The Magdalene: Mary from Magdala or Mary Tower?

Who was Mary Magdalene? Because early New Testament manuscripts were more difficult to search than today’s books, Mary M. has at times been confused or combined with other Marys. “Mary” is a form of Miriam, the name of Moses’s sister, whom the Bible describes as a prophet and leader. 

Some have conflated Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who anointed Jesus (Luke 7). Thus, Mary M. has been described in prose and depicted in art as a reformed prostitute. 

Others have suggested she had a romantic relationship with Jesus—or even married him!  

But the Scriptures suggest none of these things about her past. The actual details (given in Luke’s Gospel) are that Jesus cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene, and she was among the healed women who traveled with Jesus and supported him from their own means (Luke 8:2–3). She went on to be an eyewitness to the sufferings of Jesus, the first witness to see the risen Christ, and the first evangelist—announcing the Lord’s resurrection to the apostles with “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). The latter is why Thomas Aquinas, the great thirteenth-century philosopher and theologian, described Mary Magdalene as “the apostle to the apostles.” The word apostle means “sent one,” and she was sent to relay the best news ever to the “sent ones”—the twelve.

Some say this Mary was from a Galilean fishing village called Migdal, meaning “tower,” thus “Mary from Midgal.” But she could also be “Mary nicknamed ‘Tower.’” 

In the New Testament, people often appear with two names: sometimes they have a Hebrew and a Latin name; sometimes they have a Latin and Greek one. There’s John “also called Mark” (Acts 12:12); Dorcas, also Tabitha (9:36); Nathanael, who is probably Bartholomew; Silas, who is also Silvanus; and perhaps Junia is the Latin name for the Jewish Joanna. 

Then there were the nicknames. Jesus named James and John the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Our Lord also emphasized the “Peter” in Simon “Peter” (Matt. 16:18), calling him “this rock”—since that’s what “Peter” means. Thomas was “also called Didymus,” or “twin” (John 11:16). The “Iscariot” in “Judas Iscariot” probably means “man of Kerioth” (a place in Palestine), distinguishing this Judas from other men by the same name. And the “Barsabbas” in “Judas Barsabbas” means “Son of the Sabbath” (Acts 15:22). The custom of having more than one name combined with our Lord’s habit of nicknaming people in his inner circle have led some to suppose that “Mary Tower” is a description not of geography but of Mary Magdalene’s personality.

Here we have a word on the subject from the Church Father Jerome (AD 340s–420s): “The unbelieving reader may perhaps laugh at me for dwelling so long on the praises of mere women; yet if he will but remember how holy women followed our Lord and Savior and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the three Marys stood before the cross and especially how Mary Magdalene—called 'The Tower' from the earnestness and glow of her faith— was privileged to see the rising Christ first of all before the very apostles, he will convict himself of pride sooner than me of folly” (Letter 127, To Principia).

We don’t know for sure. But here’s what we do know: through the life of Mary Magdalene, we see that Christ has the power to release someone—man or woman—from spiritual bondage. Interestingly, we also learn something about the validity of the New Testament. Anyone trying to fabricate a convincing history surely would have made men the key witnesses at a time when a woman’s testimony counted as little to nothing in a court of law. Yet other than the husband of the Virgin Mary or John the apostle, women were the primary witnesses of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection. God chose women as witnesses when their word in the legal culture carried as much weight as a dust bunny.

Yet, the best part about Mary is what we learn of Jesus through her. The great British author, Dorothy L. Sayers, summed it up beautifully in a timeless observation piece she penned more than eighty years ago:  

“Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man—there has never been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as ‘The women, God help us!’ or ‘The ladies, God bless them!’; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about woman’s nature.”

Mary Magdalene speaks across the years, testifying that Jesus the Christ changes lives, setting prisoners free from all kinds of bondage. And after he has taken us from bondage to flourishing, he urges us to go and tell. 

For more about Mary M, check out Karla Zazueta’s chapter on her in Vindicating the Vixens. Also, see the work being done on her by Duke scholar Libbie Schrader. The image is of Donatello’s rendering of Mary Magdalene in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy.

Women of the Bible: "Remember Lot's Wife"

Jesus’s “Exhibit A” to illustrate “Whoever tries to keep one’s life will lose it, but whoever loses one’s life will preserve it” (Luke 17:30–32) is Lot’s wife. We find the tragic end of this woman, married to Abraham’s nephew, in Genesis 19. 

As the story goes, two angels arrive at evening in Sodom, where Lot is sitting at the city gate—doubtless because he holds judicial office there. In Proverbs 31 we see a similar reference, as the “husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land” (Prov 31:23). This detail about Lot suggests he is deeply embedded in Sodom and fully aware of what goes on there.

