This is not a story we
find in the Bible but one of those meaningful legends that have the power to
teach us anyway.
Mary Magdalene, first
apostle of the resurrection, decided to protest the execution of Jesus in no
other place than the court of Caesar, in Rome. She went and, as a business
woman who did not lack influence nor audacity, she managed to be invited for
dinner by Tiberius Caesar. She intended
to denounce the unfair condemnation of Jesus by Ponce Pilate. She also wanted
to proclaim the resurrection.
During the dinner, amoung
the many guests, Mary Magdalene rose and as she had planned, she described the
condemnation, death and resurrection of Jesus.
After she spoke, the
emperor took a hardboiled egg and showed it to his guest. “He cannot be raised,
just as this egg cannot turn red.” And lo and behold, the egg he was holding
suddenly turned bright red.
If this story has no
historical pretense, it explains why orthodox icons show Mary Magdalene holding
a red egg. To this day, Eastern Christians paint their Easter eggs red, as a
way to commemorate how God sometimes act in a completely startling way.
I read this story as told
by Rev. Anne Howard from the Beatitudes Society. I mentioned it in my sermon on
Palm Sunday.
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