The Trouble with Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is known as one of the primary women, if not the most important woman in the life of Jesus of Galilee. Though many believe Mary, the mother of Jesus, is reverently held as being the more important of the two, it is obvious that Mary Magdalene may have been more so. After all, regardless of how Jesus's birth came about, she was still only his mother whereas Mary Magdalene was one of his most important disciples, certainly one of his Apostles, and may have even held his heart.

When Pope Gregory I (c. 540 - 604), who was also known as Gregory the Great, stated mistakenly or purposely about Mary Magdalene, "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices?" By his personal interpretation of her "affliction", he himself determined that Mary Magdalene was nothing more than a prostitute who began to follow Jesus and his teachings. What it actually did was allow men in the church to disempower any females from holding positions that, by their nature, commanded influence and power over others.

Although the Catholic Church did not actively side with Pope Gregory, the very act of omission (evidenced by not correcting his statements and views) and by omitting to say there was not any proof for the claim of prostitution, effectively gave their stamp of approval. By allowing their church members to be given erroneous yet self-serving information that benefited only the male leaders of the church and the presiding government, not only was the Bible once again re-written to serve men, but created a class separation between men and women, who were supposed to be totally subservient to men.

For women in general, they came to be viewed as, not only the weaker sex, but also the sexual tempters of men with all the vices held only by females used to torment and trouble men. Pope Gregory I, not only alluded to Mary Magdalene as using her womanly attributes to seduce men, but he combined three different women into one single woman who became the ultimate and most important representation of all the reasons for why women were not suitable as leaders. This was in direct contrast to what Jesus himself believed, in that women were equal partners. There are instances where she was called the Apostle of the Apostles, giving her the leadership role ahead of any of the other followers, including the male apostles, thus making her effectively his second-in-command.

This religious and ritualistic abuse of Mary Magdalene continued for another fourteen centuries until 1969 when the Vatican officially separated Mary Magdalene from the sins of the alleged prostitute known as Mary of Bethany. It was an easy explanation and a believable excuse to say she was misidentified and misrepresented, but the underlying truth is that the Church knew from the beginning and allowed the exploitation of Mary Magdalene to continue because it suited their purposes. Unfortunately, the abuse of Mary Magdalene continues through to the present time, even in several dictionary descriptions, such as the American Heritage Dictionary and encyclopedias like the Columbia Encyclopedia, which continue to state she is a "repentant prostitute".

The fact of the matter is that Mary Magdalene had more courage, honesty, strength, and fortitude in one little finger than did any of the male apostles. It was a man, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and almost all the other apostles fled, losing their faith and hiding in fear of what could happen to their personal safety. Mary Magdalene did not run and she, along with other women, stayed with Jesus throughout his ordeal from beginning to end.

Nevertheless, Mary Magdalene has been held in the highest regard by ordinary Christians throughout the ages from before the death of Jesus until the present day, in spite of how their religious leaders continued to malign and smear her name. She has been considered one of the Saints since at least the first century - albeit often erroneously as a repentant prostitute and a sinner that became a disciple of Jesus.

Also scoffed at is the idea that Mary Magdalene may have been Jesus's lover, if not his wife. Only those in power and those who have been brainwashed over the centuries believe they meant nothing to each other beyond mere friendship, or that it was only a teacher-pupil relationship. There is ample evidence that she was a constant companion, that he had strong feelings for her, and was known to "kiss her on the mouth", an indication minimally showing a closer relationship than just "being friends". In the Gospel of Philip, Philip calls her the "consort" of Jesus, his companion that he loved more than other women.

Amazingly, the naysayers of this "love affair" throw out caveats, saying that people typically kissed when they met during Jesus' time on earth. It would seriously be in doubt that everyone kissed on the mouth as a normal activity during such greetings. As Sherlock Holmes said, "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". It would be an act of common sense to believe a man would care for a specific woman to the point that she would be considered his consort, his companion, his lover, and maybe even his wife.

Others go on to say that, although it was the norm for rabbis or "teachers" to be married, it is only Jesus who is supposed to have been unusual enough that he had no significant interest in women. Then again, this same mindset determined which gospels or canons were "divinely inspired" scriptures and which were heretical in nature, noting that many of the Gnostic books, which were conveniently left out of the Bible, give women equal standing with men.

In the Gospel of Thomas, Simon Peter also states, "Let Mary go forth from among us, for women are not worthy of the life." Simon Peter, the one whom Jesus said was the rock on which he would build his Church, was jealous of Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus, stating in the Gospel of Mary, "Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"

The apostle Levi immediately rebuked him, saying, "Peter, you are always irate. Now I see that you are contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the Savior knew her very well. For this reason he loved her more than us. And we should rather be ashamed and put on the Perfect Man, to form us [?] as he commanded us, and proclaim the gospel, without publishing a further commandment or a further law than the one which the Savior spoke." (From the Gospel of Mary)

The account of Saint Mary Magdalene illustrates how a person's superior reputation can be desecrated, defiled, sullied, and dishonored by repeated disparaging observations and interpretations concerning her life and personal relationship with Jesus. In Mary Magdalene's case, the period comprised almost 2000 years of victimization by those considered religious leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, including the highest attainable position of Pope. In fact, Mary Magdalene could easily be described as a virtual victim of domestic abuse with the Catholic Church as her abuser.

Sources:
Who Was Mary Magdalene?, by James Carroll, Smithsonian magazine, June 2006
Gnostic Gospels, Texts of the Nag Hammadi Library, The Gnostic Movement
Mary Magdalene, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2008