Workers deserve their food. resurrection. They are legendary and mythological. [290] Indeed he said that she surpassed all the men of her time,[291] and that "crowns studded with the brilliant jewels of guidance" were upon her head. [47], Virtually all reputable historians agree that Jesus was crucified by the Romans under the orders of Pontius Pilate. [229][226][230] In Superstar, Mary describes her sexual attraction to Jesus in the song "I Don't Know How to Love Him", which shocked many of the play's original viewers. "[132][130], The Borborites, also known as the Phibionites, were an early Christian Gnostic sect during the late fourth century who had numerous scriptures involving Mary Magdalene,[133][134][135] including The Questions of Mary, The Greater Questions of Mary, The Lesser Questions of Mary, and The Birth of Mary. One is inaccurately . [13][10] They are not regarded by bible scholars as reliable sources of information about her life. [70] This passage made no mention of Mary Magdalene, the other women, or the story of the empty tomb at all,[71][72] but rather credits Simon Peter with having been the first to see the risen Jesus. While watching the show, I made occasional comments through the chat but I tried to not do too much teaching - I wanted the youth to enjoy The Chosen and not just see it as an elaborate preaching illustration. After the Resurrection, He appeared first to her. Rather, let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us truly human. In The Chosen, when we first meet Mary Magdalene, most of the characters refer to her as Lili. In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed the identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the "sinful woman" from the General Roman Calendar, but the view of her as a former prostitute has persisted in popular culture. [122] Ehrman says that the Essenes, a contemporary Jewish sect who shared many views with Jesus, and the apostle Paul, Jesus' later follower, both lived in unmarried celibacy,[298] so it is not unreasonable to conclude that Jesus did as well. Two brothers struggle with a Jewish tax collector over their debts to Rome; a Pharisee confronts a demon-possessed woman in the "Red Quarter" of Capernaum. [107] Many of these sayings are similar to ones in the canonical gospels,[108] but others are completely unlike anything found in the New Testament. These texts portray her as an apostle, as Jesus' closest and most beloved disciple and the only one who truly understood his teachings. [118][119] The text was probably written over a century after the historical Mary Magdalene's death. [138][134] Ehrman casts doubt on the accuracy of Epiphanius's summary, commenting that "the details of Epiphanius's description sound very much like what you can find in the ancient rumor mill about secret societies in the ancient world". [88] He also says that the story of Mary Magdalene discovering the empty tomb is independently attested in the Synoptics, the Gospel of John, and in the Gospel of Peter. The Gospel of Philip uses cognates of koinnos and Coptic equivalents to refer to the literal pairing of men and women in marriage and sexual intercourse, but also metaphorically, referring to a spiritual partnership, and the reunification of the Gnostic Christian with the divine realm. [276], Modern Protestants honor her as a disciple and friend of Jesus. [246] As Gothic painted crucifixions became crowded compositions, the Magdalene became a prominent figure, with a halo and identifiable by her long unbound blonde hair, and usually a bright red dress. I also suggest setting expectations for the first episode. [145] Origen also preserves a statement from Celsus that some Christians in his day followed the teachings of a woman named "Mariamme", who is almost certainly Mary Magdalene. every time a new character showed up. [185] The governor spends two years with Peter in Rome[185] and, on his way home, he stops at the same island to discover that, due to Mary Magdalene's miraculous long-distance intercession, his child has survived for two years on his dead mother's breast milk. [16][37] The places where she and the other women are mentioned throughout the gospels indicate strongly that they were vital to Jesus' ministry[38][39][40][41] and that Mary Magdalene always appears first, whenever she is listed in the Synoptic Gospels as a member of a group of women, indicates that she was seen as the most important out of all of them. [297], In 1998, Ramon K. Jusino proposed an unprecedented argument that the "Beloved Disciple" of the Gospel of John is Mary Magdalene. Come and See is a devotional journal designed specifically for studying Bible movies and shows like The Chosen. The same passage also states that seven demons had been driven out of her, a statement which is repeated in Mark 16. [265] Raymond E. Brown, commenting on this fact, remarks that Hrabanus Maurus frequently applies the word "apostle" to Mary Magdalene in this work. [I]n the post-Biblical period, the sages identify the lilith . [243], Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross during the Crucifixion appears in an eleventh-century English manuscript "as an expressional device rather than a historical motif", intended as "the expression of an emotional assimilation of the event, that leads the spectator to identify himself with the mourners". [184] Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume gradually displaced Vzelay in popularity and acceptance. