APOSTOLA APOSTOLORUM - WHO WAS MARY MAGDALENE?

All images in this article are courtesy of the author.

She is the Apostle to the Apostles, follower of Jesus, woman, companion, and the first witness. Her name as we know her is Mary Magdalene. While I believe we will never know the full story of Mary--how she lived before meeting Jesus, how she carried his ministry after his death and resurrection, where she lived the rest of her days, and how she died--we can conclude through scripture and history the kind of person, friend, disciple, and woman she was. Through Mary’s story, we witness the risk-taking, rebel-with-a-cause Jesus set out to be. We are left with little doubt that Mary Magdalene must have had one of the closest relationships to Jesus of all the disciples. She was the one at Jesus’ feet for the entire Passion. She was the one chosen and entrusted to witness the resurrection and given the task of telling the others. 

I think most folk’s understanding of Mary comes from the standard interpretation that she was a sex worker healed of seven demons, and possibly the same woman who lovingly wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears and long hair. If I’m being honest, that is all I knew of Mary before studying her as a prerequisite to writing her icons over the last couple of years. I discovered that we have a highly misunderstood grasp of Mary’s story thanks to an oversimplified sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in 591. He took several known stories of Marys from the Bible and combined them into one fictional “Mary” for the ease of preaching, forgetting that “Mary” was a very common name at the time. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Mary Magdalene was a sex worker. (In fact, any time Mary is part of a scene, she is referred to by her entire name.) 

Was this a way for the church to effectively and posthumously demote Mary’s story and experience? Arguably yes, because she was a woman. Male sexuality and power were closely linked, and female sexuality was synonymous with passivity. Anything or anyone that threatened their testosterone levels was discounted. A woman associated not just with female sexuality and passivity, but also sex work, makes her a particularly “bad sinner,” retaining the stain of immorality even after her healing experience with Jesus himself. And let’s not kid ourselves, we know what many people still think of women in ordained ministry to this day. 

Through much research and learning from scholars far more versed on the subject of Mary Magdalene than myself, I discovered it is significantly more likely that Mary was independently wealthy and helped Jesus fund his ministry. The short version is that Mary Magdalene took her last name from the place she came from rather than a man who she might have been married to. Magdala was a prominent fishing town and a gateway to many other locations, a very wealthy place indeed. So a woman of her time is more likely to have had money of her own considering her identity comes from the place she lived. So, does it matter that Mary wasn’t a sex worker? I would argue yes. While it’s important to know that Jesus hung out with all sorts of people deemed to be “sinners” (his very own disciples were great examples of the kind of people he sought after), it’s also important to know that this idea of her being a sex worker came from a derogatory place, an opinion of a certain pope who couldn’t be bothered with an explanation of more than one Mary to the people listening to his sermon.  

Mary Magdalene and the Red Egg

A priest friend of mine once told me that a preacher ought never use props. I get it, you don’t really want someone performing baptism with a super soaker, explaining Moses’ staff with an actual snake, illustrating the Book of Revelation with real swords, or using a genuine burning bush. But I think Mary Magdalene missed the message from the art director about Jesus’ Resurrection and went straight to the props department. I’m glad she did.

Mary Magdalene’s red egg.

The story goes that two years after the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene, with a basket of white eggs in her arm, went to Jerusalem for a welcoming visit to Tiberius, the governor following the infamous Pontius Pilate. She prayed for Tiberius to be righteous to the people of Jerusalem, unlike his now deceased predecessor who ordered Jesus’ crucifixion. As Mary exclaimed her first-hand account of the Resurrection to Tiberius, using the white eggs as props, Tiberius became skeptical. He replied, “Jesus has risen like the white eggs in your basket are red. If what you say of Jesus and his miracles are true, then the white eggs will turn red. Only then will I believe.” But as we know from past mystical and miracle stories of the Bible, one does not make accusations like that and not expect a result. The eggs then turned as red as the Nile River in the first plague of Egypt. Mary, smiling in satisfaction, handed a red egg to Tiberius and kept one for herself. She said, “Christ is risen,” and the new governor, wide-eyed and filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, “truly, he is risen.” 

