Who was Mary Magdalene?

In this chapter we find how grace goes forth in service. "It came to pass afterward, that he went through [the country], city by city, and village by village." How indiscriminate is His "preaching and announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God"!192 Anywhere and everywhere grace can go as to its sphere, but it distinguishes according to God's will; because He must be sovereign. He pardons whom He will, and whom He will He hardens. The twelve were with Him; and not they only, but "certain women who had been healed of wicked spirits and Infirmities, Mary, who was called Magdalene,193 from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who ministered to him of their substance." Thus we find grace produces fruits now, in this present life. I think it plain and certain that Mary Magdalene is not the person described in the last chapter as the woman who was a sinner. Tradition fluctuates, some supposing that the forgiven woman was Mary Magdalene, others Mary the sister of Lazarus; but to my own mind the internal evidence is conclusive that she was neither the one nor the other. In fact, there is evident moral beauty in the absence of her name. Considering that she had been a notoriously sinful woman in the city, why name her? The story was not to inform anyone who she was, but what the name of Jesus had been to her. It is His name, not hers, that is the great matter. And hence all the effect produced in her by the Spirit of God is according to this. She does not go before His face, but behind Him. She is at His feet, weeping, washing His feet with tears and wiping them with the hairs of her head. The Spirit of God, therefore, casts a veil over her person. However much she might be the object of grace, there is no indulgence of human curiosity. It was a part of the very plan of the Spirit that her name should not be mentioned. Mary, sister of Lazarus, stands before us in Scripture (whatever legends feign) a character evidently and altogether different, and remarkable, I should judge, for moral purity, as well as for that insight into God's mind which was brought about by the grace that gave it to her. "To him": so Wellhausen, with ℵAL, etc., 1, 33, Memph. Arm., Aeth. Edd. (So Harnack) adopt "to them," after BDE and later uncials, 69, Amiat. Syrrpesch cu sin.

So also Mary Magdalene, although a desperate case, manifested evil of a wholly different nature. It was not corruption, but Satan's power. She was possessed; as we are told here, "from whom seven demons had gone out." This was her scriptural description, and uniformly so wherever she is brought before us. Never is moral looseness attributed to her.

But besides Mary Magdalene, one of those who ministered to the Lord of their substance was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward.194 Thus God called where one might least expect it: and she who was connected with the Court of the false king rejoiced to be permitted to follow the despised but true King, Jesus of Nazareth.

But others were not wanting — "Susanna and many others," but of whom we know nothing, save that which grace gave them, in honouring Jesus to find their everlasting honour. They were attracted by the Lord Jesus, and ministered to Him as they could.

301 The first person that presents herself, and whose history is of profound and touching interest, is Mary Magdalene. Her name has become the expression of a bad life, or at least that of a woman come out of licentiousness, but there is nothing to justify the tradition. But that she had been completely under the power of the demon is no tradition; the Lord had cast seven demons out of her. Her state therefore had been most miserable, and she loved much. We find her with a woman constantly called "the other Mary" (Matt. 23:1), accompanying the Lord with others, and rendering Him the assiduous services of a devoted affection. But sincere as the affection of these women was for the Saviour, it was more so for the heart of Mary Magdalene than for all the others. They were fully prepared, buying aromatic spices and perfumes to embalm Him, to do all that was necessary to honour their Master; but Mary Magdalene thought of Him. They waited therefore the suitable time, and arrived at the sepulchre at sunrise. But Mary Magdalene's heart was devoid of everything save the grief of having lost Him whom she loved so much, and she was at the sepulchre whilst it was still night.

First spoken of as one who ministered to the Lord of her substance, to which is added that seven demons had been cast out of her. The two things stand in wonderful contrast; in the one she was completely under the power of Satan, and in the other she was ministering to the Lord Jesus. Luke 8:2-3. Nothing more is related of Mary until the crucifixion, when she is mentioned by name as being with the other women, gazing at the One she loved on the cross. She waited to see where the body was laid, then rested during the Sabbath, and on Saturday evening she bought spices with which to embalm the Lord's body, but early the next morning she found the tomb empty. She ran with the news to Peter and John; who came and verified her statement, but went away again to their own home. Mary however could not leave the spot; and looking again into the tomb, she saw two angels there, to whom she lamented the loss of the body. The Lord revealed Himself to her, and comforted her broken heart by speaking her name 'Mary,' to which she replied, 'Rabboni,' or teacher. He sent her to His disciples with the wonderful message, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." This would be as true of her as of them. Her deep love was thus rewarded. Matt. 27:56; John 19:25; John 20:1-18. She is really called 'Mary of Magdala,' a town near the Sea of Galilee: her name and her character are not in any way connected with the modern term of 'Magdalen.'

Designation of a woman named Mary, 'out of whom went seven demons,' to signify that she was a native of Magdala. There is nothing in the name, nor in the character of Mary, to associate her with the modern signification of the word Magdalen. See MARY.

