Conversations with Random People -21 #T

We spent a good portion of Monday afternoon on the third floor of a courthouse in a neighboring county.  We were there is support of an acquaintance who was to appear before the court.  The floor was paved in a tessellated octogon/triangle pattern, the overhead skylight a geometric wonder.

As our crew gathered in the hallway, so did others, people with whom we were not acquainted.  The saddest part of the day was watching a parade of young people, some probably not yet out of their teens, passing by in shackles, escorted by a sheriff's deputy and headed to a courtroom.

A gentleman with our group, sixty-ish, unassuming, and garbed in gray shirt and gray dockers introduced himself to me and stated that he was a jail chaplain.  Conversations went on in clusters in the hallway, various people came and went.  I, tired of standing, sat on a nearby chair and simply observed.  People-watching is a fine pastime.  After awhile I noted the chaplain standing to one side contemplating whatever pictures were moving in his head, so l went over to him and

Just to satisfy my curiosity, tell me, what circumstances led to your chaplaincy?

 If I told you, you wouldn't believe it, so I'll tell you anyhow.

Say on; you have further piqued my curiosity.

Ten years ago I was one of these people.  I have done time.  Then in 2009 I met the Lord Jesus Christ and He transformed my life.  I committed myself to follow God's will in all things.  Then one day he spoke to me and said, I want you to start a jail ministry.  I replied, Unhuh.  I don't want to be a minister.  And the Lord said, I don't care what you want.  You will be a minister.  So I started calling at the jail, meeting with those who wanted to talk seriously about their lives and circumstances.  After a time, the sheriff's department called and asked for my clothing sizes.  Oh, no, I said, you are not going to knit me one of those orange suits.  No, we are going to give you a uniform fitting to your position as official chaplain and you will then be granted free passage in the jail at all hours.  So I am a chaplain.

Wow.  That is an amazing story,  God will open doors for those who will obey His calling.

Indeed, he said.  And there is more.  Just a year ago the Lord told me he wanted me to be the pastor of a local church, an old but dying church in the community. (He named the church.)  Oh, no, Lord, not me.  I don't want to be a pastor.  And God said, I don't care what you want.

Seems, I said, the Lord gets His way with you in spite of what you want.

Truth, he said.  There is no bargaining with God.  It is His way or no way.  At any rate, when I took the church they were down to about fifteen souls in attendance.  Less than twelve months later, we are running fifty-five and growing a bit week-by-week.

Another example, I said, of the Lord's faithfulness.  Keep the faith and carry on!

We spoke of many other things, and the wait was not yet over.

More amazing perhaps than the floor or the ceiling is the staircase:

Mary Magdalene #T

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  --Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:11)

Mary of Magdala gets a bad rap in modern culture.  Many, even those raised in the church, have long supposed that this Mary was of unsavory character, probably a prostitute.  There is nothing  whatsoever mentioned in the New Testament to support this conjecture.

Let me say up front that even were her character depraved God's grace would have flowed to her anyway.  For example, note the woman taken in the act of adultery (John 8).  This woman is not identified and perhaps some confuse her with Mary Magdalene.  Jesus did not condemn her but in an act of grace adjured her to go and sin no more.  That grace is available to all.

When Mary of Magdala met Jesus she was possessed of seven demons which Christ cast out, healing her of her turmoil.  Matthew 27 tells us that Mary followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.  Luke 8 says that certain women healed of evil spirits and Mary of Magdala who had seven demons were Christ-followers, that is they were disciples.  Named here with this Mary are Joanna and Susanna who, we are told, "ministered to Jesus with their substance."  Thus it is reasonable to conclude that Mary was reasonably well-to-do and had no family obligations to tie her down, as we might assume for the other women referred to here as well.

Mary of Magdala was one of the three Marys who stood before the cross. (John 18:25)  She followed Jesus's body to the sepulchre so that she would know where he was laid.  She later returned to treat the body with spices to find instead the empty tomb, and there she met Jesus who was risen from the dead.  He commissioned her to go "tell the others" making her the first herald of His resurrection.  The eleven, as we presently see, were at best reluctant to believe and indeed were doubtful and skeptical.

We do not know the occupation of Mary before she became a disciple, nor  what the source of her income was.  We do know she was a tortured soul who was freed from her bondage by Jesus Christ, as we all can be freed from whatsoever tortures our souls.

I think the "harlot" speculation is unfounded.  What we know for certain is that Mary Magdalene was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Scripture references to Mary Magdalene:  Matthew 27:56, 61; 28:1; Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1-19; Luke 8:2; 24:10; John 19:25; 20:1-18.