Mary Magdalene
(Message delivered by Dr Jeffrey Khoo at the True Life Church 10.30 am Service, May 21, 06)
Text: Luke 8:1-3
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!
