Mary the tower

When you hear the name Mary Magdalene, what images come to mind? A woman, caught in the sin of adultery about to be stoned? A sex worker transformed by her encounter with Jesus? These are what most people think of when they hear the name Mary Magdalene, thanks to a preponderance of Biblical fan-fiction over the millennia that paint (sometimes literally) Mary as a fallen woman, enslaved to her sexual sin, before Jesus saved her. 

But what if that is not how we were meant to remember her? 

We believe in a God who does not identify us with our sin; rather, we believe in a God that sees us through the lens of Jesus’ own sacrifice and our Baptism, which washes away our old lives and raises us into new life with God. So even if Mary was a sex worker, for which there is actually no Biblical evidence, I think God would want us to remember her for something more. 

Recently, new scholarly research has emerged that points to how Jesus may have actually wished for his friend to be remembered. In 2021 Elizabeth Schrader and Joan Taylor published an article in Journal of Biblical Literature, where they analyzed the epithet that accompanies Mary in the scriptures—Magdalene. Drawing from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic as well as texts from the earliest theologians—Origin, Eusebius, Macarius, Magnes, and Jerome—Schrader and Taylor posit that perhaps “Magdalene” was not an indication of where Mary was from; rather, perhaps it was a nickname she earned, like how Simon earned the nickname Peter (“The Rock”) and James and John earned the nickname “Sons of Thunder.” Magdala, when drawn from the source languages, means “The Tower,” and the grammatical structure indicates a feminine association and a preposition that is used in other parts of the Bible to indicate a descriptor of the person it accompanies rather than a location where that person is from. 

This hypothesis upends centuries of assumptions about Mary Magdalene, which unfairly diminishes her role in the greatest story ever told. Her actual role as a follower of Jesus is hidden in easily-missed verses scattered across the Gospels. When taken together, these verses describe a devoted woman who learned from her Rabbouni, her teacher (John 20:16) alongside the men in Jesus’ company. She, along with the other female followers of Jesus financially supported His ministry (Luke 8:1-3). There is some evidence that she may have been the unnamed woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with oil a week before his crucifixion (Luke 7:37-38). She stood weeping at the foot of the cross along with other female followers of Jesus (John 19:25; Matthew 26:55-56; Mark 15:40-41). She was the first witness of the empty tomb of Jesus “while it was still dark” on Easter Sunday (John 20:1). She was the first to proclaim this empty tomb (John 20:2). She was the first person Jesus appeared to in His resurrected body (John 20:14-16), and she was the first to preach Jesus’ resurrection to the disciples (John 20:18). 

I find it hard to believe that Jesus and the Gospel writers wanted Mary to slip into obscurity, known simply as the sex worker who hailed from a tiny town, which may or may not have even existed, called Magdala. No, Mary’s story is writ large in the Gospels, as large and towering as the Tower for which she was named—a tower of righteousness and faith—a name that placed her in equal standing with Peter the Rock in the foundation of the Christian faith. 

If your first reaction to this new perspective on Mary Magdalene is to feel utterly scandalized, you are not alone. Schrader and Taylor have received their fair share of pushback to their research, which highlights how deeply our faith is steeped in the male zeitgeist. To reevaluate prominent figures in our Christian faith often feels like reevaluating our entire faith, and this can be scary. But what truly is at stake here? The redemption of a woman long painted as a harlot who in actuality was one of the foundational evangelists who spread the original story of Jesus feels very much in line with the faith I attest. It feels very much in line with the God I worship—a God who created all of us in God’s own image, male and female God created us (Genesis 1:27); a God who chose a woman to bear Jesus into this world, women to keep watch at his death, and a woman to be the first witness and preacher of His resurrection. 

Why wouldn’t a Towering woman stand side-by-side with Peter the Rock as a co-founder of the Christian faith?