How Many Times Was Jesus Anointed? The 68 Latest Answer

See also Jesus Christ; Messiah

Jesus is called the Christ (a Greek word) or the Messiah (an Aramaic word). Both words mean “the anointed one”. He is the Father’s anointed to be the Father’s personal representative in all matters pertaining to the salvation of mankind.

The Lord has anointed me, Isa. 61:1-3.

Gabriel Jackson, The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

(listen on Apple Music or Spotify)

Libretto compiled by Simon Jones

Almighty God, Father of all Mercy,

we your unworthy servants

give you the most humble and heartfelt thanks

for all your kindness and loving kindness

us and all people.

Behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus was sitting at table in the house of Simon the Pharisee, brought an alabaster ointment box.

And stood weeping behind him at his feet, and began to wash his feet with tears, and dried them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with oil. (Luke 7.37-38)

We bless you for our creation, preservation,

and all the blessings of this life;

but most of all for your priceless love

in the redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ;

for the means of grace and for the hope of glory.

And he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I went into your house, you gave me no water for my feet; but she washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. (Luke 7.44-45)

Therefore I say to you: Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little loves little.

And he said to her: Your sins are forgiven you. (Luke 7.47-48)

And we ask you

give us the due meaning of all your mercy,

that our hearts can be unfeignedly grateful;

and that we show your praise,

not only with our lips but in our lives,

by placing ourselves at your service,

and by going before you

in holiness and righteousness all our days;

And those sitting at table with him began to say to themselves, Who is this, who also forgives sins? (Luke 7:49)

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

those with you and the Holy Spirit

be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

The general harvest festival

Edward Reynolds (1599-1676)

(Rector of Merton College, Oxford, 1660-1661)

And he said to the woman: Your faith has saved you; go in peace (Luke 7.50)

St. John’s account of the anointing at Bethany (John 12:1-11), which takes place “six days before Passover,” has been used in the Western Church as the gospel on Holy Monday since the 78th century. Luke’s version is used in the Jackson Passion, with its emphasis on the extravagant and intimate expression of woman’s love and devotion in response to the presence of the forgiving Christ. In this setting, woman is given a voice through the words of General Thanksgiving, written for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer by Edward Reynolds, Warden of Merton immediately after the Civil War (1660-1661).

Role reversal and paradox play an important role in the celebration of Holy Week. Today it is Mary who anoints Jesus’ feet; on Thursday it will be Jesus who gets down on his hands and knees to wash the feet of his disciples. Both are intimate, physical acts that upend expectations and break with convention; both have a particular poignancy this Holy Week when even the most basic human contact and interaction is severely limited, and many of us yearn for any sort of non-virtual face-to-face encounter that would be considered acceptable any other Holy Week granted.

In Luke’s account, the Pharisee Simon is not so shocked by the physical action itself, the waste of such extravagant use of oil, which is Jude’s lament in John. Rather, Simon is outraged that it is performed by a “woman in town who was a sinner.” Traditionally identified as Mary of Magdala, it is Mary’s scandalous way of life that makes her presence unbearable. That she washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair before kissing and anointing them, makes them unacceptable in Simon’s eyes – there is no salvation for someone like this. Simon cannot bring himself to tell Jesus what he thinks: “He said to himself: ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman is that touching him.’ But Jesus knows exactly what “that kind of woman is,” and he is by no means clear about what is going through his host’s mind. And to make it clear to Simon that Maria’s uninhibited actions are not some attention-grabbing ploy by a notorious villain, but rather a sign of salvation in the life of a transformed woman, he points out how differently she behaved towards him than his host, and then explains that ” their many sins are forgiven; for she loved much.

In Gabriel Jackson’s setting of what I consider to be the most powerful and beautiful of his entire Passion, the words of the General Thanksgiving are Mary’s love song. Giving verbal expression to her symbolic actions, they reveal that her act of unexpected, unconventional devotion is the result of knowing, in the complexity and fragility of her own life, the healing love of the Redeemer, who covered her sin with the oil of love’s forgiveness .

We bless you for our creation, preservation,

and all the blessings of this life;

but most of all for your priceless love

in the redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ;

for the means of grace and for the hope of glory.

On this Monday of Holy Week we are invited to reflect on what song to sing, what role to play in response to this narrative. As the paradoxical drama of Holy Week begins to unfold, we approach this touching encounter as those temporarily untouched by others. But despite the physical distance between us, we don’t have to remain passive spectators of this meal and look at a text on a page from afar. We have our invitation to Simon’s Last Supper, to which Jesus was invited, and through the imaginative use of prayer and meditation, enriched by Gabriel Jackson’s music, we can take our place with Jesus, Simon and Mary.

