Mary Magdalene is of high importance in the story of Jesus, not just for the role she played as one of the women by the cross , but throughout all the gospels she appears and is seen with Jesus and the disciples.
This week, after reading the Easter story again and again, I have been wondering even more about Mary Magdalene, who she was, what did she do and do we have a good image and picture of her?
I came across a very interesting website, The Junia Project,with a recent blog, called The Women Who Stood by the Cross, by Gail Wallace. The words below are taken from the blog, which makes excellent reading;
“Some women were watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Salome. When Jesus was in Galilee, these women had followed and supported him, along with many other women who had come to Jerusalem with him.” (Mark 15:40-41)
We know from all four gospel writers that a number of women were present at the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and that some of those women were also at the burial and the empty tomb. Who are these women who stood near the cross, and what can we learn from their example of discipleship?”
It has long been argued that Mary Magdalene is wrongly portrayed and the emphasis has been on her femininity, rather than in her devotion and support of Jesus in his teaching and throughout his life.
There is a recorded Gospel of St Mary, which was found in Egypt in 1896, and was not included in the canon.
It is widely though that Mary went to France after the crucifixion and from the book Mary Magdalene by Esther de Boer it concludes that many of her relics are at the Benedctine Abbey in Vezeley, France.
Mary Magdalene remains for me a central character, disciple and apostle of Jesus. Worthy of spending some time in research to look at her role from a woman living in Magdala on the shores of the Sea of Galilee to follower of Christ.
Rev’d Sue Martin