The Church for whatever reason or reasons has been wrong about Mary Magdalene…for like, forever. She is not who we thought she was…

It is sometimes held that Mary Magdalene was the woman that Luke tells us about who washed Jesus’ feet and then dried them with her hair…all of this was – despite her having “a highly unsavory reputation.”

Jesus reportedly said, “I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven because she loved much.”
It’s a powerful story…and it would be nice to think that this woman and Mary Magdalene were one in the same…but that does not make it so.

There is nothing in the scriptures that says that Jesus saved her from a crowd attempting to stone her, either.

Practically everyone knows that when Jesus and the twelve were on the road-he and the 12 were supported by a group of women whom he’d cast evil spirits out of once. Mary was in that group.

How many spirits, what kind of evil or demon is all conjecture.

Suffice it to say, he healed them and they were grateful and believed or trusted in him.

Obviously, for a woman of that time Mary Magdalene had some money. She was not dirt poor and living off the kindness or the charity of her neighbors.

The traditions of her being a loose woman, a woman of the streets are all inaccurate as well. There is absolutely nothing to substantiate them.

What we do know is that she and some other women were major sponsors of Jesus’ ministry from early on…and a great many of them stuck with him to the very end…and even beyond.

Again, Mary Magdalene was one of them.

She had faith in Jesus and in the power of his God.

Where Jesus and the twelve went, these women supporters often times followed.

They listened to his every teaching. With the men and the crowds they saw the various healings.

They witnessed the miraculous all the time.

These women characters are always in the background or behind the texts.

We can only imagine that they would cook and wash and were traveling companions. They were an essential part of Jesus’ entourage.

Who knows maybe they even spoke to the other women of the villages, towns, farms and cities…they visited.

All four Gospels agree on one vital detail about Easter morning: in the early morning hours, when it was still dark, women went to Jesus’ tomb. The specifics of that early morning visit vary from Gospel to Gospel (how many women were at the tomb, how they responded to what they saw and heard), but the presence of the women is a constant.

As with the women’s vigil at Jesus’ crucifixion, the tradition does not speculate about this further display of faithfulness by the women. It simply accepts it as an essential part of the story of the resurrection.

Mary Magdalene is always present in all four accounts, so she too, is a constant.

When one finishes the Gospel accounts one gets the idea of the pivotal place women occupied in the unfolding of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel accounts.

They are a presence.

They probably offered their two cents worth from time to time, as well.

Jesus I believe would have given them voice and not only allowed, but freed them, to speak.

Just the fact that they were his benefactors and traveling companions says a great deal, not only about him, but about them, as well.

According to John’s Gospel, Mary is the first witness to the empty tomb.

How ironic is it that the first witness would be a woman, when everyone knew it took two men to give their words in order for their word to be trusted. A woman’s word meant nothing.

Therefore, it was considered to be idle gossip, no one would believe her…it took two men, Peter and John to run to the tomb to confirm her word.

That Jesus sends her out isn’t even a question today: “But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God.”

And Mary goes. She is sent out. Now just so you know – the definition of an Apostle – is “one sent out”…clearly Mary Magdalene fits the bill.

Her apostleship should never have been questioned, but it needs to be noted that it took the church almost 2,000 years to acknowledge her.

Today we celebrate, Mary Magdalene, Apostle! And I think, it is awesome… and about time!