Season 7, Leaders in the Cause of Christ: Mary of Magdala, a Disciple of Jesus

Though Mary of Magdala is a well-known figure in the gospels, she is not introduced by name until Jesus’s crucifixion in John’s Gospel (John 19:25). John doesn’t explain who she is, or what her relationship is to Jesus or his family, but there she is, with John and Mary, Jesus’s mother. That alone says how important she was to Jesus’s inner circle.

In fact, Mary of Magdala is the only other woman besides Jesus’s mother who is identified in all four Gospels. In total, she is mentioned twelve times, with her name almost always placed first, underscoring her prominence and importance among Jesus’s followers.

Luke’s Gospel identifies Mary’s hometown as Magdala, an affluent Hellenistic city in the Galilee, where Josephus also lived for a time. According to Luke, there were certain women who had been healed of “evil spirits and infirmities,” among whom was

“Mary who is called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone forth.”
Luke 8:2 (YLT)

Evidently, Mary’s earliest encounter with Jesus was as a deeply afflicted woman with a little-understood ailment.

As deeply as she was afflicted so profoundly was she freed by Jesus. Imagine the gratitude and love Mary must have had for her Savior.   Mary, along with two other named women, and “many others,” left their homes and traveled with Jesus and the Twelve, as Jesus

“was going through every city and village, preaching and proclaiming good news of the reign of God.”
Luke 8:1 (YLT)

Like the five men called to be disciples at the beginning of John's Gospel, and the woman at the well in Samaria in Chapter 4, Mary of Magdala's story includes all twelve elements unique to Jesus's call.

John has put it on record that Jesus called women as his disciples and commissioned them to apostolic ministry just as he did with men, and we can do no less today.

To view the original YouTube presentation, click on "Mary of Magdala, a Disciple of Jesus"

Brought to you by Grace and Peace Joanne, LLC

Grace and Peace Joanne on YouTube
Each podcast is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study.

Grace and Peace, Joanne Website
Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view

Books by Joanne
"Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful"
"Love Feast"

Forty Freebies
If you would like a set of forty Bible studies on Women in the Bible, complete with fifteen study questions, commentary, a bibliograp...