Lessons Learned: Mary Magdalene

Scripture in the following story is in italics and is from the New Living Translation of the Bible.

Luke 8:1 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

We do not know much about Mary Magdalene from scripture.  We do know from the above passage Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus.  We also find her at the cross in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40. One last place we find Mary Magdalene is in John 20, where she is the first one to see Jesus after his resurrection.  As with other Lessons Learned stories, I will add a lot of fiction to tell Mary Magdalene’s story.  By the way, I learned from my research Mary was probably from a town named Magdala and that is why she is call Mary Magdalene.  I also learned she was probably wealthy as she was one of the women who supported Jesus and his disciples during his ministry. 

Mary Magdalene’s story

I was only thirty-five years old when my beloved husband died.  He suffered from a long illness.  After he died, I fell into a deep depression.  Most days I did not even want to get out of bed.  My maidservant would bring me food to try to get me out of bed.  She would open the windows and scold me to go outside.  Sometimes, I would shock myself by crying and screaming at her.  Other times I would laugh at all her efforts.  I just wanted to be left alone!  This went on for two years and got progressively worse.  I was beginning to be frightened of myself.  It felt like I was being controlled by someone or something and I could not do anything to stop it.

Until one day I met Jesus!

My maidservant convinced me to go outside.  I was just sitting by my door when Jesus and his disciples were walking by.  Jesus was talking to them and suddenly, he stops and turns and looks at me.  He said “Mary, you can be healed, you only have to believe.”  What?  He knows my name!  I do not know who this guy is or how he knows my name, but I so want to be healed from this war raging within me.  “Who are you?”  “I am Jesus, the Messiah.”  The Messiah!  “Tell me how I can be healed!”  “Believe I am the Son of God and you will be healed.”  Suddenly, the thing that was in me threw me to the ground and I heard its voice.  It had to be its voice because I never heard myself screech like that!  It said, “leave us alone son of the Most High!”  I was in shock, but I slowly realized what was happening.  I had a demon in me.  I cried out with my own voice to save me from this evil thing.  And I was!  Just like that Jesus saved me and I was myself again.

My maidservant saw the whole thing and she was crying.  I ran to Jesus and fell on my face before him.  “Please teacher, let me come with you.”  There were other women in the group.  They smiled at me and welcomed me.  I went to me maidservant and told her to help me pack a change of clothes and some money.  I told her I would be back and to keep my home ready for my return.  I hurried to the group.  They were all listening to Jesus tell a story about a farmer planting seeds.

And so, that was how I met Jesus my Savior.  I went with him and his disciples all over the countryside.  I saw Jesus heal many others.  I listen to his teaching.  I also helped with support and cooking of meals.  I learned so much during that time.  Then I learned we were heading to Jerusalem.

I knew the Jewish leaders hated Jesus because he had so many followers.  He would gather large crowds when he was teaching and preform miracles.  Jesus did not care if it was the Sabbath, he only cared he was helping people.  On the first day of the week of Passover Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  The crowds were shouting for joy “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  I was so happy that day but come Thursday night my joy turned to sorrow.

After the Passover supper Jesus went to the garden to pray.  He seemed very distraught.  Suddenly Judas and some soldiers came to arrest Jesus.  Judas had the nerve to come up to Jesus and kiss him!  Jesus did not resist and went with the soldiers.  I kept back with the other women as we followed Jesus to be tried.  It was the longest night.  I watched as they questioned him and then beat him.  He stood before Pilate and Pilate asked the crowd what he should do with Jesus?  They shouted, “Crucify him!”  No, I wanted to scream!  Yet I feared this crowd, so I kept my mouth shut.

The soldiers placed a heavy cross on Jesus’ shoulders and made him walk through town to the hill where they crucify people.  The other women, including Jesus’s mother, followed the crowd.  We were all weeping while we watched the soldiers place nails in Jesus’ hands and feet and nailed him to the cross.  Then they dropped the cross into a hole to hold it up right.  I saw the anguish on Jesus’ face.  He hung there for hours.  It grew dark yet it was only the afternoon.  Finally, Jesus cried out “It is finished!”  And he died!

