Sometimes, to consider Mary Magdalene as a less-than-virtuous figure has its merits. In that context, Mary shares the status of the tax collectors with whom Jesus shared a meal, showing that he was a friend to unsavory types. When we’re feeling at our worst, we might think, "Well, if Jesus welcomed her, perhaps he’ll welcome me, too."

However, if we move beyond the common misperceptions about Mary Magdalene, we discover a woman who is a heroine of the faith.

When we hear her name, do we remember that Mary Magdalene witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus, or that she was diligently seeking his body to anoint it with oil on the fateful Easter morning the angel turned her away, saying “he is not here”?

Still something about Mary

Regarded as the “apostle to the apostles” in the third century, by the sixth century her story had been merged with that of two other Marys of Jesus’ acquaintance. This resulted in a “composite figure of the sexually aberrant penitent” (Oxford Dictionary of the World’s Religions, Oxford University Press, 1997, John Bowker, ed.). “Mary Magdalene’s image became distorted when early church leaders bundled into her story those of several less distinguished women whom the Bible did not name or referred to without a last name. One is the ‘sinner’ in Luke who bathes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them with ointment,” writes David Van Biema in a March 11, 2003 Time magazine article. Van Biema’s article puts forth two possible explanations of why the compilers of the gospels merged the Marys. One possibility is that the merger simplified the cast of characters in the gospels and provided a back-story for a major figure, Jesus.

A more sinister theory suggests that compilers actively tarnished Mary Magdalene’s image in an attempt to reduce her significance in the gospel. She’s the woman who appears with most regularity in the gospel. Yet, we tend to paint her with broad strokes and remember her alleged transgressions more than we remember her ministry.

There are positive legends attributed to Mary Magdalene. In one story she is called to the palace to explain the resurrection of Jesus to a very skeptical Tiberius Caesar. The confrontation occurs during a meal, and Caesar declares that Christ could no more have risen from the tomb than the egg in Mary’s hand turn red. It does.

Imagine how the rumor mill must have cranked up after that momentous feast.

The recent publicity around Dan Brown’s book and now film, The Da Vinci Code, has done little for Mary’s image. The Mary we meet in the gospel is an example of an independent woman, one who used her own financial resources to support the ministry of Jesus and his disciples. The Mary we meet in The Da Vinci Code is significant only because of her alleged romantic ties to Jesus.

In the past few decades, women have struggled to achieve great things and to be recognized in our own right for our successes.
Gone are the days when women were referred to in news articles as the “wife of so-and-so.” Our gospels clearly recognize Mary Magdalene as a great woman, an apostle and a saint. The Mary Magdalene of the gospel is a strong (and as far as we know, single) woman who puts Jesus first in her life. She makes a choice.
Yet our most popular contemporary work of fiction insists that her most important achievement may have been as the wife of Jesus. Would it obscure Mary Magdalene’s greatness if she were the spouse of Jesus? Absolutely not. But is speculation about such a relationship necessary for us to admire and respect our sister in faith? Absolutely not.

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