The first mention of Mary Magdalene is in Luke 8; and the passage must be given in its entirety to enable us to apprehend rightly its true import. "And it came to pass afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and showing, the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance." (Luke 8:1-3.) In this brief statement we find what is really the subject of the chapter, namely, the ministry of the word, the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, together with its effects in souls through divine power. Mary Magdalene is first mentioned after the twelve as an example. Her former state had been shocking in the extreme; she had been possessed of seven devils (demons), and was thus the subject of demoniacal control. In what way this had come about, or in what form this Satanic power had manifested itself is not recorded; but it can scarcely be conceived that Satan could assert his power so completely over a soul, except through abandonment to a guilty and sinful life; and the account of the demoniac in this same chapter shows the awful consequence of being characterised by Satan's full sway. The fact, however, is enough that seven demons had taken up their abode in the Magdalene's soul, and had made her the vessel of their wicked power. Men might have called her a dangerous lunatic, and shunned her accordingly; in any case she was repulsive, the sport of her own unrestrained passions, unutterably wretched and miserable.

But the eye of God, in pursuance of His eternal purposes of grace in Christ, rested upon that poor blighted and defiled soul; and in His own time she came across the path of the Lord Jesus; for she was one of the lost ones He had come to seek and to save. Where He found her is not revealed; but we do know that His blessed feet trod the shores of Galilee's lake, and Magdala was not so far distant from Capernaum, where the Lord sometimes made His home during His ministry. (See Mark 2:1.) He did meet with this sorrowful outcast, and with His word of power He "cast out" from her the seven demons. He thus delivered her from the authority of darkness and translated her into the kingdom of God, which He had come to proclaim. Blessed change! She who had been the bond-slave of Satan, and made to do his bidding, however abhorrent and iniquitous, with her soul and body under his wicked control, was now brought into the blessed circle where grace was supreme, where God was exalted, and where she sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus clothed and in her right mind. It was indeed a passage out of darkness into light, out of bondage into liberty; and we may be sure that her heart made grateful melody to her Deliverer. Again we say, what a blessed change! Formerly, the seven demons held her in their grasp, but now the Lord Jesus possessed her heart, and, enshrining Himself there, drew her henceforward after Him in the path of devotedness and affection.

The first effect of the Lord's word then was deliverance; the next was attraction. We read that "the twelve were with Him" (Jesus), "and certain women, who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene," etc. Mary, therefore, was one of those who had the unspeakable privilege of being with the Lord in some of His evangelistic journeys. How came she thus to be in His company, and almost to anticipate the blessedness of those who, in the glory of the kingdom, will follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth? The simple answer to this question is that she was drawn, attracted by the grace of her Deliverer. It is a characteristic of this gospel that grace flowed out so mightily from our Lord and Saviour, that those who had become the subjects of it, in their needs and sorrows, were overmastered; and, detached from all that might have hindered them, were drawn, like Levi, to and after Him in the path of devoted discipleship. Henceforward they could not do without Him, for He had become the absorbing object of their hearts. It was so with Mary. Her one characteristic from the day of her deliverance was intense affection: she loved Him who had first loved her; and, as often remarked, nothing satisfies love but the company of its object. Thus it came to pass that Mary was found with Jesus, with Him in the abounding joy of her salvation from the power of Satan, with Him in the sorrows of His pilgrim path, with Him in the day of His rejection, and with Him in adoration because her eyes had been opened to some extent to discern the glory of His Person. She had undoubtedly much yet to learn (as may be seen as we follow her history), but she was now in the company of God's beloved Son, the One in whom all God's thoughts and counsels were centred; she delighted in the One in whom God delighted; and the One, in whose company she was found, was the only channel through which any blessing could be received. There was then no place on earth equal to that which Mary, together with her companions, occupied when they were with Christ.

How did the women respond to the grace that was in Him? It is not recorded that ever a woman spoke a hard word about Him; even the wife of pagan Pilate would have saved her husband from the guilt of condemning Him, if he had hearkened to her; and tears flowed down the faces of the daughters of Jerusalem when He was led away to His crucifixion. But what of those whom He bound to Himself by His grace and made His disciples? Some of them had been "healed of evil spirits and infirmities." Amongst these was Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils — she was not a woman of the streets as is popularly supposed, hers was a worse plight than that — a sevenfold malignant Satanic power had enslaved her and Jesus had set her free — and with her there was Joanna the wife of Herod's steward, and Susanna and many others — we are not told from what particular evils they had been delivered, but they joined together with the Magdalene in the happy grateful service of ministering to Him of their substance. They had something to give and they gave it to Him willingly and joyfully. Rich men came and ministered to Him in His death, but these women of substance cared for Him in His life (Luke 8:2-3).

Mary Magdalene was conscious of what the Lord had done for her in casting out seven demons! "She ministered unto Him." In Luke 7 we find a nameless woman, and it is wonderful grace that keeps her name secret. But people jump to conclusions and so identify Mary with her; but not so. There is nothing to show that Mary's past had been impure.

