Mary Magdalene Title


Mary Magdalene ImageIf Jesus was married, is there any indication in the Gospels of the identity of his wife?

On first consideration there would appear to be two possible candidates--two women, apart from his mother, who are mentioned repeatedly in the Gospels as being of hs entourage. The first of these is the Magdalene--or more precisely, Mary from the village of Migdal, or Magdala, in Galilee. In all four Gospels this woman's role is singularly ambiguous and seems to have been deliberately obscured. In the accounts of Mark and Matthew she is not mentioned by name until quite late. When she does appear, it is in Judaea, at the time of the Crucifixion, and she is numbered among Jesus' followers. In the Gospel of Luke, however, she appears relatively early in Jesus' ministry, while he is still preaching in Galilee. It would ths seem that she accompanies him from Galilee to Judaea--or if not, that she at least moves between the two provinces as readily as he does. This in itself strongly suggests that she was married to someone. In the Palestine of Jesus' time it would have been unthinkable for an unmarried woman to travel unaccompanied--and even more so to travel unaccompanied with a religious teacher and his entourage. A number of traditions seem to have taken cognizance of this potentially embarrassing fact. Thus, it is sometimes claimed that the Magdalene was married to one of Jesus' disciples. If that was the case, however, her special relationsip with Jesus and her proxmity to him should have rendered both of them subject to suspicions, if not charges, of adultery.

Popular tradition notwithstanding, the Magdalene is not, at any point in any of the Gospels, said to be a prostitute. When she is first mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, she is described as a woman "out of whom went seven devils." It is generally assumed that this phrase refers to a species of exorcism on Jesus' part, implying the Magdalene was "possessed." But the phrase may equally refer to some sort of conversion and/or ritual initiation. The cult of Istar or Astarte--the mother goddess and "Queen of Heaven"--involved for example, a seven-stage initiation. Prior to her affiliation with Jesus the Magdalene may well have been associated with such a cult.

One chapter before he speaks of the Magdaene, Luke alludes to a woman who annoints Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark there is a similar annointment by an unnamed woman. Neither Luke nor Mark explicitly identifies this woman with the Magdalene. But Luke reports that she was a "fallen woman," a "sinner." Subsequent commentators have assumed that the Magdalene, since she apparently had seven devils cast out of her, must have been a sinner. On this basis the Magdalene and the woman who annoints Jesus came to be regarded as the same person. In fact, they may well have been. If the Magdalene was associated with a pagan cult, that would certainly have rendered her a "sinner" in the eyes not only of Luke but of later writers as well.

If the Magdalene was a "sinner," she was also, quite clearly, something more than the common prostitute of popular tradition. Quite clearly she was a woman of means. Luke reports, for example, that her friends included the wife of a high dignitary at Herod's court--and that both women, together with various others, supported Jesus and his disciples with their financial resources. The woman who annointed Jesus was also a woman of means. In Mark's Gospel great stress is laid upon the costliness of the spikenard ointment with which the ritual was performed.

The whole episode of Jesus' annointing would seem to be an affair of considerable consequence. Why else would it be emphasized by the Gospels to the extent it is? Given its prominence, it appears to be something more than an impulsive spontaneous gesture. It appears to be a carefully premeditated rite. One must remember that annointing was the traditional perogative of kings--and of the "rightful Messiah," which means "the annointed one." From this it follows that Jesus becomes an authentic Messiah by virtue of his annointing. And the woman who concecrates him in that august role can hardly be unimportant.

In any case it is clear that the Magdalene, by the end of Jesus' ministry, had become a figure of immense significance. In the three Synoptic Gospels her name consistently heads the lists of women who followed Jesus, just as Simon Peter heads the list of male disciples. And, of course, she was the first witness to the empty tomb following the Curcifixion. Among all his devotees it was to the Magdalene that Jesus first chose to reveal his Resurrection.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus treats the Magdalene in a unique and preferential manner. Such treatment may well have induced jealousy in other disciples. It would seem fairly obvious that later tradition endeavored to blacken the Magdalene's background if not her name. The portrayal of her as a harlot may well have been the overcompensation of a vindictive following intent on impugning the reputation of a woman whose association with Jesus was closer than their own and thus inspired on all too human envy. If other "Christians," either during Jesus' lifetime or afterward, grudged the Magdalene her unique bond with their spiritual leader, there might well have been an attempt to diminish her in the eyes of posterity. There is no question that she was so diminished. Even today one thinks of her as a harlot, and during the Middle Ages houses for reformed prostitutes were called Magdalenes. But the Gospels themselves bear witness that the woman who imparted her name to these institutions did not deserve to be so stigmatized.


Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Page 333 - 335


Stars Divider


Holy Blood, Holy Grail
by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln
Mary Magdalene
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Other Resources
References   Magdalene Links


stars divider


Free Guestbooks by Bravenet.com
View my Guestbook

Free Guestbooks by
Bravenet.com

Stars Divider


Shekinah created and maintained by Lady Elizabeth
Web set designed by Moon and Back Graphics
Shekinah is hosted by Elysium Gates


stars dividerstars dividerstars divider

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional