What do we know about Mary Magdalene?
We know a few things about Mary Magdalene from the Bible, and can make educated guesses on other things about her.First, Mary Magdalene was freed of seven demons when Jesus cast them out of her (Luke 8:2). She became a follower of His.
This Mary was there when Jesus was crucified. She would have witnessed Jesus' mock trial, Pontius Pilate sentencing Jesus to crucifixion, and the beating He took. She followed Him to Golgotha and witnessed His death (Matthew 27:55–56). Then, she was one of the first to meet the resurrected Jesus. He sent her to tell others (John 20:11–18). Mary Magdalene was also most likely among the women who waited with the apostles for the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14).
Some have associated Mary Magdalene with "a woman of the city, who was a sinner" (Luke 7:37) who poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet in Luke 7:36–50. Her name indicates she was from Magdala, which did have a reputation for prostitution, and Luke first names Mary right after this account. But there is no scriptural evidence to support that the women are one and the same. The Bible nowhere explicitly refers to Mary Magdalene as a prostitute or "sinner."
She is also sometimes thought to be the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53—8:11, whom Jesus saves from being stoned. Though the movie "The Passion of the Christ" identifies her as this woman, there is no evidence this is Mary Magdalene.
Dan Brown's fiction novel "The DaVinci Code" claims Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. Though there were non-biblical early writings (viewed as heretical by the early church) that hinted at a possible romantic relationship between the two, there is no evidence, biblical or otherwise, that Jesus was married. The Bible nowhere even hints at the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He told Mary to stop clinging to Him, but then told Thomas to touch His hands. Why the difference?
Was Jesus married?
Is God/the Bible sexist?
What is alabaster? What are the stories in the Bible with an alabaster box?
How is Jesus a friend of sinners?
Truth about People in the Bible