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. [169], In an eastern tradition supported by the western bishop and historian Gregory of Tours (c. 538 594), Mary Magdalene is said to have retired to Ephesus in Asia Minor with Mary the mother of Jesus, where they both lived out the rests of their lives. The movie, which came out in the U.K. on March 16, tells the story of Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara), detailing her fraught existence in Magdala as a single woman determined not to marry, before she . [226][227][228] She is portrayed as one in Nikos Kazantzakis's 1955 novel The Last Temptation of Christ and Martin Scorsese's 1988 film adaptation of it,[227] in which Jesus, as he is dying on the cross, has a vision from Satan of what it would be like if he married Mary Magdalene and raised a family with her instead of dying for humanity's sins. I hope you enjoy them! "[104] Simon Peter, annoyed at Mary's dominance of the conversation, tells Jesus, "My master, we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and does not let any of us speak, though she talks all the time. In the Gnostic texts, or Gnostic gospels, Mary's closeness to Jesus results in tension with another disciple, Peter, due to her sex and Peter's envy of the special teachings given to her. [56], All four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agree that Jesus' body was taken down from the cross and buried by a man named Joseph of Arimathea. the latter more probable in view of the grammar (negated present imperative: stop doing something already in progress) as well as Jesus' challenge to Thomas a week later (see John 20:2429[85][77]). [319] None of the canonical gospels imply such a thing[320] and, even in the late Gnostic gospels, where Mary is shown as Jesus' closest disciple,[320] the relationship between them is not sexual. [168] Starting in around the eighth century, Christian sources record mention of a church in Magdala purported to have been built on the site of Mary Magdalene's house, where Jesus exorcized her of the seven demons. This article is about the biblical figure. [68][69][76] They went inside and saw a young man dressed in white, who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead and instructed them to tell the male disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. (Jesus), What about Jesus' identity does this hint at? [136][137] Then, upon ejaculating, Jesus drank his own semen and told Mary, "Thus we must do, that we may live. [315][308], In 2012, scholar Karen L. King published the Gospel of Jesus' Wife, a purported Coptic papyrus fragment in which Jesus says: "My wife she will be able to be my disciple." Mary then proceeds to describe the Gnostic cosmology in depth, revealing that she is the only one who has understood Jesus' true teachings. [16][34][35] The Gospels writers normally relish giving dramatic descriptions of Jesus' public exorcisms, with the possessed person wailing, thrashing, and tearing his or her clothes in front of a crowd. [307][308] The Da Vinci Code also purports that the figure of the "beloved disciple" to Jesus' right in Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is Mary Magdalene, disguised as one of the male disciples;[309] art historians maintain that the figure is, in reality, the apostle John, who only appears feminine due to Leonardo's characteristic fascination with blurring the lines between the sexes, a quality which is found in his other paintings, such as St. John the Baptist (painted c. Mary Magdalene is never called Lili or Lilith in the Bible. [44], That women played such an active and important role in Jesus' ministry was not entirely radical or even unique;[39][41] inscriptions from a synagogue in Aphrodisias in Asia Minor from around the same time period reveal that many of the major donors to the synagogue were women. (ex. "[101] The narrator commends Mary stating "she spoke this utterance as a woman who understood everything. Due to COVID restrictions, my youth group watched The Chosen online using Zoom. This passage