In the city of Alexandria lived a prostitute. She was not a 21^st-century resident of Alexandria, Virginia, or Alexandria, Indiana, but instead a 5^th-century woman in Alexandria, Egypt. Her name was Mary, and tradition says that she lived a life of disobedience and debauchery. (Today, we would call her a commercial sex worker, or even a victim of human trafficking, and would have more sympathy for her plight.) One day, she heard about the church in Jerusalem, which is built around the tomb of Jesus, so she joined a group of pilgrims on a ship to the Holy Land.

            She came to the door of the sacred place, full of anticipation. But at that point an invisible force blocked her entrance. Other people entered the tomb of Jesus freely, but she could not. She realized that the impurity of her life was a hindrance to her, so she confessed her sins and discovered that the invisible barrier to the church was suddenly lifted. With faith in Christ, she crossed the Jordan River into the desert wilderness and lived there for 47 years all by herself, in repentance, prayer and obedience. Dressing in rags and eating herbs and wild roots, she became known as St. Mary of Egypt.1

Attracted to God

            Mary’s story is a tough one for us to hear because it does not have a Hollywood ending. Listening to her story, we are glad that the invisible barrier to the church was lifted, but we aren’t excited that she went off to live by herself for 47 years. We celebrate her confession of sin and her discovery of faith in Christ, but we don’t feel so good about her life of dressing in rags and eating wild roots. We wonder why she couldn’t practice repentance, prayer and obedience in a loving and su

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