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ST MARY MAGDALENE
Down the centuries, there has always been a great interest in Mary
Magdalene, the follower of Jesus who was the first witness of the risen
Christ. This is reflected in the dedication of 187 English churches to
Mary in ancient times, including our own Littleton church. She is also a
very mysterious figure, about whom there are many legends in addition to
the Bible accounts.
Her name is most likely to have been a reference to the fact that she
came from Magdala, a town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, about
fifteen miles from Nazareth. What does the Bible tell us about her life?
In the gospel of Luke, it is said that she was healed by Jesus, who
drove seven demons out of her. Subsequently, she became part of a group
of women who followed and cared for Jesus and the disciples on their
travels.
St Mary Magdalene Author unknown Wood inlay picture
Clearly Mary persevered
in this task to the very end, for the gospels agree that she was one
of those present at the Crucifixion. In paintings of the
Crucifixion, the image of Mary mourning beneath the Cross has been
depicted on countless occasions, and this is one of the main ways in
which she is remembered. The gospels go on to record that she was
present when the body of Jesus was placed in the tomb, and watched
the great stone being rolled across the entrance.
Most important of all, though, is her role in the Resurrection
accounts. The gospels tell us that it was Mary, together with a few
other women who had followed Jesus, who discovered early in the
morning that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had risen from the
dead. (The gospel of John describes how she mistook someone outside
the tomb for a gardener, only to find that it was the risen Jesus!)
She then reported what had happened to the disciples, the first
person in history to spread this good news.
This is all that the Bible tells us for certain about Mary, although there are many other theories about her. For instance, was it she who anointed Jesus with perfume at Bethany, wiping his feet with her hair? What are we to make of the tradition, not in the Bible, that she was a reformed prostitute? And what happened to Mary later in life? Did she, as some suggest, continue her journeys, with John the Apostle and Mary the mother of Jesus, finally ending up in Ephesus?
Whatever the answer to
these questions, the resounding point about Mary is that she was the
first witness of the Resurrection. The fact that, in a
male-dominated time, it was a woman rather than a man who was the
first witness, is the most eloquent testimony that Christianity has
always been a religion for both women and men.
Mary Magdalene kneeling by Gabriel Wuger 1868
