CNN series FINDING JESUS: Mary Magdalene...

The last of the CNN series FINDING JESUS was on Mary Magdalene.

This topic does not help us “find” Jesus or clues of him on earth but it is a tantalizing tale with many “ifs” that people just love to speculate about and people have been speculating about her from the very beginning.

When I was growing up Catholic, Mary Magdalene was thought of as a prostitute whose sins Jesus forgave. Well that is now considered FALSE and blamed on Pope Gregory the Great (not so great) who claimed that the UNNAMED prostitute in the Bible who washed Jesus’ feet in oil and dried them with her hair was actually Mary Magdalene…he made that up we now know.

Actually Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the Gospels twelve (12) times which suggests she was a real factor in the life of Jesus. Many historians feel her role was downplayed by the Gospel writers because she was a woman in a patriarchal world and therefore could not be given important status.

The fact that Mary was the first person Jesus “chose” to appear to after his resurrection, according to the Gospels, gives her a status totally elevated above the apostles. In fact, The Gospel of Mark portrays most of the apostles as dumb as dirt type people who had trouble understanding the message of Jesus.

Non-canonical gospels discovered throughout the world such as the Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Phillip and even The Gospel of Mary suggest a much larger role for Mary in the life of Jesus. Historians believe that there may be a grain of truth in some or all of them. Some of these gospels state that the apostles, especially Peter, were extremely jealous of Mary since Jesus spent so much time with her talking and kissing; imagine that!

In fact, some historians consider Mary as the “Apostle to the Apostles” as they speculate that Jesus confided in Mary more than in the male apostles who were not as bright?

Some have romanticized the role of Mary saying she was the wife of Jesus, maybe his lover and even saying that there may have been children produced by the union; imagine that!

It seems clear that Mary as well as other female camp followers did provide money to the Jesus group; they had to eat you know. If Mary was the financial sponsor of Jesus’ mission, some historians believe she was much older than the common understanding of her as the same age as Jesus since the chance that a young woman was wealthy is less than an older woman who may have inherited her wealth from a dead father, etc.

You may be aware of the fact that MUHAMMAD the inventor of ISLAM was also taken under the wing of a wealthy older woman who he married and loved and who was his mentor for many years.

Anyway, Mary disappeared from history soon after the resurrection. The Gospels say Peter took over as leader of the group but it was JAMES, the brother of Jesus who really did. Mary was marginalized because of her gender as were other women in early Christianity who were actually bishops in the Church at one time; men always won in those days.

Mary Magdalene is a biblical figure which we probably will never know the truth about but she is enough of a factor for historians and historical fiction writers to speculate about. Too bad the Catholic Church chose to marginalize her as well as other females as it may have made the lot of women in the world a little easier.

This CNN series on Jesus has ended but another series has begun on a different channel. This one explores what “may have” happened after Jesus was crucified. I say may have because the gospels do not cover this period in detail so I am anxious to see what the writers have come up.