It’s July in Magdala! While temperatures potentially soar into the high 40’s, = 120 degrees Fahrenheit approx., Mary of Magdala’s worldwide celebration on July 22^nd refreshes us!  Firstly, a comment or two about the exhaustion many people worldwide are feeling nowadays, while desperately hoping for a reboot for humankind.

Evil is here to stay – for now

Our world stage suffers many evils. Has anyone experienced deliverance? Anyone announcing definitive good news? We all typically express relativized hopes for lasting peace ‘if we get good leaders,’ or even capable leaders! End all wars! Stop trafficking! A daring question,

How do I deal with people during wicked times?  

• How do we educate towards mutual respect?  
• What is our vision of the human person?
• Are human beings equal?
• Who decides what is evil?
• Who decides how to deal with each evil?
• How do we redeem people who have been trapped by evil?  

Evil is not just a theoretical research topic, but a practical issue of life and death. The religions struggle with these great questions of humanity and this is exactly what the Ten Commandments address.

Apathy – ‘I don’t care’ – is already condemned in God’s question to Cain about his brother. If we want things to change, we must care.

There is the survival challenge in the physical realms of weather, natural disasters, and food supply. There is the evil in the social sphere. But don’t forget the admixture of evil in each of us. How do we deal with this? Weeds sown among the crops. People who sowed the weeds among the crops. People who have received a very hard deal and react hyper-defensively and aggressively, and see everyone as an enemy, demonize them, interpret them, judge them, condemn them, and assault them.

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  
• The ideal vision and purpose of the United Nations.
• The hijacking of institutions by counter ideologies.
• The immense contribution of the martyrs suffering hatred for doing good and enduring torture as they defend the dignity of the human being.

We inherit major legacies of good accomplished, but also of evil destruction and hatred blindly attached to certain groups of people. If you want peace, sow justice. How can I become a saint in an evil world? How can I help some to aspire to holiness and lay down their lives to be a blessing for others?

God addresses Cain for murdering Abel, King Ahab for Naboth, and David for Uriah. The Lord is present to everybody who does even the smallest good deed, like giving a glass of cold water to a thirsty traveler. He provides for Hannah and Abigail. What will God give to the person who helps victims triumph despite all the evil endured? Let God in and you can dream of victims becoming victors for unending glory, even after horrible crime endured or committed? It’s not about busy paperwork, but moving the ball forward, advancing goodness among Christians, all people of goodwill - - and even of bad will.

Do we find Mary Magdalene at this crossroads?

“Crossroads” heads this feature of our Magdala Journal, so I ask myself, do we find Mary Magdalene at the crossroads, especially the most challenging for humanity?

Every person is at the crossroads, just by our very nature of being person, a being in relationship, being in a relationship with other persons! No person exists alone! No man is an island, as John Donne asserts! We are all connected, even when we build walls between each other to separate us from each other. Even when we do violence to each other or are burdened by long histories of broken relationships, and mutual hostilities. Deep connections bond us with each other.

Let’s list various strands of Mary’s identity:

• Herodian society: she is listed alongside Joanna, wife of Chuza, the man in charge of Herod’s household, Lk 8:3. Women involved in the same activity and circle usually bond powerfully.
• Magdala is in the “Galilee of the Gentiles” where all kinds of people mix on the Via Maris, crossing from Cesarea Maritima toward Damascus, via Capernaum. Jewish communities tried to increase their presence there in the Hasmonean period. Our archeological discovery of synagogues and ritual baths are strong evidence of the Jewish presence in what was originally a Hellenistic settlement and subsequently overtaken by Roman dominion about one hundred years before Jesus’ public ministry.
• Magdala is a flourishing port town, exporting fish to Rome. You could meet anyone and everyone there. Not the best place for a hermit seeking solitude! It’s an important central port for the fishermen operating from any of the smaller towns all around the lake. Transport and commerce across the lake to the “the other side”, quite a pagan region, increased the variety of traffic.
• In Mary, the elite circles met wretched misery of a person afflicted by deep spiritual troubles, expressed as “seven demons.”  Power and weakness struggle in her. Good and evil, possession and sanctity. As expressed in Ephesians 6: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (NIV). She helplessly, painfully knew this deep encounter too well, until she encountered Jesus and these evil spirits bolted out the door of her heart and soul forever.
• In her encounter with Jesus, the ultimate crossroads, the crux of all that matters, she encountered heaven and earth in one and the ultimate point of encounter with every human being. After meeting him, risen from the dead, she goes to tell the living, the ones who have left the dead to bury their dead, his disciples, that he is alive, that they need to get moving and encounter the whole world. Some traditions report her whereabouts subsequently in southern areas of what is now France.