As we listen to Mary’s rising love song, we are challenged to balance a realistic admission of our own sinfulness—for we are “unworthy servants” with Her—with the gratitude that Christ, through His death and resurrection, made worthy pours upon us the healing balm of acceptance, forgiveness and new life. If this is the reality of our God-given identity, then the response we are invited to is the same for us as it was for Mary – love.

Mary “loved much” because, in the person of Christ, she encountered and was transformed by love in its purest form. For us who imaginatively step into this scene with her, the invitation is there to tune our voices to sing in unison with her and, with Warden Reynolds, to praise God, not just with our lips but in our lives by giving ourselves up to the service of God.

Living and loving sacrificially for others is the Christian vocation not only during Holy Week but every day of our lives; in times of pandemic and movement restrictions as well as in everyday life, which was often monotonous and will be again, but which we long for. On this Monday of Holy Week, may Mary’s example inspire us to return much love and to discover ourselves transformed by it.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that salvation is a gift from God, obtained by being part of “God’s organization” and believing in Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. They do not believe in predestination or eternal security. They believe in different forms of resurrection for two groups of Christians: that the 144,000 members of the Anointed Rulers will be in heaven and that “the other sheep” or “the great crowd” will live on earth forever.

base [edit]

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that salvation is possible only through Christ’s ransom sacrifice[1] and that people cannot be saved until they repent of their sins and call on the name of Jehovah.[2] Salvation is described as a free gift from God, but is said to be unattainable without good works fueled by faith. The works prove that faith is genuine.[3][4] Preaching is said to be one of the works necessary for salvation, both for themselves and for those to whom they preach.[5] They believe that baptism as a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses is “a crucial step in obtaining salvation”[6] and that people can be “saved” by recognizing God’s organization. They also believe that compliance with the moral requirements set forth in the Bible is essential to salvation.[7][8]

The Witnesses reject the doctrine of universal salvation[9] and that of predestination or destiny. They believe that all intelligent creatures are endowed with free will. They view salvation as the result of their own choices, not destiny.[10] They also reject the concept of “once saved, always saved” (or “eternal security”), instead believing that to be saved one must remain faithful to the end.[11]

As to whether non-Witnesses are “saved,” they believe that Jesus has the responsibility to judge such, and that no man can judge for himself who will be saved. Based on their interpretation of Acts 24:15, they believe there will be a resurrection of righteous and unrighteous people. They believe that non-Witnesses living now can obtain salvation as they “come to serve God.”[12][13]

The ‘anointed’ [ edit ]

Based on their understanding of scriptures such as Revelation 14:1-4, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that exactly 144,000 faithful Christians will go to heaven to reign with Christ in God’s kingdom. They will also perform priestly duties with Jesus that will bring perfect health and “eternal life” to faithful humanity.[14] They believe that most of them are already in heaven and that the “remnant” in Revelation 12:17 (KJV) refers to those who remain alive on earth and will be resurrected to heaven immediately when they die. The Witnesses understand Jesus’ words at John 3:3—“Unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”—apply to the 144,000 who will be “born again” in heaven as “anointed” sons of God. [fifteen] They teach that the New Testament, which they refer to as the Christian Greek Scriptures, is addressed primarily to the 144,000 and more broadly to those associated with them.[16] They believe that the terms “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16), “little flock” (Luke 12:32), “New Jerusalem” and “the bride the Lamb’s wife” (Revelation 21:2,9) in the New Testament also refer to the same group of “anointed” Christians.[17][18]

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that being “anointed” involves a personal revelation by God’s Spirit that gives “a positive assurance of adoption” only to the individual.[20] Members who claim to be anointed receive no special treatment from other congregation members.[21] However, only those in the class of the anointed of unleavened bread and wine participate in the annual commemoration of Christ’s death, or Memorial.

The ‘other sheep’ and the ‘great multitude'[edit]

The Watch Tower Society literature states that Jesus’ use of the term “other sheep” at John 10:16 was intended to indicate that the majority of his followers were not of the 144,000 and had an earthly rather than a heavenly hope. 22][23] At the resurrection, those who died true to God will be numbered with the “other sheep” and will receive the “resurrection of the righteous” (“righteous” KJV) mentioned in Acts 24:15. [24] Those who died without serving God faithfully will receive the “resurrection of the…unrighteous” (“unrighteous” KJV). They are given the opportunity to gain God’s favor and join the “other sheep” of Jesus and live forever in an earthly paradise.[25][26] Persons judged unfavorably by God are not resurrected and are said to be in Gehenna, which they see as a metaphor for eternal destruction.[27] The “other sheep” alive today, some of whom survive Armageddon without the need for a resurrection, are referred to as the “great crowd.”[28][29]

See also[edit]

References[ edit ]

Bibliography[edit]

followers of Jesus

This article is about the biblical figure. For other uses, see Mary Magdalene (disambiguation)

Mary Magdalene, sometimes called Mary of Magdala or simply the Magdalene or Madeleine, was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and witnessed his crucifixion and resurrection. [1] She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels except Jesus’ family. Mary’s nickname, Magdalene, could mean that she came from the city of Magdala, a fishing village on the western shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee in Roman Judea.

