Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20121007.htm

BIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLE SAINTS
V. Mary Magdalene: A Holy, Fulfilling Relationship With Christ
B. Mary Magdalene: Not Jesus' Wife, But His Devoted Disciple
(John 19-20 et al.)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Mary Magdalene in the New Testament is one of the most controversial figures in history, and the controversy is only escalating:

    (1) In A. D. 591, Pope Gregory the Great "stated" that the Luke 7 sinful woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her hair and the John 12 Mary of Bethany who did the same thing were Mary Magdalene. (Mike Galli, "Mary Magdalene," departments. Kings.edu/womens_history, 11/2005) For nearly fourteen centuries, then, Mary Magdalene was "labeled" a "prostitute, or the unnamed sinner" of Luke 7:36-50, Ibid.

    However, "the Second Vatican Council removed the prostitute label in 1969 after much debate and Biblical evidence" indicated Mary was not immoral, Ibid. Nevertheless, some still hold she was immoral.

    (2) The controversy thickens over what occurred in Mary's life after Jesus' resurrection, with "(o)ne of the most extreme" views being she "was pregnant with Jesus' child and went to France, where her descendants eventually founded the Merovingian line of kings, made famous recently by the Da Vinci Codes (sic) by Dan Brown." (Ibid.)

    (3) Indeed, "(s)ome believed Mary and Jesus were married since most Jewish men married and Jesus was closest to Mary," Ibid.

    (4) Then, last month, Karen King, Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, "the oldest endowed academic seat in the U. S.," made public "a newly discovered ancient papyrus" that "attracted worldwide attention because of a bombshell phrase written in Egyptian Coptic that says Jesus refers to [Mary] Magdalene as my wife . . ." (zeenews.india.com, "Jesus was married' claim a forgery,'" 9/22/12)

    (5) This papyrus as since been called a forgery by "historical experts at a Coptic conference in Rome," Ibid. Regardless, last Sunday, the Smithsonian Channel aired a documentary on the papyrus.

    It is important that we address this issue in a series of sermons about Mary Magdalene, for, (a) if Jesus was physically intimate with an immoral Mary, or (b) if He married her (c) or if He sired a child by her, He is either a sinner and can not save us or the Bible errs on its record of Christ's life, undermining our faith.

    Need: "How do we answer the claim that Jesus and Mary were wed?"

