Mary Magdalene is one of the most mis-remembered women in history. Attempts to undermine her legacy have been largely successful. She is mostly remembered as a demon-possessed sex worker and sometimes thought to be a would-be lover of the Messiah if he were to give into such impulses. Popular portrayals of Mary can be found in the Da Vinci Code, Godspell, The Last Temptation of Christ (in which she is the the last temptation!!!), and even Family Guy. But what does the biblical text actually say about Mary? And how did her legacy get so twisted? And how can we think about what her legacy could otherwise have been?
The New Testament Texts
First, the only part of her popular contemporary legacy that has any biblical basis is that she was exorcised of 7 demons. This is recounted both in Luke 8:1-2 and Mark 16:9. However, as a note, Mark 16:9 is from the so-called Longer Ending of Mark which is not found in the earliest manuscripts. Most scholars believe it was added in the late 2nd or early 3rd centuries and likely was intended to line up the Markan account with the Lukan account. In any event, the biblical text does claim that Mary was possessed by 7 demons. Let me stress, underline, and all-caps that the understanding of demon possession in the ancient world was not simply about someone becoming a mouthpiece of the devil, nor was it necessarily a reflection of some sort of moral failing on Mary’s part. Demons were thought to be responsible for a whole litany of human problems – from sickness to bad luck. Perhaps we are to understand that Mary was possessed because of some moral failing on her part. But perhaps we are to understand that Mary was extremely ill when she encountered Jesus. The text isn’t clear, and I, for one, am in favor of giving Mary the benefit of the doubt.
Second, Mary is the first to experience an appearance of the risen Christ. Mark 16:9 explicitly states that Mary was the first person to whom Jesus appeared. In Matthew 28:9-10, Mary and the “other Mary” (not Jesus’ mother — the other one!) encounter Jesus who sends them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee. In John 20:14-18, Mary encounters Jesus in the garden, first mistaking him for the gardener before he simply calls her name and she sees him for who he is. It’s really a quite beautiful moment.
Third, Mary was commissioned to deliver the explanation of the empty tomb to the male disciples. She is sometimes referred to as the Apostle to the apostles. Her commissioning is told in Mark 16:7, Matthew 28:7, and John 20:17.
Jane Schaberg describes Mary’s New Testament presence like this: “According to all four Christian Testament gospels, Mary Magdalene is a — perhaps the — primary witness to the fundamental data of the early Christian faith. She is said to have participated in the Galilean career of Jesus of Nazareth, followed him to Jerusalem, stood by at his execution and burial, found his tomb empty and received an explanation of that emptiness.”(1)
Conflating Mary with other NT women
The assumption that Mary was a sex worker is actually an unfair conflation of Mary with other women in the Gospels. Mary’s unsuccessful attempt to anoint Jesus in the tomb often gets linked to three other anointing scenes: Mark 14:3-9 with its parallel in Matthew 26:6-13, John 12:1-8, and Luke 7:36-50. In each of these three scenes, a different woman is described as anointing Jesus’ feet. Only in the case of Luke 7:36-50 is the woman actually presented as a sex worker (which probably meant that she was a slave woman, but that’s a detail for another day). None of those women are named and none of them are Mary Magdalene.
Erasure of Mary’s Role among Early Jesus Followers
In Galatians 1:18-19, Paul talks about how, after his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went to Jerusalem and spent some time with Peter and James only. He makes no mention of Mary, or any of the other disciples. Paul also omits Mary from his list in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 of those who encountered the risen Christ, even going so far as to say that Christ appeared to Peter and the other disciples first. Now, if Paul learned the story from Peter and James when he was in Jerusalem, then that means that Peter and James omitted the women from the story. The alternative is that Paul chose to omit them. Since the Gospels were written after Paul wrote his letters (Paul was writing in the 50s and the Gospels were written from the late 60s to perhaps the 80s), perhaps the Gospel writers told the story of the women to set the record straight.
Mary in Early Christian literature
Mary’s early legacy extended beyond the texts that made the New Testament. She is found in several early Christian texts, including 5 found at Nag Hammadi: The Gospel of Thomas, Dialogue of the Savior, First Apocalypse of James, Gospel of Philip, and the Sophia of Jesus Christ. She also has a gospel in her name: the Gospel of Mary. In this material, attention is paid to her apostleship and speaking. She is not denigrated as a “sinner” or “whore.” She is a prominent follower of Jesus, a woman who spoke boldly and had a leadership role corresponding to that of the male disciples. Though often in open conflict with the male disciples, her place was defended. She was a visionary who was praised for her superior understanding. She was identified as an intimate companion of Jesus.(2)
Mary’s Legacy
Mary’s legacy is so much more than “reformed sinner.” She was a faithful follower of Jesus, even to end. She was there when he died and she encountered him first when he rose. She is a model of leadership and devotion for all. It’s high time to set her story straight.
(1) Schaberg, Jane. The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and the Christian Testament. New York: Continuum International Publishing, 2002; 65-66.
(2) Schaberg, Jane. The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and the Christian Testament. New York: Continuum International Publishing, 2002; 129.
Jillian D. Nelson, PhD 