Mary Magdalene

She is named more than any other woman in the Gospels outside of Mary the mother of Jesus — and yet when she first appears in Luke's account, she arrives with a weight of suffering attached to her name. Mary Magdalene, called after the town of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, had been a woman out of whom seven demons had been cast. Scripture does not linger on what that affliction looked like or how long she had carried it. It simply states the fact, and then — with the quiet economy that marks so much of the Gospel narrative — it moves on to what happened next. She followed Jesus.

That movement, from bondage to discipleship, is the hinge on which her entire story turns. Luke records her alongside Joanna, Susanna, and others who accompanied Jesus and his twelve as he moved through cities and villages, preaching the kingdom of God. These women, Luke tells us, ministered to the company out of their own means.

²And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, ³And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

Luke 8:2–3·KJV

It is a detail easily passed over, but it carries considerable weight. These were not passive observers. They were active supporters of the ministry, present with their own resources and their own commitment. And Mary Magdalene is named first among them.

That pattern of being named first holds throughout the Gospel accounts. When Matthew, Mark, and Luke each list the women who witnessed the crucifixion from a distance, Mary Magdalene heads every list.

⁵⁵And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: ⁵⁶Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.

Matthew 27:55–56·KJV

She was there when the soldiers divided his garments and the hours ground slowly toward his death. She was there when the crowd mocked and the skies darkened. The disciples who had walked closest with Jesus had scattered, but she remained. Scripture does not tell us what she felt in those hours — the text will not permit us to invent that — but it tells us where she was, and that is its own kind of testimony.