BY GINNY BAXTER

Who was Mary Magdalene? She has been portrayed as a sinner, prophet and saint, among other things. She appears in all four Gospels, but only briefly, and the Bible gives no specifics about her life outside her discipleship.  She lived 2,000 years ago, yet people throughout the world know her name. And we continue to talk about her. Why does Mary Magdalene continue to fascinate us?

“It is Mary Magdalene who is the KEY figure in (the) historical reconstruction of what happened Sunday morning after the crucifixion with the discovery of an empty tomb,” says retired professor James Tabor.

Either alone or with one or more other women named Mary, she goes to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, only to discover that the stone blocking the entrance has been moved away. Jesus’ body is gone.

3 Women or One?

We first meet Mary Magdalene in Luke 8, where we learn she became a follower of Christ after he cast out seven demons from her. The Bible says she had “demons,” but modern religious scholars suggest she suffered from some sort of mental illness and/or epilepsy.

Whatever her problem, the point is that she suffered greatly and was suddenly freed from her debilitating condition through Christ’s healing power.

Magdalene was not her surname but rather identified as a woman from Magdala, a fishing town by the Sea of Galilee. This identifier should have been enough to separate her from other women, but it wasn’t.

During a sermon or homily, in 591 A.D., Pope Gregory I created a composite woman of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany and an unnamed prostitute.

Thus, Mary Magdalene became – in the eyes of the Western church – the sister of Lazarus and Martha, as well as a repentant sinner. This same pope also interpreted the seven “demons” to mean the seven deadly sins and condemned her for them as well.

No one knows whether this version of Mary was the result of real confusion by Pope Gregory I or a deliberate attempt to denigrate the real Mary Magdalene. But it wasn’t until 1969 that Pope Paul VI corrected the mistake.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/womantowoman/2024/03/why-does-mary-magdalene-continue-to-fascinate-us/