No 11

(Mary Magdalene)

A seventeenth century philosopher once said “a reputation once broken may possibly be repaired but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was”; Mary Magdalene has had such a fate. For some reason Mary has been the target for some very malicious treatment over the centuries. She has been called a prostitute and a terrible sinner; she has even recently been called Jesus’ lover who bore His children (The Da Vinci Code).

The name Magdalene stands for where she came from – Magdala near Tiberius in Galilee; an extremely wealthly but corrupt city. So it is quite possible that Mary was rich. We first hear of her in the Gospel of Matthew where she is at the empty tomb (Matt 27) but she actually comes into the picture in Luke 8:2 where the Bible says “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,” She had undoubtedly placed her faith in Jesus Christ and was delivered of the demons; nowhere in the Bible does it say that she was a prostitute or even a sinner, for that matter. She kept good company – Mary the wife of Clopas, he was the one who Jesus met on the road to Emmaus; Salome, the mother of James and John and Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus. Scripture does not give Mary Magdalene’s age so it also quite probable that she was as old as the other women she travelled with; nowhere does the text say that she was young and attractive as some writers or artists have depicted her.

Most importantly of everything, Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ – Mark 16:9 “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” The devil hates the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, so he has tried to discredit Mary over the centuries but this devout and faithful woman of God had the privilege of testifying to the bodily resurrection of the Messiah which is in itself reason for us to praise the Lord for Mary Magdalene.