Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene, which probably means "Mary of Magdala," a town on the western shore of the Lake of Tiberias, is described in the New Testament as a follower of Jesus Christ. Nothing is known about her outside of Scripture, both in the canon and in the apocrypha. Her feast day is July 22.
Mary Magdalene in the canon
For part of her story, Catholics and Protestants agree: She is mentioned in Luke 8:3 as one of the women who "ministered to Christ of their substance." Their motive was that of gratitude for deliverances he had wrought for them. Out of Mary were cast seven demons. Gratitude to her great Deliverer prompted her to become his follower. These women accompanied him also on his last journey to Jerusalem (Matt. 27:55; Mark 15:41; Luke 23:55). They stood near the cross. There Mary remained till all was over, and the body was taken down and laid in Joseph's tomb. Again, in the earliest dawn of the first day of the week she, with Salome and Mary the mother of James, (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2), came to the sepulchre, bringing with them sweet spices, that they might anoint the body of Jesus. They found the sepulchre empty but saw the "vision of angels" (Matt. 28:5). Mary Magdalene hastened to tell Peter and John, who were probably living together at this time (John 20:1, 2), and again immediately returned to the sepulchre. There she lingered thoughtfully, weeping at the door of the tomb. The risen Lord appeared to her, but at first she knew him not. His utterance of her name "Mary" recalled her to consciousness, and she uttered the joyful, reverent cry, "Rabboni." She would fain have clung to him, but he forbad her, saying, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father."
This is the last entry in the canonic New testament regarding Mary of Magdala, who now returned to Jerusalem.
The Gospel of Mary
The fragmentary Gospel of Mary Magdalene survives in two 3rd-century Greek fragments and a longer 5th-century translation into Coptic, in which the testimony of a woman first needed to be defended. All of these manuscripts, which show Gnostic influences, were first discovered and published between 1938 and 1983, but there are Patristic references to the (despised and dismissed) Gospel of Mary as early as the 3rd century.
Karen King has observed, "The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a scenario also found in The Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The Gospel of the Egyptians, reflects some of the tensions in second-century Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions that deny the validity of esoteric revelation and reject the authority of women to teach." (introduction, The Nag Hammadi Library)
- Early Christian Writings: Gospel of Mary
Expansion of the Mary Magdalene tradition
The idea that this Mary was "the woman who was a sinner," or that she was unchaste, is rejected by most Protestants. Catholics, on the other hand, consider this one person to be the sinner Mary of Luke 7:36-50 and also Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and the resurrected Lazarus, of Luke 10:38-42 and John 11. Mary Magdalene is a Roman Catholic saint whose relics at Saint-Maximin were the occasion for such throngs of pilgrims that the great Basilica was erected from the mid 13th century, one of the finest Gothic (see illustration) churches in the south of France. Though her bones were scattered at the French Revolution, her head remains in her shrine in a cave at La Sainte-Baume near Marseille, France, although another holds that she died in Ephesus and was buried in Constantinople.The Magdalene became a symbol of repentance for the vanities of the world, and Mary Magdalene was the patron of Magdalene College, Cambridge (pronounced "maudlin" as in weepy penitents). Unfortunately her name was also used for the infamous Magdalen Asylums in Ireland where supposedly fallen women were treated as slaves.
Easter Egg tradition
One fairly modern, quite extra-biblical tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that she was a woman of some wealth and social status. Following Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, she used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius Caesar. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house.
Today, many Eastern Orthodox Christians end the Easter service by sharing bright red eggs and proclaiming to each other, "Christ is risen!" The eggs represent new life, and Christ bursting forth from the tomb. This began one tradition of coloring Easter eggs.
Wife of Jesus?
An extra-biblical and Gnostic tradition about Mary Magdalene holds that she was in fact the wife of Jesus, a fact which was omitted by Pauline Christian revisionists and editors of the Gospels.
There is an argument for support of this speculation. Bachelorhood was very rare for Jewish males of Jesus's time, being generally regarded as a transgression of the first mitzvah (divine commandment): "Be fruitful and multiply". It would have been unthinkable for an adult but unmarried Jew to travel about teaching as a rabbi, as Jesus certainly did. Mary Magdalene appears with more frequency than other women in the Gospels and is shown as being a close follower of Jesus. In the scene of the wedding at Cana, the names of the nuptial couple are not mentioned, but Jesus acts as a groom at such a wedding would be expected to act, for example by giving instructions to the servants (in fact, those servants had to be told by Mary his mother to obey his instructions). Finally, Mary's presence at the Crucifixion and Jesus's tomb, while hardly conclusive, is at least consonant with a role as grieving wife and widow, although if that were the case Jesus might have been expected to make provision for her care as well as for his mother Mary. Given the lack of contemporary documentation, this scenario cannot be proven, and although some consider the idea desirable to believe, most scholars do not take it seriously.
Other Christians traditionally believe that Jesus is the second Adam, and like the first, his bride was taken from his side when he had fallen asleep (died on the cross). The blood and water which came from his side when he was pierced, according to the gospels, represents in traditional Christian teaching the bringing forth of the Church symbolized in the water of baptism and the wine of the new covenant in his blood. In other words, Jesus has a wife which is one body with him, only in the Church; and it is not considered possible or tolerable to believe that he was otherwise married.
Author of John's Gospel?
Some scholars have suggested that this Mary was a leader of the early Church and maybe even the "beloved disciple" who was the author of the Gospel of John.
Portrayal in the Passion of the Christ
Mary Magdalene was played by Italian actress Monica Bellucci in the film The Passion of the Christ.
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