Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.” (Mark 16:9, NKJV)
We will now look at a very important prototypical figure in greater detail, to see how God, through Jesus Christ, has rendered moot the prejudices concerning women. We are currently examining a figure who, through the ages, has garnered attention because of her specific relationship with Jesus, one who is also very prominent in contemporary popular culture – Mary Magdalene.
In a previous teaching we had already spoken about the current hype about Mary Magdalene, especially after Dan Brown’s bestseller The Da Vinci Code. According to this novel, which the author states is based on true facts about Jesus and Mary Magdalene which were dug up from Gnostic apocryphal texts, Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a daughter. She became the first person to be part of the bloodline of the Merovingian race, the blue blood group which includes, amongst others, most monarchies and most of the European presidents. It is this grouping which actually, according to Brown, controls the entire world, as the Illuminati. Mary Magdalene’s womb and her descendants is, according to this tradition, the Holy Grail.
Saturated with the cultural philosophy of the sacred feminine and misled by Gnosticism, a quasi-theological formulation of esoteric, mystic knowledge (gnosis means knowledge), which can be obtained through rituals, spiritual experiences and mysteries of language, this view has made an icon of Mary Magdalene, providing her with a false position as the physical bride of Jesus the Christ.
In the run up to this sub-theme we made the remark that there exist two false approaches to women – women are either discriminated against and treated with disdain, or they are mystified and worshipped. Both rob the woman of her true God-determined position. Unfortunately Mary Magdalene has been abused to manifest the last instance.
When Paul in 1 Tim 6:20 writes that Timothy should not be seduced by any false knowledge he is most likely speaking about the Gnostic influences of that time. Loosed from that godly mantle Mary Magdalene is a wonderful example of how Jesus had empowered women.
In the Scripture from Mark quoted above the two extremes of the person of Mary Magdalene are juxtaposed in one sentence. Jesus again singles out a woman of questionable character as the first witness of the most important event in the history of humanity – victory over death! This woman, it is written, is the one from whom Jesus had driven seven devils (in Biblical terminology this is a legion of demons – Fausset’s Bible Dictionary), the sign of a “wicked generation” (Matt 12:45) is chosen by Jesus to be the first of a new generation within a new covenant. And a woman is chosen; the last Eve – the Bride.
- Sela: Pray and ask God to free you from false knowledge.
- Read: Ex 29-31
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Ex 31:23-25 (Tip: Eph 4:11; 1 John 2:20 & 27)