The Gospel of Luke[2] lists Mary Magdalene as one of the women who traveled with Jesus and helped support his ministry “out of her means,” indicating that she was likely wealthy. The same passage also states that seven demons were cast out of her, a statement repeated in Mark 16. In all four canonical gospels, Mary Magdalene was a witness to Jesus’ crucifixion and in the synoptic gospels she was also present at his funeral. All four gospels identified her, either alone or as a member of a larger group of women that included the mother of Jesus, as the first to witness the empty tomb[1] and either alone or as a member of a group as the as first witness of the resurrection of Jesus.

For these reasons, Mary Magdalene is known in some Christian traditions as “the apostle of the apostles.” Mary Magdalene is a central figure in later Gnostic Christian writings, including the Dialogue of the Redeemer, Pistis Sophia, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Mary. These texts present Mary Magdalene as an apostle, Jesus’ closest and most beloved disciple, and the only one who truly understood his teachings. In the Gnostic texts or Gnostic Gospels, Mary Magdalene’s closeness to Jesus creates tensions with another disciple, Peter, due to her gender and Peter’s envy of the particular teachings she was given. In the text of the Gospel of Philip, she is described as Jesus’ companion, the disciple who loved Jesus most, and who kissed Jesus on the mouth,[4][5] leading some people to conclude that she and Jesus were in a relationship. Some fiction portrays her as the wife of Jesus.

The depiction of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute began in 591, when Pope Gregory I compared Mary Magdalene, introduced in Luke 8:2,[6] with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39)[7] and the nameless “sinful woman.” “woman” who anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7:36-50.[8] Pope Gregory’s Easter sermon led to a widespread belief that Mary Magdalene was a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman.[1] Then elaborate medieval legends emerged from western Europe, telling exaggerated tales of Mary Magdalene’s wealth and beauty, and of her supposed journey to southern Gaul (modern-day France).The identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the unnamed “sinful woman” was in the Years before the Reformation it was still a major controversy, and some Protestant leaders rejected it.During the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church emphasized Mary Magdalene as a symbol of penance e. In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed the identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the “sinful woman” of the General Roman Calendar, but the view of her as a former prostitute has persisted in popular culture.

Mary Magdalene is considered a saint by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. In 2016, Pope Francis raised the level of liturgical commemoration on July 22 from commemoration to feast, calling them “apostles of the apostles.”[10] Other Protestant churches honor her as a heroine of the faith. Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on Myrrh Bearer Sunday, the Orthodox equivalent of one of the western traditions of the Three Marys.

life [edit]

It is generally accepted among secular historians that Mary Magdalene, like Jesus, was a genuine historical figure. Despite this, very little is known about her life. Unlike the apostle Paul, Mary Magdalene left no known writings of her own. She was not mentioned in any of Paul’s epistles or in any of the general epistles. The earliest and most reliable sources about her life are the three synoptic gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, all written in the first century AD.

During the ministry of Jesus[ edit ]

c. 1900’s Photo taken in 1900’s of al-Majdal, a village that stands among the ruins of Magdala, the hometown of Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene’s epithet Magdalene (ἡ Μαγδαληνή; literally “the Magdalena”) most likely means that she came from Magdala,[b] a village on the western shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee that was known in ancient times primarily as a fishing village. Mary was by far the most common Jewish given name for women in the first century,[c][26] so it was necessary for the Gospel writers to call her Magdalene to distinguish her from the other women named Mary who followed Jesus. Although the gospel of Mark, considered by scholars to be the earliest extant gospel, does not mention Mary Magdalene until Jesus’ crucifixion, Luke 8:2–3[28] provides a brief synopsis of her role during his ministry:

Soon after, he moved on through towns and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of demons and ailments: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons came out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who took care of them out of their means. Luke 8:1-3[30]

The statement that Mary was possessed by seven demons is repeated at Mark 16:9,[35] part of the “longer end” of this gospel—this is not found in the earliest manuscripts and is actually a second-century addition to the original one Text possibly based on the Gospel of Luke. In the first century it was widely believed that demons were the cause of physical and mental illness. Bruce Chilton, a scholar of early Christianity, states that the reference to the demons’ number of “seven” could mean that Mary had to undergo seven exorcisms, probably over a long period of time, since the first six were partially or completely unsuccessful.

