Mary Magdalene I. Introduction A. There is an almost invisible group of people who proved of the greatest importance and support for Jesus during His ministry 1. They are mentioned occasionally in the Gospel narratives, in some instances more often than some of the less noted among the Apostles 2. They are thus hiding in plain sight, present but not often mentioned, and often neglected in study, preaching, and teaching B. They are the women who followed Jesus! C. Some of these women followed Jesus wherever He went, were likely present at all points during His ministry, and many even financially supported the endeavor (Luke 8:2) D. These women were the ones who prepared meals and served food (Luke 10:38-42), watched the Lord Jesus suffer and die on the cross (Matthew 27:55-56, Luke 23:48-49, John 19:25-27), saw Him buried (Matthew 27:61, Mark 15:47, Luke 23:55-56), and had come back to finish anointing His body on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1-3, Luke 24:1, John 20:1-2) E. Many of these same women remained with the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection, devoted to prayer (Acts 1:14) F. We thus do well to explore what can be known about some of Jesus’ female followers G. We begin with one of the most famous, and later controversial: Mary Magdalene 1. What do we learn about Mary Magdalene from Scripture? 2. What later stories were circulated regarding her? 3. What encouragement can we gain from her example? II. Mary Magdalene in Scripture A. We are first acquainted with Mary Magdalene in Luke 8:2 1. She is Mary (Hebrew/Aramaic Miriam, as in Matthew 28:1), “called Magdalene” a. Generally understood as a geographical referent: as from Magdala, a village on the west coast of the Sea of Galilee (perhaps cf. Matthew 15:39) b. Yet Luke’s phrasing may well indicate that she was called Magdalene, from Hebrew migdol, tower, or “elevated”; a hairdresser might be called a hamegadela se’ar nasha, (Talmud Hagigah 4b, Shabbat 104b), and so it remains possible that Luke speaks of Mary’s profession as a hairstylist 2. She follows Jesus, in part, because He cast out seven demons from her (cf. Mark 16:9) 3. She is listed as one of the women who provided for Jesus and His ministry; therefore, she is most likely a woman of some means 4. This is all the biographical information we are given about Mary Magdalene B. Mary Magdalene is listed among the women who watched Jesus suffer and die on the cross (Matthew 27:55-56 / Luke 23:48-49 / John 19:25-27) 1. Most of the disciples, save John, had fled, lest a cross was secured for them as well (Matthew 26:56 / Mark 14:50 / John 18:8-9) 2. Women were not perceived as a political threat, and so they were able to be present for the experience without such fears C. Mary Magdalene is also listed among the women who watched Joseph and Nicodemus bury Jesus in Joseph’s tomb, and as preparing spices and aloes for anointment (Matthew 27:61 / Mark 15:47 / Luke 23:55-56) D. They did so because they would return to the tomb at the next available opportunity, after the Sabbath and thus the early morning of the first day of the week, to finish anointing Jesus’ body (Matthew 28:1 / Mark 16:1-3 / Luke 24:1) 1. On the way they wonder how they will remove the stone (Mark 16:3) 2. When they arrive, stone moved; they see angels in white; they are to go and tell the others of Jesus’ resurrection (Matthew 28:1-7 / Mark 16:4-7 / Luke 24:1-8) 3. They are fearful; thus ends Mark 16:8 4. In Matthew 28:8, they fearfully but gladly go and tell the Apostles 5. In Luke 24:9-11, they tell the Apostles, but it as idle talk to them 6. In all these accounts, Mary Magdalene is listed first among the women, but is neither alone nor do any actually see Jesus in the resurrection at that time E. Mary Magdalene comes to the fore in John’s recounting of the story in John 20:1-18 1. She sees the tomb empty, runs back to tell Peter and John (John 20:1-2) 2. Mary went back to tomb, sits weeping; looks in, sees the two angels who ask why she cried; she says because the body of Jesus had been taken and she did not know where it was (John 20:11-13) 3. She turned to see Jesus, but she thought Him a gardener; he asks why she wept; she said if he had taken the body, she would take it from him (John 20:14-15) 4. Jesus says her name, and she recognizes Him; calls out to Him as Rabboni (my teacher); commissioned to go tell the others He is Risen; she does so (John 14:16-18) 5. John’s portrayal of Mary Magdalene in the story is immensely compelling: a woman distraught about the circumstances, coming to serve, the first witness of the empty tomb, but for her a source of distress; agonizing, wishing to take care of Jesus’ body; and then the great moment of revelation and all the emotion it would have demanded F. And yet such is the last time Mary Magdalene is mentioned in Scripture 1. We presume she is still among the disciples in Acts 1:14, active in prayer 2. Yet, after Jesus’ resurrection, Mary Magdalene fades from the written record and enters into tradition III. Mary Magdalene in Tradition A. We have seen that Mary Magdalene plays a prominent role among the women who follow Jesus, but much is left unrevealed about her B. For these reasons a whole host of traditions surrounded around her C. Early Christian Traditions 1. For many early Christians, Mary Magdalene served as the “Apostle to the Apostles,” being the one sent (Greek apostolos) to proclaim to the Apostles the good news of Jesus’ resurrection 2. She was believed to be a woman of some means but great virtue, consistent with the elevation of chastity as the supreme virtue 3. Tradition held that she died in Ephesus (cf. Gregory of Tours, De Miraculis 1.30) D. Gnostic