

We will call him Charles.

Family members came and went,

said their goodbyes and well wishes,

hugging Charles for the last time.

Charles, out of the blue,

perked up, and said something like,

“You’re here! I’m going home.”

He saw a vision of his predeceased loved ones,

his father and an uncle

in the corner of the room.

I share these stories

because they’re similar,

in that they can be hard, for some, to believe.

I share these stories

because I have been told,

by theologians, people of faith,

that while people may find comfort in these visions,

this is not how God operates.

Part of the life of faith is discernment:

we discern what is God

and what is not.

This discernment matters!

Too many times in human history

people have done great harm in God’s name.

If the thing is from the Holy Spirit,

It has to be about Jesus,

about Christ crucified and risen,

forgiveness, reconciliation, new life.

If the Word is from God,

then there may be a word of Gospel,

God’s work in the world,

assurance, purpose, mission,

and there may be a word of Law,

a word of challenge or conviction

an invitation to repent, and return to the Lord.

Discernment matters.

For today, I’d like to focus on the harm done

when someone takes a leap of faith,

puts on vulnerability,

and shares their experience of God,

and we reject their witness,

or reject them, personally.

Rhoda is one of these witnesses

who experiences a rejection.

To set the scene for Rhoda’s story,

King Herod had James, the brother of John, killed.

This pleased the non-Jesus-believing crowd

so he arrested Peter also.

4 squads of soldiers guarded him.

Perhaps a little over the top,

a little too much protection,

but nothing God can’t handle.

The church prayed fervently to God for Peter.

God acted powerfully.

Peter was freed from his chains,

the angel of the Lord guiding Peter to freedom

amidst his late night delirium.

Once Peter realized this no dream,

he was freed from chains and guards by God’s hand,

he went to the house of Mary, mother of John.

Many were gathered there, praying.

And allow me to be explicit,

they are praying in vigil for Peter,

who was about to be killed.

Rhoda heard the knocking at the gate,

she recognized Peter’s voice,

and this little detail matters,

the only way she could recognize Peter’s voice

is if she is a believer,

part of the church,

one who listened to his preaching.

She was so overjoyed

that she forgot to let him in!

Rhoda left Peter standing outside the gate!

She ran in and announced to the church

that Peter was here and alive.

The church rejected her.

“You must be out of your mind”

She insisted.

They said “It is just Peter’s angel.”

Why didn’t anyone just go to the gate and let him in???

I wonder if it was Rhoda’s job.

Rhoda is called a maid,

but she is most likely a slave,

property of the well-off owner of the house.

The irony should not be lost on us,

The woman who announces Peter’s freedom

is not believed,

and denied her own freedom.

The early Christian community didn’t see

slavery as a problem,

even though anathema to the Gospel.

What’s in a name?

Rhoda likely means from Rhodes.

It is likely not a Jewish name,

Rhoda could be a gentile, non Jew.

Rhoda came to the church,

as they were praying,

and offered good news,

and no one believed her.

She is rejected.

It sounds familiar.

It sounds like Mary Magdalene,

We hear the story every Easter,

Christ risen triumphant from the grave,

and Mary Magdalene being the first 

to proclaim the resurrection.

Mary Magdalene is the first Christian preacher,

simply by announcing “the Lord is risen!”

And no one believed her.

If you read the other Gospel accounts,

they call her words “Idle talk, 

women’s talk,

tall tales

gossip.

Perhaps a better translation

of “Idle talk”

would be the letter B followed by the letter S.

It was not a kind statement.

Like Rhoda,

Mary Magdalene came to the church

with an answer to prayer,

and she was rejected.

To be fair,

what Rhoda and Mary Magdalene announce

is hard to believe.

No one rises from the dead,

until they do.

No one is miraculously released from jail

until they are.

How does it make us feel

to hear people of faith

rejecting the witness of these faithful women?

I think back to the family in the hospital room

and their experience of a welcome into heaven

by their loved ones.

Frankly,

it is hard to believe,

but how could I possibly say

“That’s an idle ale,

No, that’s not God.”

What if it is?

I think back to the conversation with my mom,

and it is hard to believe

the kind of visions that she had,

but how could I possibly say,

“You’re out of your mind!

that’s not how God works.”

What if it is how God works?

Ours is a time for listening.

Listening to the other.

Listening for God’s voice

in and through the other.

Ours is a time for a wonder and imagination

for what God is doing in the world.

Two thousand years have passed,

many in our world still do not believe Mary Magdalene

and her witness to the resurrection.

Even we faithful have our own doubts.

Yet the purpose of the church

is to join Mary Magdalene

in proclaiming that Christ lives,

that death has been conquered,

that resurrection and life everlasting

is real,

and is for you.

To you who speak the truth

and are not believed,

God blesses you.

To you who take the leap of faith

and share your own experiences of God,

thank you, in Jesus’ name,

for proclaiming your Gospel.

To you who struggle to be open to the other,

and their experiences of God,

God is with you;

be opened by God’s Spirit.

Remember the saints in your own life

who have told you the story

and trust that God speaks to the other, as well.

In my experience,

we learn about God best

from those who differ from us the most.

To you who are equal members of the body

but feel lesser-than;

The last shall be first and the first shall be last.

God is turning the world around.

God is turning the Church around.

To you who grieve,

who cry out for an answer to prayer,

God hears your prayers.

Jesus prepares a place for all the saints,

we will be with our loved ones again,

and we will be with Jesus.

And to you who doubt,

to you who struggle to believe,

and to you who long for good news;

Christ is risen,

evil does not get to win,

death is defeated,

new life is yours in Jesus’ name.

Thanks be to God. Amen.