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MARY
MAGDALENE
by Rev (Dr) Jeffrey Khoo
Introduction
Who was Mary Magdalene? Was she the secret wife of Jesus or simply His
faithful disciple? There is so much falsehood about Mary Magdalene today,
concocted by liberal theologians, The Da Vinci Code, and the Gnostic
Gospels, that there needs to be a reverent restudy of the original and
canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to obtain a true and full
picture of the historical Mary and her place in the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ when He was on earth.
Mary Magdalene is mentioned 13 times in the original and canonical Gospels
(see Matthew 27:56, 61; 28:1; Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1, 9; Luke 8:2; 24:10; and
John 19:25; 20:1, 18). It is crystal clear in all these verses that the
relationship between Jesus and Mary was not one of husband and wife but Master
and disciple. Mary Magdalene would have been horrified to know how she has
been scandalously used to defame her Lord and Saviour.
Jesus the Saviour of Mary the
Sinner
Before Mary Magdalene met the Lord Jesus, she had a terrible past and led a
miserable life, a great sinner who was possessed by seven demons (Mark 16:9;
Luke 8:2). Jesus had compassion on her, and cast out all her demons. She
believed on the Lord who had delivered her. Jesus forgave her of her many
sins. What a great and wonderful thing the Lord had done for her. Mary did not
forget. She was deeply grateful to the Lord, and showed her gratitude by
anointing Jesus with precious and expensive perfume as recorded in Luke
7:36-50.
If Mary Magdalene were here today to share her testimony, what would she tell
us? I believe she would tell us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for He is
the Son of God and the only Saviour of the world. Like Mary we are all born in
sin and we sin every day. We are living in Satan’s world of lustful
temptations and sinful pride. The Apostle John in 1 John 2:15-16 commands,
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world.” We may not be actually possessed by
demons like Mary, but if we are obsessed with the things of the world, then we
are in a sense possessed by the devil because we have allowed his ungodly
principles and worldly methods to fill our hearts and minds. The Lord tells us
to do things “by the Good Book,” but Satan says, “No, go by hook or by crook.”
The world says, “Beg, borrow or steal” (borrow and don’t pay back). God says,
“Thou shalt not steal” (Exod 20:15). “Owe no man any thing” (Rom 13:8).
Satan’s formula for success is “Godliness + Worldliness = Prosperity and
Progress.” The Biblical formula for success is “Godliness + Contentment =
Peace and Profit.”
1
Timothy 6:6-12 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be
rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is
the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of
God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal
life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession
before many witnesses.”
Dear friends, be like Mary! Forsake this world that is full of death, and
follow Jesus Christ who is full of eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John
14:6); “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly” (John 10:10).
Mary a Disciple of Jesus the
Christ
Mary Magdalene was an eyewitness to three significant Gospel events in the
life of Christ, namely, His crucifixion, His burial and His resurrection (1
Cor 15:1-4).
Mary witnessed the crucifixion of Christ.
In Matthew 27:50-56 we read,
“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And,
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after
his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now
when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the
earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
Truly this was the Son of God. And many women were there beholding afar off,
which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Among which was
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the
mother of Zebedee’s children.”
Mary witnessed the burial of Christ.
In Matthew 27:57-61 we are told, “When the even was come, there came a rich
man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went
to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be
delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen
cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and
he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. And there
was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the
sepulchre.”
Mary witnessed the resurrection of Christ.
In Mark 16:1-10 it is reported, “And when the sabbath was past, Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet
spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the
first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door
of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled
away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young
man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were
affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of
Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place
where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he
goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and
were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. Now
when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to
Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.”
Why did the Lord choose and use Mary Magdalene and the women to be the first
ones to witness the empty tomb? I believe the Author of the Holy Scriptures,
who is none other than God Himself, had anticipated The Da Vinci Code
and all such perverse attacks against His inspired and preserved words so that
His enemies might be confounded.
The Da Vinci Code
and modernist scholars allege that Jesus was only an ordinary man and not God
at all. Jesus did not teach all those wonderful things about the Kingdom of
God, nor perform all those miracles recorded in the Bible. According to the
modernists, all the teachings and miracles of Jesus were concocted by the
Christians long after Jesus died. Jesus was no God and not Christ at all; the
so-called “Christians” were the ones who made Jesus God, and by so doing
created a new religion called “Christianity.” The modernists claim that the
Gnostic Gospels of Thomas, Judas, Mary Magdalene, etc, were the original and
authentic Gospels that speak of a very ordinary Jesus who got married and
lived happily ever after.
By God’s special providence, Mary
Magdalene, the very woman used today to scandalise the Lord Jesus Christ, is
the very woman that refutes the falsehood and deception of The Da Vinci
Code. Mary was a very privileged disciple of Christ having witnessed all
three events of the gospel, for the gospel has to do with the death, burial
and resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:1-4). None of the Apostles of Jesus
Christ could lay claim to this—although all saw the resurrected Lord, only
John saw the crucifixion (John 19:26-27), but none saw His
burial. Furthermore, the first to see the resurrected Lord were not any of the
Apostles but the women (Matt 28:8-10), and to Mary Magdalene, the Lord made a
special appearance (Mark 16:9-11).
Why Mary Magdalene?
God in His foreknowledge knew how Mary would be used to scandalise the Lord
Jesus Christ. So God, in His infinite wisdom, gave the privilege of firsthand
knowledge of the resurrection of Christ to Mary and the other women. By divine
inspiration, the Apostles recorded infallibly and inerrantly what Mary and the
women had seen and heard in order to prove that the words and reports of the
Canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were the true and genuine
accounts of the life of Christ. You see, in those days, the womenfolk were
generally despised and downtrodden; they were perceived as gossipers and
talebearers. Thus any saying or report that came from the lips of a woman
could not be considered trustworthy. Now, if the Canonical Gospels were indeed
cleverly concocted or humanly engineered accounts of the life of Christ, the
redactors or editors would surely have used the male disciples and not the
women disciples to become the first reporters of the resurrection of Christ,
for a female report was next to useless. In Luke 24:11, we find even Peter and
the rest of the disciples of Jesus immediately dismissing the report of the
women as “idle tales.” Surely a Gospel redactor, if he had wanted to make the
resurrection account credible and believable, would have written the story
quite differently. He would have made the male disciples the first ones to
witness the resurrection so that the account would be immediately accepted
without doubt or question.
Was not God foolish to use Mary Magdalene and the women to be the first
witnesses and reporters of the resurrection of Christ? Not at all! The Apostle
Paul gives the reason: “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and
the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought
things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor 1:25-29).
Warning against Modernism
All the nonsense spouted by Dan Brown come from modernist schools like
Princeton Theological Seminary. Can anything good come out of Princeton?
Beware of Princeton textual critics and Bible revisionists like Bruce Metzger,
Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman! Do you believe these so-called “scholars”? I
rather believe the Sacred Scriptures that the Lord had fully inspired and
fully preserved to the last word and name—even Mary Magdalene’s!
Thank God for Mary Magdalene. She was no high-minded scholar but a humble and
faithful servant of the Lord. Thank God for all the devout female disciples of
the Lord. God had mightily used such simple disciples saved by His grace to
prove the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the glory of His Holy
Name.
If you love the Lord Jesus like Mary Magdalene, He can use you too, even
today!
Read also
article on The Judas
Gospel: Bad News Of Betrayal.
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