The Mystery of Mary Magdalene

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Since the four gospels were canonized in the fourth century, there has been an on-going debate among Christians about the identity and character of Mary Magdalene. Was she a prostitute, was she a woman caught in adultery in John 8, or was she the woman with a “sinful past” who washed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7? In A.D. 591, Pope Gregory I attempted to settle the debate. He announced that Mary Magdalene was in fact the woman caught in adultery in John 8, the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7, and was the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Seventeen centuries later, the debate has resurfaced. Certain Catholics say that on April 3, 1969, Pope Paul VI quietly reversed Pope Gregory’s decision by creating three separate versions of Mary in a papal Missale Romanum. I have reviewed this missale and I saw nothing about Mary Magdalene. (Perhaps there is an oblique statement in this missale that changes her status and I missed it.) Nevertheless, Mary Magdalene’s identity has become a topic of controversy once again. Some people have claimed that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, but instead was a wealthy woman who was married to Jesus. Others have suggested that she and Jesus were lovers – and the speculation goes on and on. Given the controversy, I decided to take a look for myself. I find Bible sleuthing fascinating and if a person is willing to dig beneath the surface. It is amazing how many facts percolate to the surface. I hope you will consider the conclusions of my study.

Here is the Woman, but Where Is the Man?

(Key words have been underlined for the purpose of discussion.)

I will begin this investigation with a review of John 8: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard and began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No sir,’ she said, “Then neither do I condemn you.’  Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin. (John 8: 3-11, emphasis mine)

This passage presents a number of issues that are important to our quest. To fully appreciate these issues though, we need to take off our Nike’s and stand in the ancient sandals of the accused. The first issue that we need to address concerns the Law of Moses. To which law are the Pharisees appealing? Is it the law that condemns two married people for committing adultery (Leviticus 20:10), or is it the law that condemns a woman for being promiscuous? (Deuteronomy 22: 13-21) Limiting our choices to the evidence in John 8, it appears that the teachers and Pharisees appealed to the law that condemns a promiscuous woman. I conclude this because (a) the woman was known for her life of sin, (b) stoning is specifically stated in the law for promiscuous women, and (c) an adulterous man is not present nor mentioned in John 8. Given this legal setting, here are four points that warrant further discussion:

Point 1.  When it comes to sexual immorality, God’s Word indicates there is a difference between fornication and adultery. Fornication occurs between unmarried people, whereas adultery occurs when a married person has a sexual experience with someone other than his or her spouse. When adultery occurs between two married people, the faithful spouses become plaintiffs (that is, the parties seeking restitution). If a single woman is caught having a sexual relationship with a married man, there are still two plaintiffs – the faithful spouse or the next of kin, and the witnesses who caught the pair in the act. This woman was caught in the act of adultery and there was no husband seeking justice. Since there was no mention of an adulterous man in John 8, it appears the witnesses were her plaintiffs. So, on the fact of what is reported in Scripture, it appears the woman was likely an unmarried prostitute, and it is quite possible that the teachers and Pharisees knew of her promiscuous life (her past life of sin) prior to this event. If this is indeed true, the teachers and Pharisees had an airtight case for testing Jesus on the Law of Moses because at the time of the test, stoning a prostitute was legally defensible in Israel. The teachers and Pharisees concocted this test because they wanted to see if Jesus would uphold or subvert the Law of Moses. If Jesus said the woman should not be stoned, then Jesus would be found guilty of blasphemy (diminishing the Law of Moses). How clever of them!

Point 2.  How did Jesus silence His adversaries? The answer to this question becomes obvious as we investigate the story. Jesus wrote the names of His adversaries in the dust and beside their names, He itemized their sins. The list started with Israel’s elders of Israel (men of rank and position). This is why they walked away first. Self-righteous, externally pious and esteemed elders of Israel could not condemn a common prostitute when their own sins were exposed for others to see. The teachers and Pharisees were speechless. How did Jesus know their sins? Then, when Jesus stood up and said: “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Jesus terminated their trap without saying one word about the demands of the law. Embarrassed and humiliated, the teachers and Pharisees slipped away because they knew they could not condemn this woman without embarrassing themselves. How clever of Jesus! 

