Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles

History has not been kind to the valiant daughter of Magdala. Dismissed, tarnished and relegated as an afterthought in Christ’s journey by individuals within the secular world, this is a travesty for the memory of Mary Magdalene, whose loyalty to Jesus in his direst time of need was only eclipsed by that of Our Lady and matched by the Apostle John. Although bestowed with the honour of Sainthood by the Catholic Church, in popular culture, she continues to be misrepresented.

If one is to analyse the perception of this brave companion of Christ through a mainstream lens, the most prominent portrayals of her are that of a prostitute in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar and a mystical sexual partner of Our Lord’s in Dan Brown’s fictional novel The Da Vinci Code. This is as much an insult as it is a distraction from the deeds of Mary Magdalene. To not blame the secular world entirely for the besmirching of this great woman, one must also acknowledge the sermon given by Pope Gregory in 591 AD, where Mary Magdalene was confused with the “unnamed sinner” who washed Jesus’s feet in the book of Luke. As is the case with any other Pope, sermons may have Papal authority while that Pope is in situ but are open to question and further scrutiny once their Papacy reaches its conclusion.

The fact is that there is no Biblical account to substantiate the prostitute hypothesis. As with most matters in life and history, the story is far more complex. The correct Biblical account is that Mary Magdalene had seven demons driven out of her body and soul by Christ which, until this point, had overwhelmed her. She was a sinner, hardly unusual for a human being in this era or any other, but was also an individual worthy of canonisation by her actions of honour, decency and faith. This lady, unlike most sinners, turned away from her former ways and embraced our saviour in a manner that few have matched since. She followed Christ up the hill for the horrific walk with the cross on that ghastly day in Golgotha, fearless and unperturbed by the consequences of such public support, which could not be said for Christ’s apostles with the exception of John. She then assisted him in his removal from the cross with Our Lady and anointed his Holy flesh for burial. This was a person who refused to disown Jesus when needed most, this was a lady with no selfish agenda, serving the Lord before her own desires and who refused to wallow in despair after the horrific circumstances unfolded during his crucifixion. Instead Mary Magdalene showed the virtues that any friend should show; support, respect and the willingness to maintain a daily deed for a person even if they are no longer of this Earth, which for three days would have been her perception regarding Jesus’s death.

Mary Magdalene felt the anxiety of Christ when condemned by Pontius Pilate. She heard the crackling of the whip against his flesh by Roman soldiers, witnessed him fall three times with the burden of the cross and bore the pain of watching his hands and feet get nailed through for a slow and torturous end. However, Mary Magdalene was rewarded by this obedience and continued adherence to Christ, being the first person to see the boulder of Christ’s tomb removed and his body absent, which was then concluded with her interaction with Jesus. By then informing the Apostles of Christ’s resurrection, Mary Magdalene was the seed who planted the good news into humanity to spread far and wide, akin to God’s crops in the fields nourishing us all with the guarantee of eternal life with God and his Son. Mary Magdalene was the source of hope for our very first Pope, Simon Peter, that Jesus had risen and he could seek forgiveness and make amends for his threefold renunciation, which was sorrowfully predicted by Christ. Mary Magdalene, both in her life and in her spreading of the glorious news of the resurrection, symbolises the turning of a tide and the changing direction of a road which at times can seem destined for infinite sadness to a brighter tomorrow. She is the embodiment of the categorical truth that when serving Christ, one can always take comfort in God’s will of eternal salvation for anyone who follows the lead of his only begotten son.

As Christians, we must attempt to reclaim her narrative and follow the example of this extraordinary and sincere woman by allowing Christ to drive out any demons which may lurk in the darkest corner of our sinful souls. May we apply her loyalty and obedience when hearing Christ proclaim in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”