“Who Says It Matters”

February 25, 2024
St. Andrew Church
Rev. Anne McAnelly
2nd Sunday in Lent

First Lesson:                                                   Matthew 16:13-21

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. ²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Second Lesson:                                                  John 11:17-27

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

In January I went to St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia, to a conference with Diana Butler Bass, Brian McClaren, and Libbie Schrader Polczer.  Libby is a recent PhD graduate in New Testament and teaches at Villanova University.  But for 10 years Libby was a singer/songwriter. She wrote a song called the Magdalene, about Mary Magdalene.  You can look it up online.  She had no theological background yet, only a strong Episcopal faith and curiosity.  This led her to getting a master’s degree in New Testament. A wonderful New Testament professor taught her Greek and Coptic and Aramaic and began to teach her how to translate the New Testament.  She couldn’t get Mary Magdalene off her mind. So, she wrote her thesis on John 11 looking at the oldest texts of the Bible which had recently been digitized so you can see them online.  

Here’s how Diana Butler Bass tells the story, “And so Libbie looked at Papyrus 66, which is the oldest and most complete text we have of the Gospel of John. It’s dated around the year 200. Now this is what happens when you put a set of new eyes on an old text… And so Libbie is in the library looking at the text and she sees this first sentence. And it’s in Greek, of course. “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and his sister Mary.” And Libbie said, “What? That’s not what my English Bible says. My English Bible says, ‘Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.’” But the Greek text, the oldest Greek text in the world doesn’t say that. The oldest Greek text in the world says, ‘Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, at the village of Mary and his sister, Mary.’ There are two Marys in this verse. And Libbie went, ‘What the heck? What is going on here?’… The text had actually been changed. In Greek, the word Mary, the name Mary, is basically spelled like Maria in English, M-A-RI-A. And the I, the Greek letter I, is the letter Iota. And it looks basically like an English I. Libbie could see by doing this textual analysis that the Iota had been changed to the letter TH in Greek, Theta. That somebody at some point in time had gone in over the original handwriting and actually changed the second Mary to Martha…. Libbie sat in the library with all of this, and it came thundering at her, the realization that sometime in the fourth century, someone had altered the oldest text of the Gospel of John and split the character Mary into two. Mary became Mary and Martha” (All the Marys).

Ok take a deep breath and let that sink in.  Mary in John’s gospel had become Mary and Martha, by changing one letter.  There is more to this, but that is enough for today.  I do need to let you know that Libbie finished her master’s thesis and was asked to present it to the Harvard Theological Review.  It has since been published there.  This is not some fringe thought, but one that is being considered at the highest levels of the theological academy.  

Because who says something matters.  If Libbie was the only voice saying this, I would say interesting.  But when Harvard Theological Review has published the work, this theory has more significance.  

As a young mother I would try to share insights with my boys that might help them get through life.  Thoughts about relationships, school, family conflicts.  Sometimes they would listen to me, and other times not so much.  But I was always amazed when I had said something like, “If your friend did that then he is really not your friend.”  But often Mom’s words were not taken to heart.  However, if another friend said the exact same thing about what a hurtful friend did, my son would absorb it.  You see it mattered who said the advice.  Who shared the wisdom affected how that was received.  I imagine you have similar experiences in your life. 

Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Then Jesus changes his name from Simon to Peter, the Rock on which Jesus will build his church.  Remember in Greek, Peter is (petros) and rock is (petra), the same word.   But IS it Peter on which the church is built or on the confession he has just made that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God?  Is the church built on a man or is the church built on the truth Peter just confessed, Jesus is the Messiah!  

This moment is a turning point in the gospel.  Jesus having established that he is the Messiah, confusingly tells them not to tell anyone.  The very next thing he does is teach them about his impending suffering, Jesus’ death and how on the third day he will be raised.  Jesus’ suffering and death accompany us on our journey through Lent.

Peter proclaiming Jesus the Messiah is called a Christological statement.  In each of the four gospels a person proclaims Jesus the Messiah.  In the Synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, Peter makes this declaration.  But in John it is Martha.  Who is this Martha? Why is she given this honor in John’s gospel? What does Libbie’s research have to say about all of this?  

You might have noticed we picked up the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead halfway through and we did not finish it.  That was intentional.  We are focusing on this pivotal exchange between Jesus and Martha.  Her Christological statement about Jesus.  Arguably the most powerful testimony for the resurrection and our being raised from the dead.  As we move through Lent anticipating Jesus’ resurrection, we also want to know that we live in the resurrection promise. Jesus raising Lazarus is the heart of that promise.  So why would these words be given to a secondary figure, to a woman even? How do we make sense out of Jesus telling this woman, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

Here is how Diana Butler Bass digs into this passage in her sermon, All the Marys. “Tertullian, one of the most misogynistic of all of the ancient church fathers, actually wrote a bit of a commentary on this passage in John chapter 11. He writes circa 200. Commenting on this chapter, he says, “Mary, confessing him, Jesus, to be the Son of God.”

Wait a second.

In my Bible, it says Martha confessed that. It says a little later on that Jesus was talking to Martha. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” And Jesus said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” And Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” And Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” One of the most important lines in the whole of the Gospel of John. “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus asked this woman. And in this text, your English Bible, Jesus says that to Martha, “Do you believe this, Martha?” And she said to him, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah. The one who’s come into the world.”

Tertullian said that was Mary. There was no Martha in that passage according to Tertullian. Did Tertullian’s copy of John have only Mary?” 

Who said that Christological statement matters.  It makes a difference if this statement came from Martha’s mouth or from the mouth of Mary.  Were there two sisters of Lazarus or only one? 

May God bless our pondering of this revelation and may more be revealed.  Amen.