Mary Magdalene

The Argument

Mary Magdalene is the most significant figure in the Resurrection narratives, and the significance is literary as well as theological. She is the first person to whom the risen Christ appears. In John's account, she mistakes him for the gardener until he speaks her name — and in that single word, Mary, the entire theological argument of the Fourth Gospel is concentrated: the Resurrection is not a general category but a personal address.

The centuries of legend that have accumulated around Mary Magdalene — identifying her with the sinful woman of Luke 7, with a prostitute — are not supported by the text and represent a sustained misreading. The text is clear: she was a woman from whom seven demons had been cast out, who followed Jesus, who was present at the cross when most of the men had fled, and who was the first witness to the empty tomb.

If the evangelists had been inventing the Resurrection story, they would not have chosen a woman as the primary witness in a culture where women's testimony was not admissible in court. The fact that she is the witness is evidence that the evangelists were recording what happened.