When Lot sees the two figures approaching, he gets up to greet them, bows his face to the ground, and urges them to lodge with him. Hospitality was a core value in the ancient Near East. 

The visitors decline, saying they’ll stay in the town square. But Lot insists. So they enter his house. And Lot cooks them a feast. But before they can rest, the unthinkable happens. Old and young men from Sodom surround Lot’s house demanding access to these visitors. “Where are the men who came to you tonight?” they ask. “Bring them out to us so we can ‘know’ them!” “Know” here is a Semitic idiom for sex. So, the men of all ages in Sodom want to have forced sex with Lot’s visitors.

Imagine Lot’s horror! Gang rape? Attack guests? But Lot shows he’s no Boy Scout, either. He steps outside his house beyond the angels’ earshot, calls the men of Sodom “brothers,” and offers an alternative: “I have two daughters who have never ‘known’ a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please” (v. 8). Great dad, huh?   

But Lot’s proposal fails. The men of Sodom don’t want women. They want men. So they attack Lot, insulting him by calling him a “foreigner” and threatening to hurt him even more than they planned to hurt his guests (v. 9). And they press in on Lot so much that they almost break down his door. 

Fortunately for him, the ones inside quickly rescue Lot by pulling him in, shutting the door, and striking the attackers with blindness. At this, the visitors urge Lot to grab his family and get them to safety, because God has sent them to do what the city elders have apparently failed to do—bring justice. The angels say “The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord” that they have come to destroy it (v. 13). 

But Lot sees a complication. His daughters are betrothed, so he delays long enough to go urge his future sons-in-law to escape with the family. But they accuse Lot of mocking them.  

At dawn, the angels tell Lot to hurry up and get his family out, or they’ll be destroyed along with the cities in the area. But Lot hesitates. So his visitors grab the hands of Lot and his family, “because the Lord had compassion on them” (v. 16). And the angels lead the group outside the city. 

Once outside Sodom’s gates, the angels urge, “Runfor your lives! Don’t lookbehind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

But Lot digs in his heels and negotiates to go to a nearby town rather than all the way to the mountains. So God agrees to spare this one town for Lot. 

Finally, when the sun has risen, the Lord rains down sulfur and firefrom the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 24). In fact, God overthrows the entire region except the town where Lot and his family have taken refuge. 

God has shown mercy on mercy to this family. And they have one job—run without looking back! But what does Lot’s wife do? She flagrantly disobeys by looking back. And what’s more, she does so with longing. 

That’s why she is destroyed along with that which she desires. She dies with her old life rather than experience the rescue and new life mercifully offered.     

Jesus said that “in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building” but suddenly one day when they least expected it, they were destroyed (v. 29). Jesus added, “It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back (vv. 30–32). No delaying to talk to the future sons-in-law. Because he will appear suddenly: “There will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.” And “There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” Jesus exhorted his listeners, “Remember Lot’s wife!”

God had spared Noah’s family. Similarly, God plucked Lot’s family out of destruction. But Lot’s wife chose, with longing, to look back rather than forward. She preferred a community that accepted gang rape over a chance to start over with her family. And Jesus told his followers to remember her—to let her serve as a warning. She tried to keep her life, but she lost it. She longed for what destroyed, and ultimately it destroyed her.

What are your longings? Do they bring life or death? Do they contribute to your ultimate flourishing or to your ruin? Will you keep looking back? Or will you fall on the mercy of God?

Photo by Christian Garcia on Unsplash

Women with a Past?

Recently, I was a featured guest on the Journeywoman podcast. The topic was women in the Bible with a past. But in this case, they had a clean past but got labeled otherwise. Have a listen.

Vindicating the Vixens

On March 23 at DTS, I moderated a panel discussion with Dr. Glenn Kreider, Sarah Bowler, Sharifa Stevens, Dr. Timothy Ralston, and Karla Zazueta about women in the Bible whom we have either vilified or marginalized. Vindicating the Vixens (Kregel Academic, forthcoming) is the result of a diverse team of 16 male and female theologians who’ve partnered to take a second look at vilified and marginalized women in the Bible, and we got some of the contributors in Dallas together to talk about our findings. The church has often viewed women’s stories through sexist eyes, resulting in a range of distortions. In this panel discussion, three of us DTS profs and three graduates talk about the women we explored.Order Vindicating the Vixens.

Nain: The Perfect Setting

The Tapestry blog at bible.org, to which I contribute, now has a new name: Engage. My latest post on Engage is about the widow of Nain and what the setting of her story reveals about a very important person.