So why Mary Magdalene?

Jeffrey Jaffe’s book (which I only browsed for five minutes at the Steimatzky airport bookshop two weeks ago) asks why Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were chosen – and why the Chosen People were chosen at all?

So, we could also ponder why Mary Magdalene? Alongside the Twelve, Jesus’ mother, John the Baptist and Saul/Paul, we could ponder: where does Mary Magdalene figure, and what is her appeal even way beyond the pale of Christianity?

• The first apostle to announce his Resurrection, the greatest startup for all humanity.
• Her very unlikely prior biography for such a role turns heads and every page written about her since then. Most relatable!
• A woman so unlikely making it into a star role in one of the world’s most formative religious realities, which has arguably impacted humanity way beyond its direct membership.
• Her direct transformative encounter with one of history’s most powerfully pivotal players, and her subsequent surprise sending to startle the Twelve with the resurrection proclamation.

Mary Magdalene’s appeal to all Christ’s disciples

Thus enters Mary Magdalene on humanity’s stage after such vile crucifixion and dramatically proclaims, “I have seen the Lord!”

She experienced  

Christ:

• Good Shepherd in Galilee who freed her.
• Crucified, at Calvary, who died for her.
• Risen, at the empty tomb who rose for her and sent her on the mission of her life!
• Entering Glory at the Ascension.

Pentecost:

• No one can call him Lord, except in the Holy Spirit.
• Her unstoppable fidelity and apostolic zeal.

The Sacred Heart:

• Her faith was not cerebral.
• Her faith was her experience of God’s infinite love shining through his eyes as Savior, Redeemer, Liberator!

She announced the Victor!

• Eve was promised that her offspring would crush the serpent’s head.
• Mary Magdalene met this victorious one, come forth from the grave forever.

We are all united in the oppression by evil forces as was she!

We all meet in expectation of this good news she relates to us for our own renewal – and for transmission to all around us. Thus enters Mary Magdalene at this crossroads and crux where we all meet and go forth, hope refreshed, to serve with love.

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" Magdala to me, is a special and magical place."
Limor Shayak Amar - Magdala Sales Manager

Limor was born in Kibbutz Beit Zera in the Jordan Valley, from an Israeli-born dad and a Polish-born mom. Her mother immigrated as a twelve-year old and became Jewish here. Limor married and has a 13 year old girl. She started her professional career in the tourism industry in 2003 and has worked in sales & marketing  and as a sales manager in a number of individual hotels and leading hotel chains in Israel.

Limor has been working at Magdala for 3 years and 4 months, focusing on spreading the Magdala experience to as many people, agents, business entities, etc. as possible. Besides teamwork with the reservations department, Limor  is also  responsible for the hotel's content such as the concert series, special weekends, promotions, collaborations with various entities.  

The experience of working at Magdala is indeed different and special. Magdala is not just another hotel, it's a hotel with a story! So when you sell a hospitality experience alongside a fascinating story from ages past that connects worlds, it's a different kind of sale. “Today I can say that there is almost no agent in Israel who doesn't know Magdala. And its unique hospitality experience is made possible by its destinctive team! Magdala to me, is a special and magical place."

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