Over the course of each school year, I show my seventh grade boys a movie filmed in 1999 called JESUS. In one scene, Mary Magdalene watched from a distance as Jesus rescued the woman caught in adultery from being stoned.<\/p>\n
As Jesus and His group of disciples passed near where Mary was standing, He looked at her and asked: \u201cDo you want to come with us?\u201d \u201cWhere?\u201d Mary replied. \u201cDoes it matter?\u201d the Lord answered. \u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201cI go where I want\u2026 I am free.\u201d Looking directly into her eyes, Jesus said: \u201cYou\u2019re not free\u2026 but you could be.\u201d Hesitating as Jesus continued to walk, Mary called out: \u201cThat woman\u2026 You treated her as if she is worth something.\u201d \u201cSo are you\u2026\u201d He replied. \u201cCome, follow Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many have been intrigued with Mary from Magdala over the years. Though the Bible does not say, some have supposed she was a prostitute in Galilee. Scripture does reveal that Jesus cast seven demons out of her\u2026 and we know she did faithfully follow the Master.<\/p>\n
Whatever Mary\u2019s back story, I imagine her experiences were similar to those in our broken world: hidden abuse, poor choices, addiction, shame, loneliness, self-rejection\u2026 Our Savior does not shy away from such obstacles. He understands perfectly; He fears no evil; and He possesses all authority.<\/p>\n
Knowing His purpose to seek and save the lost, Jesus possesses the pure heart of His Father. \u201cI see you and I love you. I am the Answer to your self-doubt and self-loathing. I am the Way and I am choosing you to be Mine. Look into My eyes; listen to My voice; trust Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read afresh the Gospels and notice the Savior\u2019s passion for people. He forgives; He heals; He delivers; He exposes the devil\u2019s lies; He restores; He loves. Because of sin we\u2019ve all been separated from the Lover of our souls, but Jesus reconciles us to God. \u201cMy Father is the One who created you, who loves you, and who has given His most precious gift to redeem you. Relinquish your pride and receive the good news. Believe in God; believe also in Me. I set captives free; I give eternal life. Come, follow Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached \u2013 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.\u201d Acts 10:37-38<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.\u201d John 8:36<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Christ\u2019s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men\u2019s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ\u2019s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ\u2019s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d II Corinthians 5:14-21<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the course of each school year, I show my seventh grade boys a movie filmed in 1999 called JESUS. In one scene, Mary Magdalene watched from a distance as Jesus rescued the woman caught in adultery from being stoned. As Jesus and His group of disciples passed near where Mary was standing, He looked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3174,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171\/revisions\/3174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}