Mary Magdalene - A Forgiven Woman

Mary Magdalene is a name that we hear often in the gospels. Among converts, she is one of Jesus’ first and closest, and is one of the few who stand at the foot of the cross. She is also among the first to see Jesus resurrected. Different explanations have been given of her over the years, some even villainous. Recent writings and docu-fiction have heavily suggested and implied that she was even Jesus’ wife. So, what do we know about her?

The most commonly known thing is that she came from the town of Magdala, hence her last

name given as Magdalene. Magdala, means "elegant", "great", or "great place it is the name of at least two places in ancient Israel mentioned in the Jewish Talmud and one place in the Gospels. The New Testament makes one disputable mention of a place called Magdala in the KJV, (Matt.15:39), however the most reliable Greek manuscripts give the name of the place as "Magadan", and more modern scholarly translations follow this.  The parallel passage in Mark's gospel call the place Dalmanutha. The Jewish Talmud distinguishes between two Magdalas, 1.) Magdala Gadar in the east, on the River Yarmouk near Gadara (in the Middle Ages "Jadar", now Umm Qais), thus acquiring the name  and 2.) Magdala Nunayya  near Tiberias, Meaning "Magdala of the fishes," which would locate it on the shore of the Sea of Galilee which is our most likely candidate for Mary’s hometown. . Al-Majdal, a Palestinian Arab village depopulated in the lead up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war was identified as the site of this Magdala. The modern Israeli municipality of Migdal (Khirbet Medjdel), founded in 1910 and about 6 km NNW of Tiberias, has expanded into the area of the former village.

Mary appears before us for the first time in Lk.8:2, among the women who "ministered unto him of their substance." All of these women, appear to have occupied a position of comparative wealth and supporting His ministry out of gratitude for their deliverance from "evil spirits and infirmities." Of Mary in particular, it is said specially that "seven devils went out of her," in this passage.  This alone indicates a more than ordinary malignity, but does not suggest anything about her character other than Jesus saw her as a person who needed to be healed.  She is present during the agony on the cross. Jn.19:25, and remains until it was over and the body removed. She waited until the body is placed in sepulcher (Mt.27:61; Mk.15:47; Lk.23:55). She is with Salome and Mary, the mother of James when they "bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint" the body. Mk.16:1.  The next morning, accordingly, in the earliest dawn, Mt.28:1; Mk.16:2, they came with Mary, the mother of James, to the sepulcher. Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb and had found it empty, and had seen the "vision of angels." Mt.28:5; Mk16:6. It was to her first, that Jesus appeared after his resurrection. Jn.20:1-15.

From the scripture, this is all we know about Mary Magdalene. While she occupies a position of prominence from the scriptural record, it is interesting that people have sought to make her reputation disreputable. There is no authority for identifying her with the "sinner" who anointed the feet of Jesus in Lk.7:36-50. Neither is there any authority for the supposition that Mary Magdalene is the same as the sister of Lazarus.  It is the Roman Catholic Church that is guilty of fastening this slander upon Mary Magdalene when at Naples, in 1324, it established its first “Magdalen House” for the rescue and maintenance of fallen women or prostitutes, and hence the reputation that she was a prostitute began here. Of late, with the printing of Dan Brown’s fiction “The DaVinci Code” he seized upon another “legend” that she was the wife of Jesus, bearing him a son and continuing the bloodline of Jesus to the present day. While good fiction, there is no biblical evidence to support it, and the so called “evidence” has been found to be a forgery.

If Jesus thought enough of Mary to heal her, accept her company, appreciate her compassion and respect her as a woman, why shouldn't we do the same? If anything her example shows us what forgiveness can accomplish in the life of a person, the strength that it can give us, and the faith that can sustain us. The world can have its fiction, I will take Mary….a woman honored with being the first to see Jesus resurrected in glory. I look forward to that day!