Speculations 1. The Gnostics, those who synthesized Christianity with Greek philosophy, speculated regarding Mary Magdalene as they had speculated regarding many of the Apostles 2. The Gospel of Thomas (in)famously ends with Peter asking Jesus to exclude Mary, for women are not worthy of life; Jesus then says she will be made into a male so as to obtain it (Gospel of Thomas 114; a demonstration of Greek attitudes about women) 3. Yet, surprisingly, many other Gnostic tractates elevate Mary’s standing: over half of the questions asked of Jesus in Pistis Sophia are asked by Mary; the Gospel of Philip suggests Mary was Jesus’ “companion,” His favorite disciple, and one whom He kissed often, provoking jealousy among the (male) Apostles 4. The Gnostics also wrote an entire Gospel of Mary, believed to be the Magdalene, in which she provides secret revelations and visions of the resurrection and such like, exalting Mary over the Apostles 5. As we shall see, these Gnostic speculations have provided the fodder to describe a lot of the modern portrayals of Mary Magdalene E. Medieval Speculations: the “Composite Magdalene” 1. The reader of the Gospels is easily confused by the number of women named Mary/Miriam in the text as well as the presentation of other women left anonymous 2. “Pope” Gregory the Great, in his 33rd homily, did a major disservice to Mary Magdalene and entirely changed her portrayal in the Western church which remains to this day a. Gregory conflated the sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50 and the Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus who anointed Jesus’ feet in John 11:1-2 with Mary Magdalene b. He allegorized the “seven demons” as the seven main vices c. He did so in order to valorize her penitence; indeed, Mary Magdalene was seen as an exemplar of penitence for the rest of the medieval era on account of it 3. It is in this way that Mary Magdalene was reputed to be a prostitute before she began to follow Jesus a. Partly based on Gregory’s homily, although speculation of her as a repentant sinner had existed previously b. Also partly an attempt to understand how she could be a woman of means and follow Jesus around without having a husband or “domestic duties”; a woman following Jesus around like this seemed scandalous c. Later medievalists speculated that she was not even a prostitute; she was a wealthy woman who participated in all sorts of sexually deviant behavior for pleasure 4. For clarity’s sake: there is no Biblical evidence or reason to suggest that the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50 is either of the Marys, nor to suggest that Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus is the same person as Mary Magdalene a. It is worth noting that the Roman Catholic Church has even moved away from this identification b. Quite the departure from what had been held by “tradition”! 5. And yet in this way the “composite Magdalene” was envisioned until the 16th century! 6. It was also in the medieval period that some began to speculate that Mary Magdalene spent her later years in penitential asceticism in the south of France, or, consistent with the composite Magdalene, that she, Martha, and Lazarus set out in a boat to escape Israel and washed up in the south of France 7. In another vein, some took up certain ancient claims that the wedding in Cana was between Mary Magdalene and the Apostle John, and suggested John left Mary at the altar to follow Jesus, and apparently she followed likewise F. Modern Speculations 1. Today we see a whole host of exotic speculations about Mary Magdalene coming out of the cauldron of these past speculations 2. As feminist interpretation of Scripture has grown popular, many in scholarship now speculate that perhaps Mary Magdalene is the “Beloved Disciple” of John, drawing also on the Gnostic speculations; others see Mary Magdalene as an empowered Apostle in her own right, the memory of her later work perhaps suppressed, or, perhaps a bit more productively, as a representative or spokeswoman of the women who followed Jesus 3. We are all acquainted with The Holy Blood, The Holy Grail hypothesis through its more palatable conduit, the da Vinci Code: the belief that Jesus and Mary were actually husband and wife, that Jesus did not actually die but traveled with Mary to France; their children, the “royal bloodline,” was really what was behind the search for the holy grail: the discovery that one was descended from Jesus and Mary G. And so Mary Magdalene becomes anything to anyone as time has gone on: a libertine, a whore, or a virgin; feminist or model of feminine penitence and virtue; the greatest among the Apostles or Jesus’ wife, lover, or concubine IV. Mary Magdalene, First Apostle of the Resurrection A. What, then, shall we say about Mary Magdalene? B. We do well to admit our ignorance and not rush into speculation 1. We can know very little for certain about Mary Magdalene a. She may have been from Magdala; she might have been a hairdresser b. She has some means to support Jesus’ ministry; she is able to travel around with Him c. She followed Jesus, was associated with other women so doing, and witnessed His death, His burial place, and was among the first to see the empty tomb 2. What we can know for certain does lead to a host of questions, many of them quite valid, but ultimately unanswerable 3. How did she have such means? 4. How was she able to follow Jesus wherever He went? 5. What kind of service or ministry did Mary Magdalene maintain after Jesus’ resurrection? 