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Mary of Magdala was the first to witness the Resurrected Christ
and sent by him to tell the others including Peter. She came from Magdala, a place identified in
the Jewish Talmud as Magdala Nunayya, “Magdala of the fishes.” This is a village
north of Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Like
Peter, Andrew, James and John, Mary was called to leave a fishing village to
accompany Jesus in his mission. She was first among the women who went to the
tomb with myrrh to anoint the body of Jesus in preparation for his burial. For
this reason, she is frequently depicted holding a vessel of myrrh.
The
final chapter of Mark’s account of the Gospel contains two possible endings for
the story of Mary Magdalene. In the
shorter version a young man dressed in a white robe tells Mary Magdalene, Mary
the mother of James, and Salome that Jesus has risen, and instructs them to go
and tell the disciples (and Peter) that he is going before them into Galilee.
The women are afraid and tell no one.
In
the longer version, Jesus appears only to Mary Magdalene who tells those who
had been with him, but they do not believe her.
In Luke the first appearance by Jesus after the Resurrection is on the
road to Emmaus. In Mark this appearance
happens later on the same day as the appearance to Mary Magdalene. This is the
last time Mary Magdalene is mentioned in any of the Gospel accounts, and she
does not appear in the Book of Acts and or any of the epistles.
The non-canonical
Gospel of Philip calls Mary Magdalene the koinônos of Jesus, a Greek word
meaning partner or companion. This supports popular speculation that Mary
Magdalene's special relationship with Jesus roused the envy of the male disciples,
especially Peter. In the
non-canonical Gospel of Mary, Peter says to Mary Magdalene, “Sister we know that the Savior loved
you more than the rest. Tell us the words of the Savior which you
remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.”
She
answers, “What is hidden from you I will proclaim” and she begins to tell what
them she saw. Unfortunately, the
following four pages describing what she saw have been destroyed, perhaps intentionally. The narrative ends with Mary Magdalen falling
silent when Andrew says to Peter, “Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in
preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and listen to her?
Did he prefer her to us?” She asks Peter if he thinks she made it all up or
that she is lying, whereupon Levi comes to her defense and accuses them of
all being too adversarial. Levi says, “If the Savior made her
worthy who are you indeed to reject her?”
Mary
Magdalene's proper role as Apostle to the Apostles was confirmed by the Holy See and her memorial was elevated to the level of a feast in 2016. This title is supported by the canonical
Gospels, and by the writings of Hugh of Cluny (1024–1109), Peter Abelard
(1079–1142), and Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). Pope John Paul II wrote, “Mary Magdalene was
the first eyewitness of the Risen Christ, and for this reason she was also the
first to bear witness to him before the Apostles. This event, in a sense,
crowns all that has been said previously about Christ entrusting divine truths
to women as well as men.”