is one of the few appearances of Mary Magdalene in the Gospels. However, Luke refers to Mary earlier in his account of . He attempts to heal her and exorcise the evil spirit in her, but he is unsuccessful and concludes that she is beyond hope. ", "Patricia Kasten, "A great saint with a big case of mistaken identity". [146], Mary Magdalene has the reputation in Western Christianity as being a repentant prostitute or loose woman; however, these statements are not supported by the canonical gospels, which at no point imply that she had ever been a prostitute or in any way notable for a sinful way of life. [103] The document takes the form of a long dialogue in which Jesus answers his followers' questions. [75] Then the risen Jesus approached her. Her association with prostitution was a result of the proximity between the first mention of her in Luke (. [6][7][8] Nonetheless, very little is known about her life. Some fiction portrays her as the wife of Jesus. The eggs represent new life, and Christ bursting forth from the tomb. If you're like me, watching The Chosen is about more than entertainment. "[129][130] Peter responds, saying, "Did he really speak with a woman in private, without our knowledge? [82][75] According to John 20:1118, Mary, now alone in the garden outside the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus' body had been. [194], The thirteenth-century Cistercian monk and chronicler Peter of Vaux de Cernay said it was part of Catharist belief that the earthly Jesus Christ had a relationship with Mary Magdalene, described as his concubine: "Further, in their secret meetings they said that the Christ who was born in the earthly and visible Bethlehem and crucified at Jerusalem was "evil", and that Mary Magdalene was his concubine and that she was the woman taken in adultery who is referred to in the Scriptures. I Have Called You by Name: Directed by Dallas Jenkins. Because The Chosen seeks to be kid-friendly, it most likely uses the term "Red Quarter" in order to hint to older viewers that Mary is a prostitute without explicitly mentioning prostitution or sex. Have you seen other examples of how Jesus can show up suddenly and change someone's life in a big way? Of Purgatory", "Selected Topics of Comparison in Christianity and the Bah Faith", The Incorrupt Left Hand of St. Mary Magdalene, "Mary Magdalene: Author of the Fourth Gospel? I found that my youth struggled to sort out the different characters, so you might want to do a quick slide show of the key characters using the character images I've included throughout this post. And we also just had fun chatting about random stuff, like how Quintus was totally fitting the stereotype of the evil bald guy. You can also purchase the DVDs of season 1 on Amazon if you're worried about trying to stream & do Zoom at the same time. In The Chosen, Nicodemus meets Mary Magdalene in Season 1, Episode 1. She is demon possessed and it is implied that she has adopted the name of the demon that possesses her. [114][115][f] This tradition is still practiced in many Christian congregations today and is known as the "kiss of peace". 1 ) Kathleen McGowan Kindle Edition are three Christian Goddesses, making up a female.! Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house. Mary's mention in saying 114, however, has generated considerable controversy:[109]. Below I'll share an outline describing how to do a Viewing Party for The Chosen Episode 1 (I Have Called You by Name). His sister,[e] his mother and his companion were each a Mary. [59][60] Ehrman notes that this was the most common fate for victims of crucifixion[61] but states that it is impossible to know for certain what happened to Jesus' body once it was removed from the cross. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed, "Christ is risen!" "[104] Jesus assures her, "Any of those filled with the spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say: no one will be able to oppose them."[104]. [86] The "longer ending", which is found in most surviving manuscripts, is an "amalgam of traditions" containing episodes derived from the other gospels. (he is God). [186] On the last day of her life, Maximin, now the bishop of Aix, comes to her and gives her the Eucharist. [298], Furthermore, according to Mark 12:25, Jesus taught that marriage would not exist at all in the coming kingdom of God. [106] The Gospel of Thomas consists entirely of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. [11][12] The earliest and most reliable sources about her life are the three Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which were all written during the first century AD. Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness of the Risen Christ, and for this reason she was also the first to bear witness to him before the Apostles. [98], Nonetheless, the texts have been frequently promoted in modern works as though they were reliable. (She wasn't.) For instance, some have said Mary and Jesus were either lovers and husband and wife. It includes sections for you to take notes on each episode's plot, your favorite quotes, personal connections, questions, and, of course, Scripture references. [47] Matthew 27:61 lists Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" as witnesses. [d] In a manner very similar to John 19:2526, the Gospel of Philip presents Mary Magdalene among Jesus' female entourage, adding that she was his koinnos,[110] a Greek word variously translated in contemporary versions as partner, associate, comrade, companion:[111][110]. In The Chosen, we see a brief flashback during Season 1, Episode 1 that strongly implies that Mary was raped by a Roman soldier. [16][19][20] Mary was, by far, the most common Jewish given name for girls and women during the first century,[16][c][21] so it was necessary for the authors of the gospels to call her Magdalene in order to distinguish her from the other women named Mary who followed Jesus. [55][75] Nonetheless, the details of the accounts differ drastically. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. [117] It contains information about the role of women in the early church. [209] Because the cult of Mary Magdalene was inextricably associated with the Catholic teaching of the intercession of saints,[210] it came under particularly harsh criticism by Protestant leaders. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. [145] A sermon attributed to Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170 235) refers to Mary of Bethany and her sister Martha seeking Jesus in the garden like Mary Magdalene in John 20, indicating a conflation between Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. The Gospel of Luke chapter 8 lists Mary Magdalene as one of the women who traveled with Jesus and helped support his ministry "out of their resources", indicating that she was probably wealthy. In the Bible, there is no indication that Nicodemus met Mary Magdalene or that he tried to heal her or exorcise her evil spirits. Narrative Ambiguity & Charitable Reading, The Chosen: 6 Good Friday & Easter Episodes, The Rings of Power, LOTR, and Bible Adaptation, Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power & The Challenges of Biblical Adaptation, In Defense of The Chosen and Other Christian Movies, Books, & Media (Part 1), In Defense of The Chosen and Other Christian Movies, Books, & Media (Part 2), Imagining Mary Magdalene (5 More Bible Adaptations While You Wait for The Chosen Season 2), Yussif, Jairus, & Shmuel in The Chosen (Adapting Biblical Characters), Reflecting on The Chosen Season 3 & Anticipating Season 4: What Worked & What to Fix, Ears to Hear (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 7 with Youth or Small Group), The Chosen Season 3 Episode 7 & Episode 8: Recap, Review, & Analysis, The Feeding of the 5,000 (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 8 with Youth or Small Group), Pontius Pilate & His Wife in The Chosen (Adapting Biblical Characters), Intensity in Tent City (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 6 with Youth or Small Group), Clean Part 2 (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 5 with Youth or Small Group), Clean Part 1 (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 4 with Youth or Small Group), Physician, Heal Thyself (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 3 with Youth or Small Group), Two by Two (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 2 with Youth or Small Group), Little James in The Chosen & Scripture (Adapting Biblical Characters), Homecoming (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 1 with Youth or Small Group), 2022 BY THE BIBLE ARTIST. [176], The theologian Honorius Augustodunensis (c. 1080 c. 1151) embellished this tale even further, reporting that Mary was a wealthy noblewoman who was married in "Magdalum",[176] but that she committed adultery, so she fled to Jerusalem and became a "public sinner" (vulgaris meretrix). "[113], For early Christians, kissing did not have a romantic connotation and it was common for Christians to kiss their fellow believers as a way of greeting. To clarify why the creators would want to add new characters and stories and leave some stories out, you could ask the following questions: What are some other popular adaptations of books into film or television? You may want to warn students beforehand that this episode contains some demonic activity. This story was invented by The Chosen for the purposes of the plot. [131][130] Matthew the Apostle comes to Mary's defense, giving