In Mary of Magdala we have one whose character has been foully aspersed, as though she had been an impure woman. Scripture does not so speak of her, nor should we, though men may call institutions founded for poor fallen ones after her name. What is recorded is, "out of whom he had cast seven devils" (Mark 16:9). It may be noticed moreover that, in the three instances of this immoral class given us in the Gospels, the Lord does not disclose their names. His grace had met the woman of Samaria (John 4), as also the sinner of the city who found her way into Simon's house (Luke 7); and to the one brought into the temple (John 8) He does not indeed speak peace, nor would He then condemn, but as the true light that searches the conscience of all He says to her, "Go, and sin no more." Mary of Magdala had in a special way been under the power of demons. We were all at one time the willing slaves of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. But Mary showed her appreciation of the mercy that had been extended to her by being one of those "who also when he was in Galilee followed him and ministered unto him" (Mark 15:44); and although she was not as well instructed as her namesake of Bethany, or she would not have brought sweet spices to the sepulchre to anoint Him, yet she showed the depth of her devotion to His adorable person by remaining there even when Peter and John "went away again unto their own home." She is a fitting type of the church, knowing the Lord when it was yet dark, and commissioned by Him to deliver that wondrous message to the disciples, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, unto my God and your God."

In this intensive evangelization throughout the land, the twelve were with Him, and also many women, three of whom are mentioned by name, all evidently having been healed of infirmities or demon possession. Mary of Magdala was one who loved much, for she had been delivered from the oppression of seven demons. This is not, as some have imagined, moral depravity, but spiritual captivity, both frightening and oppressive. Joanna is noted as the wife of Herod's steward, a man of high rank and responsibility. These facts may awaken our interest, but whatever questions we may have as to the facts are not answered. But the faith of Joanna and of Mary Magdalene brought them to the grave of the Lord Jesus on the first day of the week (Lk.24:10). Susanna is mentioned only by name.

These women ministered of their substance to the Lord. For the Lord of glory, possessor of all creation, to make Himself dependent on the ministrations of women, in lowly humility, is really a blessed testimony to the grace of His heart, while at the same time they are given opportunity to express their appreciation of His grace in a way that will receive a full reward from God.

Now, let us turn for a little to the history of the one to whom He appeared first. In the last chapter of Mark we read another, and rather different account of Mary Magdalene, from that given by John. "Now, when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not" (Mark 16:9-11). There you have very shortly told what were the facts with regard to Mary, and what was the effect of her testimony. She was not believed. Now there is something very solemn in that, if we bear in mind the message which the Lord gave her in John 20. Nothing could be more blessed than the message she carried. It is so solemn to feel it was not believed. And it is not believed today. There are very few believing souls today that have the faith of the message that Mary Magdalene carried at that time.

We may here inquire the reason why the Lord Jesus appeared to her first. I believe it was because of her devoted affection to Him, for nothing is more sweet to Christ than that. It may have been ignorant affection, but it was deep. She never forgot what and where she was when Jesus first met her. Her heart had been the abode of seven devils. Their expulsion became the opportunity for her to enshrine Jesus therein, and when He was crucified her love had lost its all. You know that her name has been connected with Magdalene Institutions, from the supposition that a profligate early life of sin had been connected with the "seven devils" which Jesus cast out. There is no hint whatever of this in the evangelists. I think the whole thing is groundless and gratuitous assumption. There is nothing in Scripture stated of her beyond this fact, that she was possessed of seven devils. I know that she has been confounded with the woman in Luke 7, who is stated to have been a sinner, and who washed the Lord's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. We are not told who she was. But evidently she was not the Mary who anointed His head, as recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and again in John 12. The house in which the woman wept over his feet, and anointed them too, in Luke 7, was that of Simon the Pharisee. Whereas we are told distinctly in John 12 that Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord in the house of Simon the leper.

Neither of these two women must be confounded with Mary Magdalene. Who, then, was Mary of Magdala? I conclude that she was a noble lady of means. In the eighth chapter of Luke you find what is very interesting regarding her. "And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered to him of their substance" (Luke 8:1-3). Jesus had ministered to their spiritual wants, and they ministered to His bodily wants. They were, in plain language, devoted and attached to Him, and followed Him, as His blessed feet took Him into every hamlet telling out God's glad tidings. What, then, marked Mary Magdalene was this, her deep-rooted and blessed attachment of heart to Christ. Cultivate this, beloved friends, for there is nothing can take its place. I believe the Lord cares more for that than anything else. You may tell me she was not intelligent. She was affectionate, which is far better. You may think that you are very intelligent. Possibly you are, but, after all, how little we all know. But I do not think that intelligence ranks very high with the Lord. It is not that I make light of it, but when there is affection there will be intelligence sooner or later, though the reverse is by no means assured. When we come to the twentieth chapter of John's Gospel, we shall find that the most intelligent person on earth was Mary of Magdala. And I do not think anybody would dare say she was not the most affectionate.