| Another Joseph and Mary |
| Mary Magdalene |
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Dateline: 04/07/98
Who was Mary Magdalen(e)?
After the Resurrection, Jesus' followers, Philip, Lazarus, Mary Magdalen, Joseph of Arimathea and others travelled through the Mediterranean to Southern France. While Joseph sailed further (supposedly, to Britain), Mary is said to have stayed in France.
Have you ever confused one James with another? This Apostles list will help sort out the Jameses. But when it comes to the myriad Maries, it's not so simple.
There's Mary, the mother.According to Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel in The Women Around Jesus, the confusion between Mary Magdalen and the unnamed prostitute comes from proximity -- the story of Mary Magdalen came immediately after: The earlier passage (the one with with a female sinner) is Luke 7: 36-50
There's the Mary who caused such consternation to her sister, the excellent host, Martha.
There's Mary Magdalen from whom Jesus chased away evil spirits.
There's the unnamed prostitute assumed to be Mary Magdalen.
36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner." 40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. ... 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
Mary Magdalen is mentioned in connection with what may well have been a hands on treatment for mental illness in Luke 8:1-3
1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
In the earlier passage sins are forgiven -- no mention is made of a cure. In the explicitly Mary Magdalen passage, no mention of forgiveness is made, only curing. In the former, no name is given, in the latter, the woman's name is Mary Magdalen. Moltmann-Wendel suggests that the identification of the two women was created to "kindle men's fantasy." Certainly, in all her guises, Mary Magdalen has been one of the most popular subjects for men's paintings.
Regardless of whether Mary Magdalen was really the unnamed sinner or even the sister of Martha, Mary Magdalen, companion and supporter of Jesus during his lifetime, appears to have been the first person or in the first group to see the miracle of Christ's resurrection.
In Mark 15:40-41
40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. 1
In John 20:1-18
11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, `I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
The Women Around Jesus, by Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel.
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