Mary Magdalene
was Jesus’ friend, from beginning to end.
Like all the other women who were essential to Jesus’ ministry, Mary Magdalene was not counted as one of his disciples. Luke tells us that Jesus went about preaching, and “With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments.” First on that list of healed women is “Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.” And Joanna and Susanna and “several others.”
Knowing Jesus, we could almost predict that the people who followed him would be the recovering wounded. Mary’s illness (not necessarily possession) was grave and threatening, an ailment that doctors couldn’t diagnose or treat, until Jesus touched her. In gratitude for her life restored, Mary joined the small coterie of men and women who accompanied Jesus.
I think of Magdalene and the other broken-and-recovering women as Jesus’ friends. They don’t qualify as “disciples,” even though they are the most faithful, and in some way that lack of role and status allows them to be simply, beautifully, friends. And in the days of his passion and death, Jesus finds out, sadly, how little he can rely on his official disciples—all of whom desert him, with one betrayal and one public denial—and how much he needs his friends, especially Magdalene. Author Joan Chittister writes of her:
“She was there at the beginning of his ministry. And she was there at the end. She was there when they were following him in cheering throngs. And she was there when they were taking his life, dashing it against the stones of temple and state, turning on him, jeering him, shouting for his death, standing by while soldiers poked and prodded him to ignominy. She tended his grave and shouted his dying glory and clung to his soul. She knew him, and she did not flinch from the knowing.“
Magdalene teaches us the power of a life changed by grace. She doesn’t need roles or titles; she doesn’t need to be one of “the Twelve.” She knows she was dead and is now alive, and that is the only credential she needs. She is happy just to be faithful, and in so doing she becomes more than Jesus’ disciple. She becomes his friend.
COMPANIONS ON THE WAY
Introduction
Stories of Turning
Week One
Stories of Wild Places
Week Two
Stories of Dogged Faith
Week Three
Stories of Mercy & Forgiveness
Week Four
Stories of Simplicity & Joy
Week Five
Stories of Prayer & Surrender
Week Six
Stories of Transforming Love
So well said, David. Thank you!
I’m not Jesus (newflash) and I didn’t have any disciples but I can totally relate to the different types of friendships – friends that thought I was funny when I drank but disappeared when I got sober; friends that came back when I got sober; friends that were there for me when I was in the depths of despair but disappeared when things improved (my rescuing friends); friends in AA that know more about me than anyone; work friends, CHURCH FRIENDS! etc etc. There are very few meaningful ones like Mary Magdalene that stick around for all of it (good, bad, UGLY), but man do I get waves of gratitude for that type of person.
Love all those “friend” types. Thanks for that.
Matt, my experience too. In OA. I think of my sponsors, those I’ve done 5th steps with–those who know everything about me. Everything. What a blessing to have friends like that.
Why do I frequently find myself envious of people in Twelve Step communities? 😉
“She knew him, and she did not flinch from the knowing.“ Seems like a calling of its own – friendship. It seems important to Jesus, since Mary (and the other women) have been mentioned in the gospels. That’s hopeful. May we not flinch in our knowing.
Yes, I was thinking as I write this about those words of Jesus—“I do not call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing. But I have called you friends—for everything I have received from the Father I have given to you” (or something like that).
Friendship for Jesus is the highest form of relationship, in which his oneness with God also becomes ours.
David, yes, the perfect verse, the perfect gloss on the Magdalene story. Kay and I were watching The Chosen and in the early episodes the Mary character really came alive for me. She is both servant and friend, follower/disciple/worshipper and friend.
Yes, given the limited role of women in that age, and the tendency to literally overlook them (as in “not counting women and children” in the story of Feeding of the Five Thousand”), the significant role of Magdalene we see in the Bible is as certainly larger even than that.
New research on Mary Magdalene. https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/mary-magdalene-rocked-my-world
Thanks, Ann—so much good discovery happening around Magdalene, and Butler Bass is a really fine voice.