Point 3.  As I calculate it, this test occurred about six months before Jesus was crucified. Even then, the teachers and Pharisees were already scheming to put Jesus to death because they thought Jesus was undermining their religious and national interests. The easiest way to condemn Jesus to death (they thought) was through a charge of blasphemy. They wanted to force Jesus into a controlled setting where they could catch Him subverting the Law of Moses. So, they carefully planned this incident to entrap Jesus. It was not necessary for the teachers and Pharisees to sneak around Jerusalem peering into bedrooms to find someone having unlawful sex. Hiring a prostitute and positioning witnesses to that she could be caught in the act was all they needed to put Jesus to the test. They were so determined to entrap Jesus that they did not care that this prostitute would have to die in the process. To make this a case of “adultery,” I suspect a married man was found and gained immunity for his cooperation. This could explain why no adulterous man was mentioned in John 8.

Point 4.  Finally, we come to a substantial issue that might help us move from the unnamed woman to a specific person. Consider this: When confronted with the guilty woman and the witnesses, why didn’t Jesus just agree with the Pharisees? If Jesus had agreed, He would have terminated the Pharisees’ trap and silenced them because it would have proved that he supported the Law of Moses! After all, Jesus knew this woman had lived a life of sin and that she had been caught in sin again.  So again I ask, “Why did Jesus refuse to condemn her?” This is not a rhetorical question. Consider that Jesus was not above the Law of Moses. (Galatians 4:4; 1 Peter 2:22) His actions had to stay within the bounds of the law at all times or He would have sinned. Jesus Himself had crafted and delivered the law concerning promiscuous women to Moses on Mount Sinai, so why didn’t Jesus uphold the demands of His own law? This is a thorny question, but the answer produces an important clue in our search for the identity of the woman caught in adultery.

Loophole

There is only one loophole that I can find that lawfully justifies Jesus’ actions. As God, Jesus did not condemn the woman to death because she was demon possessed. Yes she was guilty of sin. Yes, she had broken the law. Yes, she was caught in the act of committing adultery, and according to the law, the penalty of promiscuous behavior was death by stoning. However, Jesus knew about her demonic possession and He could not condemn the woman to death because her life of sin was involuntary. The Bible teaches that God does not condemn a person to death for involuntary sin!  (Leviticus 4:13,14; Numbers 15:22-28; 35:22-25; Romans 7:14-19; 1 John 5:16,17) In today’s justice system, this is similar to an insane defense. If it can be demonstrated in court that a man is impaired to the point that he cannot tell right from wrong when he breaks the law, he can be found “not guilty by reason of insanity.”

For another example, consider a person with an addition. Can an addict “just say no” to their addition? Of course not. Without external help, an addict cannot stop doing the very thing that controls him. (Do not confuse addition with the unpardonable sin. They are not the same. Given genetic and hereditary weaknesses, it is possible to become addicted to a substance or obsessed with something without committing the unpardonable sin.)

So, what does demon possession have to do with the woman’s identity? We know from Scripture that seven demons controlled a woman named Mary Magdalene. (The number seven indicates totality and completeness.) In other words, Mary Magdalene could not control herself because she was totally possessed. Let us assume, for a moment, that the woman caught in adultery proves to be Mary Magdalene. If so, consider the dilemma: (a) Mary knew that she was guilty of sin and worthy of death, (b) Mary also knew that she could not sexually control herself, and (c) Mary heard that Jesus say that she must leave her sinful life behind. Given these parameters and her gratitude to Jesus for saving her life from stoning, what else could a prisoner of Satan do but ask Jesus to set her free of “her demons” so that she could live a life pleasing to God? I believe the woman caught in adultery asked for deliverance and Jesus granted her wish – even though John’s account does not mention this. (However, Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2 tells us that Jesus did cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene.)

Summary on John 8:  The evidence presented in John 8 suggests the woman caught in adultery was an unmarried prostitute, since the plaintiffs were witnesses instead of a spouse and she had a history of sinful living. The woman was unwittingly caught up in a sting operation that was designed to kill her and condemn Jesus. When she was “caught in the act” by the religious police and turned over to the authorities, she must have had a sickening realization that she had been duped and that she was about to be stoned to death. Given the sudden gravity of her situation, it would be reasonable to conclude that she was overwhelmed with gratitude when Jesus saved her from death by silencing her accusers. Staying within the bounds of the Law of Moses, Jesus did not condemn the woman for her past life of sin because He knew that she was demon possessed – she was not guilty by reason of demonic possession. After saving her from physical death, Jesus told her to leave her sinful life behind, but how could she possibly do this on her own?

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