In the Garden

Tomorrow, the church remembers Mary Magdalene.

Some may identify her as Jesus’  closest confederate.

Others honor her as Apostle to the Apostles.

Still others perpetuate the falsehood that she was a prostitute prior to knowing Jesus.

And there even has been plenty of inter-century speculation that her relationship with Jesus was perhaps more  domestic, perhaps even marital.

A woman of mystery? Of intrigue? Here is a summary of research on the subject:

For nearly 1,500 years, Mary Magdalene has carried a reputation the Bible never gave her. She was not a prostitute. Scripture never says she was sexually immoral, only that Jesus healed her and that she became one of his most devoted followers. The label was the result of a sixth-century sermon that merged several different women of the Gospels into one person—a conflation the Eastern Church never accepted and that modern scholarship has long rejected.

The real Mary Magdalene needs no embellishment. She stood at the cross. She waited at the tomb. She was the first witness of the Resurrection and the first person commissioned to proclaim, “I have seen the Lord.” Far from diminishing her, the Gospels present her as one of the most courageous and faithful disciples of Jesus.

And, for me personally, I will always remember her as the woman in the garden, grieving for his loss, when he speaks her name, “Mary.”

Can you imagine the joy she felt? Let’s just say, it changed the world.