Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is the most misdescribed woman in the Bible. Almost everything popularly “known” about her is not in Scripture.
Mary Magdalene was a woman Jesus freed from seven demons who followed and funded his ministry, stayed at the cross, and was the first person to see him alive — the first witness of the resurrection, sent to tell the disciples.
Soon afterward, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him, as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza, Susanna, and many others. These women were ministering to them out of their own means.
And there were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed Jesus and ministered to Him while He was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.
And many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to minister to Him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she said, “and we do not know where they have put Him!”
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent down to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and the other at the feet. “Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked. “Because they have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I do not know where they have put Him.”
“Woman, why are you weeping?” Jesus asked. “Whom are you seeking?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him off, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what He had said to her.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What the text actually says
Luke 8:2-3 introduces her: Jesus had driven seven demons out of her, and she was among the women travelling with him and supporting the ministry “out of their own means.” She was not a follower on the edge of the crowd. She helped pay for it.
She is named in all four Gospels at the crucifixion. She watches where the body is laid. She comes to the tomb while it is still dark.
What the text does not say
It never calls her a prostitute. That idea is generally traced to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in 591, which merged her with the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7 and with Mary of Bethany. The Roman Catholic calendar reform of 1969 removed that merged identification from the liturgical texts, restoring her own feast day.
Centuries of art and preaching had already fixed the wrong picture, and it has outlived the correction. It is worth knowing that when someone tells you what the Bible says about her.
The first witness
John 20 gives her the resurrection scene in detail. She stands outside the tomb crying. She mistakes Jesus for the gardener. He says one word — her name — and she knows him.
Then he sends her: “Go to My brothers and tell them” (John 20:17). The first preacher of the resurrection is a woman.
All four Gospels place women at the tomb first, and John gives Mary the encounter in the most detail. Whatever weight a reader puts on that, it is what the text says — she is the one sent, and the disciples hear it from her.
About the seven demons
Luke mentions them in one clause and gives no detail, and neither will we. What the text establishes is the scale of what she was carrying and the completeness of what was done about it — and then it moves straight on to her funding a ministry and travelling with it.
Scripture spends one line on her worst season and the rest of its mentions on what she did afterwards. That proportion is worth noticing if your own worst season is the thing you assume people see first.
The women nobody counted
Luke 8:3 names Joanna and Susanna alongside her, “and many others,” supporting the whole operation out of their own money. It is one of the few glimpses the Gospels give of the logistics underneath three years of itinerant ministry.
They are mentioned once and then largely disappear from the narrative, which is precisely why the mention matters.
Why she matters
Her life is the shortest possible summary of the gospel: someone in a desperate condition, healed, who then stays — through the ministry, through the execution, past the point where everyone else has gone home, and into the garden before sunrise.
She is not remembered for being spectacular. She is remembered for being there.