6. We have seen so many of the possible answers put forward, and we could rebut them with many other possibilities; we can make Mary Magdalene out to be a formerly scandalous woman or as always a model of virtue C. On the other hand, we do well to rebut the speculation which has taken place 1. There is no Biblical ground or basis on which to conflate Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman of Luke 7 or Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus; there is no evidence of any sort of prostitution in her past 2. She may have come by her means honestly through inheritance from parent or husband; her husband may have blessed her journeys with Jesus; who knows? 3. Gnostic speculations have no apostolic basis and come from a heretical group writing centuries after Jesus’ death: there is no Biblical evidence to suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had any sort of a romantic or sexual relationship, or that He favored her over the Apostles 4. There is no ground upon which to exalt her as the ultimate demonstration of penitence; there’s no reason to believe she went to the south of France over any other location in the Roman Empire 5. Even the idea that she ended up in Ephesus is quite shaky; why assume she ever left Judea and Galilee? D. Nevertheless, what can we say of Mary Magdalene? Are we left to spend our time merely refuting false ideas without being able to draw any encouragement from her example? E. Mary Magdalene is a wonderful example of faith in action! 1. Jesus cast out demons from her; she trusted in Jesus as the Messiah 2. She watched Jesus die; she saw where He was buried; she wished to continue to honor Him by anointing His body further 3. Note her concern on the first day of the week in John 20:1-15: she has no inkling of the resurrection; she just wants to have the body of Jesus given to her so she can honor in death the one who gave her hope in life 4. We are left to imagine her wonder, her amazement, her joy, as she realizes that all Jesus had said came to pass after He revealed Himself to her 5. Throughout the whole episode she is distraught, for she loved Jesus deeply; distressed by the circumstances, happy and yet fearful, absorbing the implications of Jesus’ resurrection 6. Who else in the New Testament is portrayed so realistically, as vulnerable, trusting, and processing the experience in real time? 7. We do well to note that none of the Apostles went to the tomb; they were distressed as well, they had loved Jesus, but their first inclination was not to devote effort to taking care of Jesus’ body, but to deliberate on “what went wrong” 8. Mary Magdalene, however, maintained faith in action: she went out to minister to Jesus as Jesus had ministered to her F. And for all this she receives a unique honor: the first Apostle of the Resurrection 1. Jesus sent Mary to tell the Apostles of His resurrection; He did not appear to them, but had Mary tell them 2. She had gone out to take care of Him; and so she becomes the one sent with the good news that Jesus is Risen 3. Such does not mean that she maintained a role of authority as one of the Twelve; it does speak, however, to the standing of the female followers of Jesus, how a dedicated female follower of Jesus was the first to see Him in the resurrection and was given the right to tell the rest! V. Conclusion A. We have explored Mary Magdalene in Scripture and in later speculation B. We have to dismiss as baseless speculation and conflation more than we can substantively say about Mary C. And yet what can be said is a powerful testimony: the value of women who serve the Lord Jesus, her example of faith in action, the dignity and honor of serving as the first apostle of the good news of Jesus’ resurrection D. May we maintain a love for Jesus and devotion to His cause similar to that of Mary Magdalene! Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary that was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out (Luke 8:2). Mary Magdalene was a female follower of Jesus. She may have been from the village of Magdala. She was a woman of some means, able to help financially support Jesus’ ministry. Many baseless speculations have besmirched her character; none of them have any merit in Scripture. We do well to ground our understanding about Mary Magdalene based on what is explicitly revealed about her in Scripture! 2: These things therefore the soldiers did. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). Mary Magdalene was present for Jesus’ crucifixion. She watched her Lord whom she loved die on the cross. Where the Apostles did not, or could not go, Mary Magdalene would. May we prove fully dedicated to the cause of the Lord Jesus! 3: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared (Luke 24:1). Mary Magdalene returned to Jesus’ tomb expecting to be able to finish anointing His body. She was no doubt pained and distraught at His death. But while the male disciples remained in the upper room, for fear or in distress, Mary went to the tomb. Mary went to minister to Jesus as Jesus had ministered to her. Mary Magdalene loved Jesus, and in that love served Him even when it seemed hopeless. We do well to observe her example and do likewise! 4: Jesus saith to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and that he had said these things unto her. (John 20:17-18) Mary Magdalene is granted a great honor and distinction. Jesus sent her to tell the Apostles the good news of His resurrection. She had come to serve Him; she thus saw Jesus first in the resurrection. And she would go and tell the disciples; Jesus did not go and appear to them first. And so Mary Magdalene is the first apostle of the resurrection. Women maintain great integrity, dignity, and honor as followers of Jesus Christ. We do well to honor Mary Magdalene’s memory and all women who serve the Lord Jesus faithfully!