  1. The Bible presents Jesus and Mary Magdalene as never being wed:
    1. Luke 8:2-3 claims Mary Magdalene financially supported Jesus, what would be sin for Him to allow if He were her husband since Exodus 21:10 leaves a man financially responsible to support his wife! If Jesus had violated this pattern, His foes, experts in the Law, would have easily refuted His claim to be sinless, cf. John 5:39; 8:46!
    2. While Mary Magdalene was with Jesus' Mother near the cross when Jesus, close to death, assigned the care of His Mother to John, Jesus did NOT assign Mary Magdalene's care to anyone, so she was NOT a dependent of His, meaning she was NOT His wife, John 19:25-30.
    3. Mary Magdalene speaks about Jesus in Scripture only in the highly emotionally charged scene of His resurrection -- in John 20:2, 13, 16 and 18 (Moulton & Geden, Concordance to the Greek Testament, 1974, p. 608), but she never there refers to Him as her husband:
      1. In John 20:2, 13 and 18, Mary three times calls Jesus "Lord," the Greek N. T. term "kurios," U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 407-409.
      2. In John 20:16, she calls Him "Rabboni," and John in the Greek Testament renders this word "Teacher" (Didaskale), Ibid., p. 408.
    4. In John 20:16, when she abruptly realized that the recently dead Jesus stood in front of her, when a wife would call her dear husband by an informal term, she called Him "Rabboni ," the formal term even blind Bartimaeus used of Him in Mark 10:51. (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 169, 408; Arndt & Ging., A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 740)
    5. Also, "Rabboni" is the "Palestinian Aramaic" form of the Hebrew word "rabbi," then the native language of Hebrews in Palestine, Z. P. E. B., v. Five, p. 16. This is exactly how we would expect Mary to address Jesus in a highly charged emotional state PROVIDING He was her RABBI and NOT her HUSBAND!
    6. Though we known Mary touched Jesus in John 20:17 KJV as His call to "Touch me not" there renders the Greek present imperative, haptou with the subjunctive negative adverb, me, meaning "stop touching Me" (Ibid., p. 102; Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., p. 408; The Anal. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 49; Dana & Mantey, A Man. Gram. of the Grk. N. T., 1955, p. 301-302), this did not mean they were married, for Matthew 28:8-9 shows other women that day also grasped Jesus' feet for joy!
    7. When Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb in John 20:17, He spoke to her of the spiritual family relationships He would begin to have with His disciples, NOT of an earthly marriage with her:
      1. Before the cross, Jesus called His disciples "friends," John 15:15.
      2. However, after the cross, He called them "brethren" (John 20:17) because of the new spiritual union Christ has with believers due to His work on the cross, a spiritual brotherhood that included men and women believers like Mary Magdalene, Galatians 3:26-29.
    8. In Mark 12:25, Jesus said there is no human marriage in the future resurrection, so He was not wed to Mary Magdalene after He arose!
    9. When Mary repeated Jesus' message to His disciples, she used His same words, showing that in HER mind, she was not married to Jesus , but, as He had claimed, she was spiritually related to Him as were His male disciples in a spiritual brotherhood! (John 20:17, 18)
  2. INSTEAD OF having a MARITAL relationship with Jesus, the Bible shows Mary Magdalene was His DEVOTED DISCIPLE:
    1. Starting in Luke 8:2-3 as we before learned, Mary followed Jesus and supported His ministry in loving gratitude for His having exorcised her of seven demons and given her salvation much as He had saved and forgiven the Luke 7:36-50 sinful woman!
    2. When Jesus was crucified, Mary Magdalene joined His mother Mary at the cross with other close associates of Jesus' family, John 19:25; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to John 19:25 and Luke 8:2.
    3. In fact, Mary was so devoted to Jesus, she followed the men who took His body from the cross and watched them entomb it, Matt. 27:57-61.
    4. Mary's devotion extended to trying to add more embalming ointments to Jesus' body on the day of His resurrection (Matthew 28:1), but in finding His body was gone, and gaining no explanation from Peter and John who inspected the tomb as to its possible location (John 20:1-10), in deep devotion to Jesus but not knowing what to do next, she stood at the tomb, emotionally crushed and weeping, John 20:11.
    5. Thus, Jesus rewarded Mary's devotion, personally appearing to her, making her the first believer to see the risen Lord, John 20:12-18!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior to be put into spiritual relationship with Him, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, countering with Scripture the false charges that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were wed, may we (3) heed her example of devotedly following Him!

We learned in the last sermon in this series that the answer to item (a) above was that neither Jesus nor Mary Magdalene were immoral, so for this sermon, we address item (b) by answering the question, "How do we reply to the charge by critics of the Bible that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife?!"

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 News of any "newly discovered ancient papyrus" suggesting that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene opposite what our Bible reveals should not cause us Christians concern regarding our faith.

Why? Paul's WARNING in 1 Timothy 6:20 NIV, ESV in its historical context COUNTERS such WRITINGS as follows:

(1) Darrell L. Bock, Ph. D., professor of New Testament at the Dallas Theological Seminary, in his New York Times bestseller, Breaking the Da Vinci Code, 2004, that critiqued Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code, claimed (p. 21-27, 99-100) that the ancient writings that make statements opening the door for people to believe Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene were written by the Gnostics!

(2) Indeed, last week I learned that Harvard professor Karen King who presented the "newly discovered ancient papyrus" in which Jesus is said to refer to Mary as His wife has said she "believes this fragment belongs to the genre of the Gnostic writings . . ." ("Was Jesus Married?" (http://y-jesus.com/was-jesus-married.php; emphasis ours) That is what I said might be the case in our last sermon in this series!

(3) Well, the Apostle Paul warned us in 1 Timothy 6:20 ESV to avoid "what is falsely called knowledge'," which "knowledge was the supposed key to the mystery religions which were already aborning and which would mature into full-fledged Gnosticism during the next century." (Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 748; emphases ours)

(4) Bock also reports there is an effort in some academic circles to rewrite history to fit the feminist agenda in advancing the roles of women like Mary Magdalene (Ibid., Bock, p. 125-150), so we can expect more promotions of heretical Gnostic writings by advocates of Liberal Theology that extol the idea that Jesus and Mary were wed!



We are thus left either siding with Paul's 1 Timothy 6:20 warning to AVOID Gnosticism and thus the errors it spawns, or of siding WITH Gnostic writing errors and their errors being promoted in some Liberal Theology circles now, errors such as the view that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married!

May we side with the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 6:20 to oppose Gnosticism and its erroneous effects, and may we heed Mary Magdalene's example to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and devotedly follow Him in our Christian walk!