Mary Magdalene

Message for worship on the 12th day of the fourth month, 2026 given by Elizabeth Terney.

^{Matthew 27:55-61; 28:1-10}

²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

In a couple ways, I wish I was coming to you this week with a celebratory message about Jesus’ triumph over death. After all, it has been a tough week, a scary week, one marked by military threats against an entire civilization.

Jesus tried to teach us to live outside the domination system that plagued the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. Some of us listened. Some of us had Jesus’ message tainted by a domination system that continues.

Today I’m going to talk about one way in which that domination system is still intertwined with and strangling Jesus’ message of egalitarianism.

Two weeks ago, I spoke to you about Mary and Martha of Bethany, and in my last paragraphs, I mentioned that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany had been conflated with the sinner woman in Luke’s Gospel, who anoints Jesus's feet with perfume and tears. I emphasized that the texts never suggest that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene were the same person, and especially never suggest that either is the sinner woman, which has been defined for hundreds of years as a reformed prostitute.

Stories are never innocent, never impartial. They carry the weight of perspective, ideology, and cultural values. The story of Mary Magdalene as a reformed prostitute was not an innocent story. It lessened the reputation of a powerful, strong woman in the gospels. It helped fuel the idea that women should not lead in the Church. The story I tell you today about Mary Magdalene is also not impartial. I speak today as a female pastor, in a Quaker Meeting, in a time when women’s roles in society are being questioned by those in power in our country.

Today I want to talk about what we know about Mary Magdalene, not only from the canonical Gospels but from a brief discussion of the so-called Gnostic gospels, which tell us something about how Mary Magdalene was viewed in some factions of the early Church. By canonical, I mean those Gospels chosen to reside in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Mary Magdalene is given very little introduction in the gospels. Only in Luke (and later added to Mark) is any mention of illness or infirmity made. Luke reports that Jesus cast seven demons from her. In all four canonical gospels and the noncanonical gospels, this the only mention of any blemish on Mary Magdalene. Given the amount of healing that takes place in Luke, it’s not terribly surprising that the women who followed Jesus from Galilee would be mentioned to have been healed.

Mary Magdalene is singled out as having had seven demons removed from her. However, the Gospel does not equate these demons with sin or impurity. But this mention of the seven demons is used to support the legend of Mary Magdalene, the repentant prostitute.

Mary Magdalene appears in each of the four canonical gospels. In all four gospels, Mary Magdalene is at the crucifixion. Jesus is not alone and rejected. The male disciples may have run, but the women stayed. Mary Magdalene stayed.

She is a witness to the burial of Jesus, but she is not the sole witness. She is always accompanied by at least one other member of the group of holy women. The presence at the tomb provides the women with knowledge of where he was buried, but also a chain of evidence that he was dead and then resurrected.

In all four gospels, Mary Magdalene is among those who first discover the tomb is empty. In Matthew, she is accompanied by the “other Mary.” In John, she is alone. In Luke, she is with a group of women from Galilee. And in Mark, she is also with a group of women from Galilee who run off afraid and tell no one. In the disputed ending of Mark, Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene, who is commissioned to tell the disciples. In all but Luke, Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Christ.

Indeed, Mary Magdalene is commissioned to tell the disciples about the resurrection in all four gospels.

She is never immediately believed.

With the shifting sands of oral history, for these commonalities to be present is astonishing. Indeed, her name is presented in each of the Gospels as if we already know who she is, likely because her story was well known by all the gospel writers. It may have been unfathomable that much of the story would be lost in the sands of time. Her name is curious as well, some will point out. Sometimes she’s called Mary of Magdala, which was a small village on the Sea of Galilee.

 Others point out that Magdalene can mean tower. So perhaps, Mary Magdalene was the tower of the Church, whereas Peter was the rock. No way to know.

The Western view of Mary Magdalene is not the same found in Eastern Christianity. I’m not an expert on the Eastern Orthodox Church, but I do know that Mary Magdalene’s reputation does not carry the reformed prostitute smear that Western Christianity attributes to her. It would appear that most branches of the Eastern Church don’t call Mary Magdalene a sinner at all. However, the Orthodox Church in America carries this statement in their description of St Mary Magdalene, “Tradition informs us that Mary of Magdala was young and pretty, and led a sinful life .. the Lord expelled seven devils from Mary. From the moment of her healing, Mary led a new life and became a true disciple of the Savior.”

I’ve always wondered why people picture her as young and pretty. If she had the money to support Jesus’ ministry, she was more likely a widow with an inheritance.

However, despite this sinful backstory, the Orthodox Church in America calls her the first preacher of the Good News in the world. Orthodox tradition also contains stories of St Mary Magdalene heading out with the disciples to preach in Italy. She is credited with visiting Emperor Tiberias and proclaiming to him the good news of Christ’s Resurrection. She is said to have brought him a red egg, a symbol of new life. She is called Equal of the Apostles. According to this Eastern church tradition, she continued to preach in Rome until she was aged. She then moved to Ephesus near the Apostle John and died and was buried there. They credit Mary with being faithful to Jesus not only when he was surrounded by adoring crowds but also when the disciples deserted him. They say this is why he appeared to her first, knowing her faithfulness.