We found out where they laid Jesus’ body.  It was in a tomb with a large stone rolled in front of it.  We decided to go Sunday morning after the Sabbath was over and put spices around the body to help with the smell.  I spent the Sabbath at Joanna’s house.  We tried to be brave to each other, but I know neither one of us got much sleep.  I woke up real early in the morning.  It was still dark, but I knew I could not wait for dawn to go to the tomb.  I lit my lamp and hurried to the graveyard.  How could I row the huge stone away from the door?  I thought to myself but when I got there, I saw the stone was rolled away.  I decided to tell Peter and John what happened,so I ran to where the disciples were.   “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

I watched as Peter and John ran to the tomb.  John looked in but did not go in, but Peter did.  Then John went in.  I stayed outside.  They came out and went home.  I was crying.  Where have they taken Jesus’ body?  I looked in and saw two white-robed angels sitting where Jesus’ body would have laid.  They asked me 13“Dear woman, why are you crying?”  I answered, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.” 

Just then I saw someone standing near me.  I thought maybe it was the gardener.  He spoke to me “Dear woman, why are you crying?  Who are you looking for?”  “Sir,” I said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

16“Mary!” Jesus said.

Then I knew it was the Teacher!  I turned towards him and reached out to touch him, but he said 17“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

I quickly returned to the disciples and told them what Jesus had to me.  “I have seen the Lord” I told them.  Jesus met with the disciples and many others before ascending to Heaven.  I watched him go up.  I can never thank Jesus enough for healing me.  I will live with him forever!

Lessons Learned from Mary Magdalene

I wonder what it would have been like to be Mary Magdalene.  The part about Mary meeting Jesus and healing her is not in the Bible so I made it up based on other stories of Jesus healing people of demons.  I do not know much about demon possession, but I do know some things about mental health.  Mary’s depression was real.  Perhaps in her weakened state of depression she, unknowingly, let the demon in.  Jesus healed her of her depression and got rid of the demons.  Are you in need of healing?  Jesus still heals today.  I am not saying he will heal you, but have you asked him?  He does not heal everyone, I know, because I still have a lot of back pain when I am at work.  Yet, every day I see his mercy on me as I get through another shift at Walmart.  My grace is sufficient.  Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God and he can heal you?

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Here is a couple of full length novels about Mary Magdalene from Christianbook.

Mary Magdalene By Diana Wallis Taylor Long maligned as a prostitute or a woman of questionable reputation, Mary Magdalene’s murky story seems lost to the sands of time. Now a portrait of this enigmatic woman comes to life in the hands of an imaginative master storyteller. Diana Wallis Taylor’s Mary is a woman devastated by circumstances beyond her control and plagued with terrifying dreams–until she has a life-changing confrontation with the Savior. Mary Magdalene By Bruce Chilton After two thousand years of flawed history, here at last is a magnificent new biography of Mary Magdalene that draws her out of the shadows of history and restores her to her rightful place of importance in Christianity. Throughout history, Mary Magdalene has been both revered and reviled, a woman who has taken on many forms—witch, whore, the incarnation of the eternal feminine, the devoted companion (and perhaps even the wife) of Jesus. In this brilliant new biography, Bruce Chilton, a renowned biblical scholar, offers the first complete and authoritative portrait of this fascinating woman. Through groundbreaking interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton shows that Mary played a central role in Jesus’ ministry and was a seminal figure in the creation of Christianity.Chilton’s descriptions of who Mary Magdalene was and what she did challenge the male-dominated history of Christianity familiar to most readers. Placing Mary within the traditions of Jewish female savants, Chilton presents a visionary figure who was fully immersed in the mystical practices that shaped Jesus’ own teachings and a woman who was a religious master in her own right.