Mary Magdalene – Sacred or Sinner?

I wish if I could tell you clearly who Mary Magdalene was. She could have been Jesus' most celebrated female disciple only if numerous people hadn't put her secret relationship with Jesus as central theme of their artistic works. At different times, church, religious groups, painters and writers have been playing with her individuality. It made us curious enough to find out who she really was. Needless to say, credit goes to very limited and conflicting  literature found, written mostly after her death. 

Legend says that Mary Magdalene lived in a castle on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (in present day Israel). Unlike her siblings, Mary indulged herself into luxurious pleasures and became notorious for her extravagant lifestyle. Her sister, Martha persuaded her to listen to Jesus, who had already relieved some women from curse of evil spirits and diseases. Jesus visited Marry. She sat at the feet of Jesus and washed his feet with tears, thus Jesus cleansed her of seven demons (seven sins). The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) present Mary as a woman who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, and saw him alive three days later. After putting all Gospels collectively, I found Mary Magdalene to be a visionary leader. 

Unfortunately, early church leaders bundled Mary’s identity with a women whom Bible did not know. The idea of calling Magdalene a prostitute originated in the sixth century, when Pope Gregory I identified her woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair. Magdalene as prostitute was perpetuated by much Western form of arts, in which she is shown, having long red hair, while other women follow contemporary standards. Because, any retrieval of Magdalene as a saint could shakes up male church leadership, that's why Church called her prostitute, but could it have destroyed all evidences in attempt to rewrite history? 

Now question arises whether history been wrong for 2000 years or not. Is this true that Jesus and Magdalene were married? Author Dan Brown’s clever weaving of fact with fiction in his novel The Da Vinci Code convinced me that Jesus and Magdalene were really married and had a child. But is this romantic assertion supported by historical evidence, lets’ find out - 

• Discriminated depictions of other women and Mary in Meister des Marienlebens‘ crucifixion paintings show how he viewed her relationship with Jesus. 
• Mary's role as a Crucifixion witness was unusual because women at that time were not considered credible witnesses in legal proceedings. This shows Mary’s importance in Jesus’ life. 
• Gospel of Philip says that Jesus was used to kiss Mary, often. Other disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. Gospel of Mary describes tensions and jealousy between Magdalene and Peter. 
• The identity of "Mary" appearing as the main character in Gospel is sometimes perceived as companion of Jesus. Magdalene’s frequent appearance than other women in the canonical Gospels suggests role of grieving wife and widow. 

• The 13th-century Cistercian monk, Peter of Vaux de Cernay claimed that young Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene as bachelorhood was very rare for Jewish males of Jesus' time. 
• After the Crucifixion, she watched Jesus’ tomb. Others went away, but Mary stayed crying, which shows Jesus’ importance in her life. 

Jesus and Mary were married, but Christian text was a bit shy on romance and decided to sauce it up a little.

Even 2000 years after her death, Mary Magdalene’s real individuality would decide whether Jesus was a God or another human with ordinary desires. I hope, just like me, there are million people  out there who are hoping to get to know real Mary Magdalene.