a sharp rebuke to Peter:[129][130] "Peter, you are always angry. The Chosen, a TV show on the Angel Studios' free streaming service, chronicles the life of Jesus and his many followers. "[302] Esther A. de Boer likewise presents the idea as "one possibility among others", not as a definitive solution to the problem of the identity of the anonymous disciple. It hints at where the show is going: This passage takes place after Jesus' death and resurrection at the end of the Gospels. [197] This portrayal of her inspired the sculptor Donatello (c. 1386 1466) to portray her as a gaunt and beaten ascetic in his wooden sculpture Penitent Magdalene (c. 1454) for the Florence Baptistery. The story of Jesus is told in four gospels. [160], The unnamed "sinful woman" in Luke 7:3650 is never identified as a prostitute[161] and, in Jewish society at the time the gospel was written, "sinful" could have simply meant that she "did not assiduously observe the law of Moses". [47] Mark 15:47 lists Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus as witnesses to the burial of Jesus. [165] This composite depiction of Mary Magdalene was carried into the Mass texts for her feast day: in the Tridentine Mass, the collect explicitly identifies her as Mary of Bethany by describing Lazarus as her brother, and the Gospel is the story of the penitent woman anointing Jesus' feet. [185][181][186] In this account, Mary Magdalene is, in Ehrman's words, "fabulously rich, insanely beautiful, and outrageously sensual",[185] but she gives up her life of wealth and sin to become a devoted follower of Jesus. In the Golden Legend, De Voragine dismisses talk of John and Mary being betrothed and John leaving his bride at the altar to follow Jesus as nonsense. [310] Furthermore, according to Ross King, an expert on Italian art, Mary Magdalene's appearance at the last supper would not have been controversial and Leonardo would have had no motive to disguise her as one of the other disciples,[311] since she was widely venerated in her role as the "apostle to the apostles" and patron of the Dominican Order, for whom The Last Supper was painted. In the Bible, Mary Magdelene is a follower of Christ. "[136][134][137] This story was supposedly the basis for the Borborite Eucharist ritual in which they allegedly engaged in orgies and drank semen and menstrual blood as the "body and blood of Christ" respectively. They are the first to hear 'He is not here. [318], Ehrman states that the historical sources reveal absolutely nothing about Jesus' sexuality[319] and that there is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married or that they had any kind of sexual or romantic relationship. In the TV series Once Upon a Time, Lilith is the daughter of Maleficent. [146][147] Origen merely dismisses this, remarking that Celsus "pours on us a heap of names". February 02, 2023. Because of the legends saying that Mary Magdalene had been a prostitute, she became the patroness of "wayward women", and, in the eighteenth century, moral reformers established Magdalene asylums to help save women from prostitution. [133][136][135][137] Epiphanius says that the Greater Questions of Mary contained an episode in which, during a post-resurrection appearance, Jesus took Mary to the top of a mountain, where he pulled a woman out of his side and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. She is also believed to have been the first witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Episode 8 Guide: The Woman at the Well, Eden, & Zohara, Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers, The Chosen Season 2 Controversy (Jesus, the Bible, & the Process of Inspiration), Should Nicodemus Kneel? [55] Maurice Casey concurs that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women at the crucifixion of Jesus may be recorded as an historical fact. Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. [13][10][98] Sanders summarizes the scholarly consensus that: very, very little in the apocryphal gospels could conceivably go back to the time of Jesus. The Saviour answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her? When the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field.' [236], The early notion of Mary Magdalene as a sinner and adulteress was reflected in Western medieval Christian art, where she was the most commonly depicted female figure after the Virgin Mary. [6] In his book published in 2014, Ehrman rejects his own previous argument,[91] stating that the story of the empty tomb can only be a later invention because there is virtually no possibility that Jesus' body could have been placed in any kind of tomb[91] and, if Jesus was never buried, then no one alive at the time could have said that his non-existent tomb had been found empty.