So, was Mary Magdalene a sinner? Is that why seven demons were cast from her? Or was she ill or infirm? I don’t believe it’s possible to know. I think the reason I’m unwilling to simply nod and say she was a sinner is that the sin most people think about when they think about women is sexual impurity. Even the Jesus-forgiven sinner woman from Luke was forever tainted by this reputation in Christianity. Many work hard today to restore dignity to sex workers, and it is an uphill battle with this country’s Puritanical roots. So no, I do not believe Mary Magdalene was sexually impure. I don’t believe she could have the status in first century Judea she did if she had been.

Mary Magdalene appears in several of the noncanonical gospels as well. I am no expert on the so-called Gnostic Gospels. Researching Mary Magdalene in the past month has led me to them.

The Gospel of Mary, which focuses on Mary Magdalene, is a strange document and not much of it has survived. Fewer than nine pages survive, which is less than half of the original document. What survives is a glimpse of a kind of Christianity that was lost for almost fifteen hundred years. It offers a radical interpretation of Jesus’ teachings as a path of inner spiritual knowledge.

I suppose it isn’t entirely surprising that Jesus’ teaching would take on different flavors in the early years. There was no New Testament, no compilation of Paul’s letters. The disciples spread out, and their only touchstones to Jesus’ teachings after his Ascension were their own memories of the events and teachings and perhaps some exchanged letters. Letters, lists of Jesus teaching, and memories meant there was a lot of oral history. Because of these churches' independent development, lack of a structure, and differing situations, early Christian interpretations of Jesus’ message varied widely.

The Gospel of Mary’s rendition of Jesus’ teaching is surprising, focusing on discovering your spiritual self beyond the material nature of the world. After Jesus teaches this to the disciples, he commissions them to go forth and preach. Then he departs. Then the disciples, including Mary Magdalene, get embroiled in a disagreement. The disciples are afraid to die for the cause. Mary Magdalene comforts them and shares a private vision she had of Jesus. After she shares, Andrew objects that her teaching is strange and refuses to believe it was from Jesus. Peter goes further and denies that Jesus would give this teaching to a woman, and jealously states that there’s no way Jesus would prefer her to them. Levi comes to her defense, accusing Peter of being a hothead. He says they should go out to teach the gospel, but the reader is left wondering which gospel these confused disciples will teach.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned in other gospels as well. She’s briefly mentioned twice in the Gospel of Thomas, is a major figure in the Gospel of Philip and Pistis Sophia – in all three, she’s placed in disagreement with Peter, but her viewpoint always wins.

In these gospels, Mary is a leader. She’s a leader in the canonical gospels as well. The Apostle to the Apostles.

Each retelling of a story is an act of interpretation, and in that act there is power. Acknowledging Mary Magdalene’s power in the gospels is one step toward a more egalitarian future.

One of the sad things about early Christianity is that women’s voices continued to be silenced. Much as happened to Mary Magdalene, women’s prophecy was shut down by rumors of sexual immorality. The early church commentator Tertullian (TER TUL LIAN) wrote of the prophet Philumene, with whom he ardently disagreed, that she had become an enormous prostitute. He sought to discredit her and chose the easiest way. Women’s voices were easily discredited.

The kind of leadership shown by Mary Magdalene in texts like the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip found real-life analogs in communities such as the Montanists, Marcionites, Valentinians, and Carpocratians – communities that were denounced by authorities. Every prominent stream of theology and practice within early Christianity that supported women’s leadership was sharply opposed, even decried as heretical.

Of course, we still have patriarchy in the wider church today. The current Secretary of Defense belongs to a fundamentalist Christian sect that decries women in leadership positions and goes as far as to say women should not vote (at least not when they’re married). Margaret Fell may have published Women’s Speaking Justified in 1666, but not nearly enough Christians listened to her.

Jesus’ teachings can be looked at through a feminist lens, and at once you see that Jesus did not treat women the way his contemporaries did. He gave them respect. He talked to them when he should not have, according to local custom. He sent them on holy assignments, like Mary Magdalene.

I wish I could fully imagine a world where we had brought the Kingdom of Heaven to the surface in our culture, our relationships, and our systems. Jesus set women to be equal to men as best he could in the time he lived. He worked to remove the divide between cultures – Jews and Samaritans, Jews and Gentiles. I believe he wished to free the slaves. I also believe he would fully support the identity statement on West Richmond Friends website: We believe that God is Love. We seek to create a vibrant, inclusive, anti-racist community that welcomes and affirms all people.

Many Christians have simply not listened to the egalitarian message of Jesus. As Christianity was accepted as the religion of the Roman Empire, the systems of domination were built in. Empires have always created their own ideologies in order to justify domination and control. These beliefs become systems of oppression over people and land alike. The theology of the empire becomes a powerful tool for masking oppression under the cloak of divine sanction. For centuries, the Christian message seemed to be understood only by a few who drifted away from the official Church, much like the Quakers did. Like the Quakers, they were persecuted. If you’re looking for a book recommendation, I submit “A People's History of Christianity” by Diana Butler Bass, to get a look at some of those movements that understood the egalitarian nature of Christ’s message.

Today I invite you to look at your own life and find the ways you are living in opposition to the insidious tendrils of patriarchy and the domination system. Are there more ways that you could?

Remember that Christ chose death on the cross over the domination and annihilation of those who acted against Him. Domination is not the way of Jesus.

We will now enter into waiting worship, an egalitarian practice of Quakers, where anyone with a divine message may speak and minister to the rest of us.