First, let's clarify her name. In all four Gospels, she is known as Mary of Magdala, which means "Mary, the one from Magdala." Women in her particular culture were usually identified as "the wife of," or "daughter of," or "sister of," to show their relationship to someone in their patriarchal household. Instead she is identified by the well-known city - Magdala - where she came from, which means that she was probably a prominent citizen of that city. Thus she was probably a single, rich, independent woman, free of the patriarchal naming system. This is also proof of a sort that she was not Jesus' wife (as suggested in "The Da Vinci Code") or she would have been identified in Scripture as "Mary, the wife of Jesus."
What else do we know about her? She was not a prostitute who repented after meeting Jesus, and then spent the rest of her life doing private penance.
Sr. Christine Schenk, C.S.J.,Executive Director of FutureChurch, tells us: "Nowhere in scripture is Mary of Magdala identified as a public sinner or a prostitute. Instead, scripture shows her as the primary witness to the most central events of Christian faith, named in exactly the same way (Maria e Magdalena) in each of four gospels written for diverse communities throughout the Mediterranean world. It was impossible to relate the story of the Resurrection without including 'Mary, the one from Magdala.'
"Luke 8:1-3 tells us that Mary traveled with Jesus in the Galilean discipleship and, with Joanna and Susanna, supported his mission from her own financial resources. In the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Mary leads the group of women who witness Jesus' death, burial, the empty tomb, and His Resurrection..... John's gospel names Mary of Magdala as the first to discover the empty tomb and shows the Risen Christ sending her to announce the Good News of his resurrection to the other disciples. This prompted early church Fathers to name her "the Apostle to the Apostles."
"That the message of the resurrection was first entrusted to women is regarded by scripture scholars as strong proof for the historicity of the resurrection accounts. Had accounts of Jesus' resurrection been fabricated, women would never have been chosen as witnesses, since Jewish law did not acknowledge the testimony of women....
"Why are contemporary Christians uninformed about Mary's faithful discipleship and prominent leadership role in the infant church? One explanation is a common misreading of Luke's gospel which tells us that "seven demons had gone out of her." (Luke 8:1-3) To first century ears, this meant only that Mary had been cured of serious illness, not that she was sinful. According to biblical scholars such as Sr. Mary Thompson, illness was commonly attributed to the work of evil spirits, although not necessarily associated with sinfulness. The number seven symbolized that her illness was either chronic or very severe.
" In 312, when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the empire, the Christian community was caught in a cultural conflict as it moved from worship in house churches where women's leadership was accepted, to worship in public places where women's leadership violated Roman social codes of honor and shame. In the fourth century, male church leaders at the Council of Laodicea suppressed women leaders because of the belief that women were created subordinate to men. During this same time period, we see the memory of Mary of Magdala changing from that of a strong female disciple and proclaimer of the Resurrection to a repentant prostitute and public sinner. Scholars such as Dr. Jane Schaberg believe this was done deliberately to discourage female leadership in the church.
"As knowledge of Jesus' many women disciples faded from historical memory, their stories merged and blurred. The tender anointing of Mary of Bethany prior to Jesus' passion was linked to the woman "known to be a sinner" whose tears washed and anointed Jesus' feet at Simon's house. The anointing texts combined all of these women into one generic public sinner, "Magdalen." Misidentification of Mary as reformed public sinner achieved official standing with a powerful homily by Pope Gregory the Great (540-604).
Henceforth, Mary of Magdala became known in the west, not as the strong woman leader who accompanied Jesus through a tortuous death, first witnessed his Resurrection, and proclaimed the Risen Savior to the early church, but as a wanton woman in need of repentance and a life of hidden (and hopefully silent) penitence. Interestingly, the eastern church never identified her as a prostitute, but honored her throughout history as 'the Apostle to the Apostles'.
"The 2002 publication of The Da Vinci Code ignited widespread controversy about the true role of Mary of Magdala. Unfortunately, Dan Brown's book, while an engaging fictional narrative, has done a disservice to the historical Mary of Magdala and other early women church leaders. Though The Da Vinci Code conveys a beautiful ideal of the essential unity of male and female, it is ultimately subversive to women's full and equal leadership in the church because it focuses on the fiction of Mary's marital status rather than the fact of her leadership in proclaiming Jesus' resurrection.
"There is no historical or biblical data to support speculation that Mary of Magdala was married to Jesus. The contention that ancient writers didn't mention their marriage and offspring for fear of Jewish persecution doesn't really hold up because John's gospel and most of the apocryphal literature were written after the fall of Jerusalem, when there would have been nothing to fear from Jewish authorities. If Mary of Magdala were Jesus' wife and the mother of his child, it is highly unlikely that these texts would have omitted these important facts, especially since she is prominently portrayed in both as the primary witness to the resurrection and a female leader who, in many ways, understood Jesus' mission better than did the male disciples....
"Contemporary scholarship has rightfully restored our understanding of Mary of Magdala as an important early Christian leader. Now she becomes the same inspiring role model for twenty-first century disciples that she was for first century Christians."
Heidi Schlumpf, in the "U.S. Catholic," April 2000, issue, mentions the common tradition in the Eastern Churches of icons of Mary of Magdala portraying her holding an egg:
"A legend in the Eastern tradition has Mary of Magdala traveling to Rome and appearing before the court of Emperor Tiberius. When she tells Tiberius about Jesus’ death and Resurrection, he challenges her story, saying no one could rise from the dead any more than an egg in a dish on the table could turn red.
"With that, according to the legend, Mary picked up an egg and it turned bright red in her hand. To this day, icons of Mary Magdalene often depict her holding an egg, and Eastern Christians still color their Easter eggs a bright red."
Now, some seem disappointed that Mary of Magdala was not a "serious sinner;" for them, that story reinforced their love for Jesus as the merciful one who always welcomes sinners. But, on the other hand, what a role model the REAL Mary of Magdala is! She is a courageous follower of Jesus, who doesn't turn and run away when he is arrested and dies a bloody, painful death. She is the one who speaks first with the Risen Christ. She is an independent leader in the early church, one who preaches the Good News to the apostles. Once we reclaim her for who she really was, we can move past the historical subordination of women's role in the Church.
If Jesus chose Mary to preach the Good News of his Resurrection to the apostles - including Peter - why can't women preach the Good News in some of our Christian Churches today? If Mary, and many other women, could lead house churches in the earliest days of the Church, why can't women lead Churches in some Christian traditions today? Reclaiming Mary of Magdala makes these questions ever more real and vital. Will we answer them with the love and freedom to act that Jesus gave his dear woman friend? Will we call women by their true beloved names as full-fledged disciples, equal to men in every way? Pray, my friends, that in wisdom and love, our Churches can reclaim women's rightful roles as faithful followers of Jesus who are also courageous leaders.