Samaritan Woman: Stay Away from Me?

My Tapestry post for the week: 

Ireceived a question this week from a former student, Vernita, about theSamaritan woman, whose story John records in the fourth chapter of his Gospel.

Vernita:I'm looking for any credible historical data to support the statements I'veread in some commentaries which suggest the Samaritan woman was an outcast inher society and came to the well later in the day than most women in order toavoid the scorn of that crowd. Are you aware of any writings that specificallyand definitively state that, or would that be speculation based on what we knowabout that society?

Me:English translations tell us, "It was about noon" (Jn.4:6). The Greek says it was the sixth hour. Some take that to meanfrom midnight—that is, 6 a.m. But because John elsewhere gives the time ofJesus's death as being about the sixth hour (19:14), or noon, making itcorrespond with the time Passover lambs began to be sacrificed, it is morelikely that in the John 4:6 reference he also means noon. Butknow there is some discussion about whether it is actually noon in the firstplace. 

Nowthen, much meaning has been read into this time detail. Sure, it is possiblethe Samaritan woman was at the well alone because she was a moraloutcast. 

Butit’s also possible she was there because she was infertile and poor–thus, sheherself went instead of sending one of her children. Some of our Africanfriends have this expression: “An infertile woman sends her own thigh.” Sincethe Samaritan woman had no one else to send, she had to go herself.

Manyassume women drew water only once a day. But if we look at the developing worldtoday, women may go to haul water three times a day or even more–depending onhow much water they need and how much they can carry in one trip. So weprobably should not assume there was only one set time for most to gather.

Ourknowledge of more agrarian cultures can help us here. And based on what I’veseen in the developing world, I suspect this woman was actuallynot anadulteress or a fornicator. Rather, she had endured the loss of six husbands.Some of them may have died. And some (most) might have left her. Infertilitycould have been a key reason. Women in Samaria typically could not just up anddivorce their husbands. Especially not five of them. How would they eat if theydid that? No, it was the men who typically initiated divorce. So she hadprobably been dumped and/or bereaved of her man five times.

Thesixth time, she had to settle for a polygamous arrangement to keep fromstarving. If so, she would have been the wife who got stuck doing the workbecause she could not bear children. This scenario better fits a society wherewomen were treated as chattel (they were in first-century Samaria), and itaccounts for why a grown woman would be fetching water. It also better fits acontext in which women did not typically initiate divorce, and where women whowere infertile were often abandoned. 

Noticein Luke’s story about Elizabeth and Zechariah that when the formerly infertileElizabeth conceives, she rejoices that she no longer feels shame in thesight of the people (Luke 1:25, emphasis mine). It was “shameful”for a woman in first-century Palestine to be infertile. If the Samaritan womanwas actually avoiding other women, infertility is the more likely factor. 

If suchis the case, imagine the impact of Jesus's words: "Go call yourhusband."

"Idon't have one."

"You'reright. You've had five five, and you have to share the one you have now."Said with compassion. And concern for the grief and injustice. (Not facing herabout her sin.)

"You'rea prophet! (How else could you know all that?) We're hoping forMessiah!" 

"IAM."

Jesus,who usually talks in enigmatic statements about his identity, comes right outand tells this woman longing for Messiah that he’s the one! And suddenly thesocial hider is running to make a public announcement.

Throughthe centuries, we have tended to see sexual sin lurking in the closets of mostwomen in the Bible. Certainly Jesus saves sinners. But in light of what we knowof cultural background, especially in this case, I think we need another look.

If, indeed,Jesus was not confronting this woman about her sexual failures, but was showingempathy, what might that tell us about the wisdom of beginning our evangelismconversations with confrontations about sin?  

This Year in Jerusalem!

Come with us to the land of the Marys, Martha, Hulduh, Priscilla....

Join me, along with Dr. Beverly Lucas, for a Women of the Word tour, June 10–21.

The trip begins in Ephesus, Turkey, and ends in Jerusalem. In between, participants will explore much of Israel as seen through the eyes of women in the Bible. Visit Huldah's gate at the Jerusalem Temple site and contemplate what it meant to be an Old Testament prophetess. Explore Ephesus and consider the influence of the Artemis cult on the first-century church. At the site of ancient Joppa, focus on the life of Dorcas, whom Peter raised there.

Two options are offered for those seeking DTS credit: Women of the Bible and the Land as Setting for Fiction. But you don't have to be a student to join us. It's open to everyone.Download a trip brochure here. We'll limit the group to one bus.

Join Us?