Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20121014.htm

BIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLE SAINTS
V. Mary Magdalene: A Holy, Fulfilling Relationship With Christ
C. Mary Magdalene: Not An Earthly, But A Spiritual Relative Of Christ
(John 20:17-18 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. However, 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 . . .'"

    (5) This papyrus has been called a forgery by "historical experts at a Coptic conference in Rome," Ibid. However, on September 30, 2012, 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) of 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 Magdalene had a child, moved to France and produced a line of royal offspring?!"

  1. John 20:17-18 shows that the day Jesus arose, He and Mary were put into a marvelous new spiritual family relationship under God the Father, with Jesus going to heaven and Mary staying on earth:
    1. Jesus' resurrection appearance to Mary resulted in her touching His body like other women had done that day, John 20:17a; Matt. 28:1-9.
    2. However, Jesus prohibited Mary from CONTINUING to touch Him, that she RELEASE Him unto a NEW RELATIONSHIP, Jn. 20:17b:
      1. Christ's John 20:17a KJV call for Mary to "Touch me not" literally means, "Stop touching me" as the Greek Testament has the present imperative, haptou with a subjunctive negative adverb, me. (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 408; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk. Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 102; The Analyt. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 49; Dana & Mantey, A Manual Gram. of the Grk. N. T., 1955, p. 301-302)
      2. The verb haptou is also in the middle voice in the Greek (Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex.), meaning it was to Mary's personal advantage to release Jesus! (Ibid., Dana & Mantey, p. 156-161)
      3. Mary was to release Him so Christ to return to God the Father (John 20:17b), which event occurred at Jesus' Acts 1:9 ascension.
      4. That ascension fulfilled Daniel 7:13-14: Jesus went up in a cloud to heaven (Acts 1:9), fulfilling the Daniel 7:13 prophecy where the "Son of Man," a term Jesus called Himself (Mark 8:31; John 1:51), was predicted to come up to "the Ancient of Days," i. e., to God the Father, in the clouds of heaven, Bib. Kno. Com., O. T., p. 1351.
      5. Upon ascending, Jesus as the "Son of Man" would be enthroned in heaven according to Daniel 7:14, what Hebrews 1:1-4 also testifies occurred to Christ at the Father's right hand. (cf. Psalm 110:1)
      6. There, Jesus would intercede for His own until He returned to take them to heaven at the rapture, Hebrews 7:22-25; 1 Thess. 4:13-18.
      7. Thus, the new, vastly improved relationship Jesus would have with Mary would require that He leave her to go back to heaven:
        1. Jesus told Mary that in going to heaven, He would relate to His disciples like her in a spiritual brotherhood to their great benefit (the reason for the middle voice in haptou in John 20:17) to His previous claim that He was simply their Friend, John 15:15.
        2. This new relationship was a spiritual family under the Father, so Jesus told Mary to tell His disciples that He was ascending to His and their Father and to His and their God, John 20:17b. By Christ's work on the cross, God had created a spiritual family composed of believers and God Himself, John 1:11-13!
    3. In summary, then, what Jesus old Mary COMPLETELY COUNTERS the view that Jesus and Mary Magdalene wed, went to France and had royal physical offspring (as follows):
      1. Opposite the belief that Jesus and Mary were going move together to some earthly location such as France, Jesus told Mary to release Him as He was going away from her into heaven!
      2. Opposite the belief that Jesus and Mary were to produce an earthly family with royal offspring, Jesus told Mary that His work on the cross had already produced a spiritual family, relating Him to believers in the Church era in a superior spiritual brotherhood, where God the Father was every believer's spiritual FATHER!
      3. Opposite the belief that Jesus and Mary produced a line of earthly kings, Jesus NOW ALONE sits ENTHRONED over the UNIVERSE at the FATHER'S RIGHT HAND in HEAVEN!
      4. Opposite the view that Mary was involved with Jesus in producing royalty, Jesus would INTERCEDE with the FATHER in MARY'S BEHALF regarding her human weaknesses and sins while she remained on the earth, Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:25.
  2. Thus, Mary Magdalene went to the other disciples and told them Jesus' John 20:17 words, affirming her agreement with His claims about her new spiritual family relationship with Him and with the other disciples under God the Father as their Father, John 20:18.
  3. Then, in Acts 1:12-14 with 2:1-4, Mary gathered with the disciples to await the coming of God the Holy Spirit in her new spiritual brotherhood with other believers under Christ Who was in heaven! This event Jesus had said would occur ONLY if He had LEFT His disciples, including if He had LEFT MARY, for heaven, John 16:7.
Application: (1) May we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior to be put into spiritual relationship with Him, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, countering via Scripture the claim that Jesus and Mary went to France to produce royal offspring, (3) may we heed Mary's example to submit to Jesus' rule in fellowship with God's spiritual family on the earth.

We learned in the last two messages in this series that the Bible shows (a) Jesus and Mary were NOT immorally intimate (b) NOR that they were wed, so, for this sermon, we address item (c) above in answering the question, "How do we reply to the claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child and went to France?!"

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 News of any "newly discovered ancient papyrus" suggesting that Jesus wed Mary Magdalene and moved to France versus what our Bible teaches should not cause us Christians concern re: 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) Even the professor who presented the "newly discovered ancient papyrus" that suggests Jesus referred to Mary as His wife claims she "believes this fragment belongs to the genre of the Gnostic writings . . ." ("Was Jesus Married?" [y-jesus.com, emphasis ours])

(3) Well, the Apostle Paul warned 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) Besides, secular sources claim the idea of Jesus and Mary Magdalene going to France rose from Gnostic cults in southern France (Carol Memmott, USA TODAY, "Is this woman the living Code'?", 7/18/06 in citing Bart Ehrman, Chairman of the Dept. of Religious Studies at U. N. C. - Chapel Hill) The Gnostics used this idea to gain credibility as to their origin likely in response to being persecuted in the Roman Catholic Inquisition. (gordonnapierhistory.blogspot.com, "Templars, Cathars and Mary Magdalene") With struggles for political power against the forces of the Catholic Church, claims by these cults in the south of France to Jesus and Mary producing offspring in the form of a line of French kings would easily be formulated!

We are thus left either siding with Paul's 1 Timothy 6:20 warning to AVOID Gnosticism and its many spawned errors, or of siding WITH Gnostic errors and their effects as promoted in some Liberal Theology circles today.

May we side with Paul, and heed Christ's word to Mary Magdalene to function in the sphere of God's true spiritual family.