Mary Magdalene: A Name in the Lists, a Voice at the Tomb

Who she is, and when

Mary Magdalene is a woman of the New Testament era, placed around 4 BC to AD 33 (era placed on Ussher's chronology, 1650). Her name occurs in fourteen verses across eight passages in four books: John, Mark, Matthew and Luke. The first of these is Matthew 27:56; the last are in John. She is called Magdalene to distinguish her, since more than one Mary stands in the same sentence with her (John 19:25).

A name that keeps appearing

One feature of her footprint is worth naming honestly at the start: her mentions are short. The longest unbroken run is a single verse. She turns up in Matthew 27:56, Matthew 27:61 and Matthew 28:1; in Mark 15:40, Mark 15:47, Mark 16:1 and Mark 16:9; in Luke 8:2 and Luke 24:10; and in John 19:25, John 20:1, John 20:11, John 20:16 and John 20:18. Many of these are lists of names or passing notes rather than developed narrative. She is the kind of person Scripture records by placing her name where she stood, again and again, at the moments that mattered most.

Healed of seven demons

The earliest thing told about her is not what she did but what was done for her. Luke names her among "certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out" (Luke 8:2). Seven demons is not a small note. Whatever her life had been before that, Luke's verse marks a clean line: they had gone out. Nothing is said of how, or when, or how long she had suffered. She enters the record as someone already delivered, and everything that follows rests on that.

Standing by the cross

John puts her in a short list of women at the crucifixion: "But standing by Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene" (John 19:25). Four women, named in one verse. She is the last of them, and she is there. Her name also appears in the crucifixion and burial notices of Matthew 27:56, Matthew 27:61, Mark 15:40 and Mark 15:47, and in the resurrection morning notices of Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10.

Early, while it was still dark

"Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb" (John 20:1). That verse contains a whole character. She did not wait for daylight, and she did not wait for company that John's verse names. What she saw first was not the risen Lord but an absence: the stone taken away.

Then John lets us stand beside her. "But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb" (John 20:11). She is weeping before she understands anything. Her grief is not a failure of faith that the text scolds; it is simply recorded.

"Mary"

The turn comes in one word. "Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned and said to him, 'Rabboni!' which is to say, 'Teacher!'" (John 20:16). She is recognised before she recognises. Her own name, spoken, is what opens her eyes.

And then she is a messenger: "Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her" (John 20:18). Mark 16:9 also places her name in the resurrection account. The woman out of whom seven demons had gone is the woman who carries the news.

The failures the record does not carry

Honesty cuts both ways. The dossier of her verses records no sin of hers, no rebuke, no lapse. That is not a claim that she was sinless; it is a statement about what Scripture chose to preserve. What it does preserve of her weakness is her affliction (Luke 8:2) and her weeping (John 20:11), and neither is charged against her.

What we do not know

Scripture does not name her parents. No children are named. No tribe or people is given for her. We are told nothing of her age, her marriage, her means, or what became of her after John 20:18. Anyone who tells you more than this is telling you something the text does not.

The line to Christ

Her whole story is that line. She was healed by him (Luke 8:2). She stood by his cross (John 19:25). She came to his tomb while it was still dark and found the stone taken away (John 20:1). She wept there (John 20:11). He spoke her name and she called him Teacher (John 20:16). She went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord (John 20:18), and her name is written into the crucifixion, burial and resurrection notices of Matthew 27:56, Matthew 27:61, Matthew 28:1, Mark 15:40, Mark 15:47, Mark 16:1, Mark 16:9 and Luke 24:10. Fourteen verses, mostly single lines, and every one of them is next to Jesus.