Χριστός ἀνέστη  -  αληθώς ανέστη 

(Christos Anesti)            (Alithos Anesti)

In the Greek Orthodox custom, the traditional greeting on Easter, and for the next 40 days until the Ascension, is “Christos Anesti,” or “Christ is risen,” followed by the response, “Alithos Anesti,” or “truly he is risen.” 

Red eggs are a popular Easter tradition in the Orthodox church as well. On Holy Thursday, eggs are dyed using yellow onions, a natural red dye, in remembrance of the life-giving blood of Christ. The white egg itself represents the marble tomb of Jesus’ body, the tomb from which life came out, while the strong outer shell represents the sealed tomb. The red color symbolizes the blood Christ shed for us, the cloak the Roman soldiers draped on the “King of the Jews” while mocking and torturing him, and the joy of the Resurrection. The color red is also believed to ward off evil. 

Easter Sunday is reserved for cracking the eggs, or egg “paquing” as referred to in Cajun country where I live. Holding their eggs in a clenched hand, participants tap each other's eggs, symbolizing the “cracking” of the tomb upon the Resurrection; if your egg cracks, you lose. The winner with the toughest egg wins a symbolic “blue ribbon” badge of honor.

The Myrrhbearers

According to my friend Stefanie, a practicing member of the Greek Orthodox Church, it is common to have a strict fast during Holy Week. Wednesday of Holy Week is the sacrament of Holy Unction where attendees are blessed and anointed with oils. On Good Friday, soulful Lamentations are sung in Greek, English, and Arabic, where Stefanie says, “the service is so beautiful, you can just feel God’s presence.”

Myrrhbearers

When Stefanie’s daughter was young, she dressed in white as a “myrophorae,” or myrrhbearer. Myrrhbearers refer to the women who were involved in the burial process and care of Jesus Christ and who discovered the empty tomb, chief among them, Mary Magdalene. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who played important roles in Christ’s burial by removing his body from the cross, providing the tomb and essentials such as clean linen, myrrh, and aloes for a proper Jewish internment, are also included. The young “myrrhbearers” are present during Holy and Great Friday, Saturday, and Great and Holy Pascha. 

The Color Red - A Meditation

Red is the bleeding sacred heart.

Red is the blood running down his face where the crown of thorns lacerated his forehead, its sharp edges pushed deep into his skin. 

Red is the wine in the cup we passed and drank from that last night together.

Red is the Nile River that Moses turned to blood in front of his own brother in the first plague of Egypt all those centuries ago. 

Red is the tears Mother Mary shed asking God why she had to suffer the torture of losing her son and bearing witness to his tragic death, her hands soaked in crimson. 

Red is the color of our tattered clothes and the color of my lips when they kissed his cheek.

Red is love because Jesus is love; his body covered in blood when he came off the cross, dying for all our sins and carrying our pain with him to heaven when he resurrected. 

Red is the egg that changed color before our eyes, a now silent witness to the miracles of God. 

Red is the color that unites us all, for no matter what we look like on the outside, we are of the same color on the inside. 

Red is our own bleeding hearts.

I invite you to take this time and meditate on the color RED. How does it appear? Is it a bright and burning red like fire? Is it soft like the inner pedals of a rose? Is it crimson like the dark edges of a sunset? Describe the shades of red you see with words or drawing a picture. What does this mean to you? Where has the color red appeared in your life in ways you can remember? What does the color red make you think of? How does this shade of red you’ve pictured affect your mood? 

In Conclusion

Mary, as I understand her, is a strong and devout woman who struggled with the visions set before her. But when she let that internal, hot, red fire burn, it never wavered. Her experience as the witness allowed her soul to set the world aflame. I can see her ministering to people in the wilderness and all along her path, carrying Jesus’ ministry and word far and wide. I can see people questioning her; questioning her visions, questioning her very spirit and existence, much like the new governor, Tiberius. And I can see her smiling through all of it, responding with a nod of understanding and a heart full of the Holy Spirit. I think so many people forget it all started with a woman and that serving in the world and ministering to the people who didn’t know Jesus personally all happened because of a woman.

Resources for further study

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves Leloup

Mary Magdalene Revealed by Meggan Watterson