Bart D. Ehrman, a New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity, contends that the number seven could only be symbolic since in Jewish tradition seven was the number of consummation, hence the statement that Mary was possessed by seven demons was, being easy could mean she was completely overwhelmed by her power. In both cases, Mary must have suffered severe emotional or psychological trauma for an exorcism of this type to be felt to be necessary. Consequently, her devotion to Jesus because of this healing must have been very strong. The evangelists are usually fond of giving dramatic descriptions of Jesus’ public exorcisms, in which the possessed person howls, lashes out and tears his clothes in front of a crowd. The fact that Mary’s exorcism receives so little attention may indicate that it was either performed in private or that it was not considered particularly dramatic.

Since Mary is listed as one of the women who financially supported Jesus’ ministry, she must have been relatively wealthy. The passages in which she and the other women are mentioned in the Gospels strongly suggest that they were vital to Jesus’ ministry, and the fact that Mary Magdalene always appears first when she is a member in the Synoptic Gospels of a group of women indicates that she was considered the most important of all. Carla Ricci notes that in the lists of disciples, Mary Magdalene occupies a similar position among Jesus’ female followers to that of Simon Peter among the male apostles.

The fact that women played such an active and important role in Jesus’ ministry was not entirely radical or even unique; Inscriptions from a synagogue at Aphrodisias in Asia Minor from about the same period show that many of the synagogue’s main donors were women. Jesus’ ministry brought greater deliverance to women than they would normally have had in mainstream Jewish society. Jesus taught that in the coming kingdom of God there would be a role reversal and the oppressed would be exalted. According to Ehrman, this idea likely would have been particularly appealing and empowering to women of the time, like Mary Magdalene, who may have felt oppressed by traditional attitudes about gender roles.

Witnessing the crucifixion and burial of Jesus[ edit ]

All four canonical gospels agree that Mary Magdalene, along with several other women, watched Jesus’ crucifixion from afar. Mark 15:40 lists the names of the women present as Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of James; and Salome. Matthew 27:55–56 lists Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the unnamed mother of Zebedee’s sons (who may be the same person Mark names Salome). Luke 23:49 mentioned a group of women watching the crucifixion but did not give their names. John 19:25 lists Mary the mother of Jesus, her sister Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene as witnesses to the crucifixion.

Virtually all respected historians agree that Jesus was crucified by the Romans on the orders of Pontius Pilate. James Dunn states of baptism and crucifixion that these “two facts in the life of Jesus demand almost universal agreement”.[59] Nonetheless, the gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion differ significantly, and most secular historians agree that some details in the accounts have been altered to conform to the theological ideas of their authors. Ehrman states that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women on the cross is likely historical because Christians would have been unlikely to have identified the chief witnesses of crucifixion as women, and also because their presence is both in the synoptic gospels and independent is attested in the Gospel of John. Maurice Casey agrees that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women at Jesus’ crucifixion can be recorded as historical fact. According to E. P. Sanders, the reason the women watched the crucifixion even after the male disciples fled might be because they were less likely to be arrested because they were braver than the men, or a combination of these.

The Deposition (1507) of (1507) by Raphael, shows a distraught, sandy-haired Mary Magdalene, dressed in fine clothes, clutching the hand of Jesus’ body as He is carried to the tomb

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. Mark 15:47 lists Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus as witnesses to Jesus’ burial. Matthew 27:61 lists Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” as witnesses. Luke 23:55 mentions “the women who followed him out of Galilee,” but does not list their names. John 19:39–42 does not mention women present during Joseph’s burial of Jesus, but does mention the presence of Nicodemus, a Pharisee with whom Jesus had a conversation shortly before the gospel began. Ehrman, who had previously accepted the story of Jesus’ burial as historical, now rejects it as a later invention on the grounds that Roman governors almost never allowed executed criminals to have any type of burial, and Pontius Pilate in particular was not “the Kind of ruler who would break with tradition and politics if kindly asked by a member of the Jewish council to provide a decent burial for a crucified victim.

John Dominic Crossan has controversially argued that Jesus’ body was probably eaten by wild dogs. Ehrman notes that this was the most common fate for crucifixion victims, but notes that it is impossible to know for sure what actually happened to Jesus’ body after it was taken down from the cross. Casey argues that Jesus did receive proper burial from Joseph of Arimathea, noting that on some very rare occasions Roman governors released the bodies of executed prisoners for burial. Despite this, he denies that Jesus could have been buried in an expensive tomb with a stone rolled in front of it as described in the Gospels, leading him to conclude that Mary and the other women need not have actually seen the tomb. Sanders confirms the burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea in the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other female followers as fully historical.

Resurrection of Jesus[edit]

Holy Women at the Tomb of Christ (c.1590-1590) by Annibale Carracci. At Matthew 28:1–10, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” meet an angel at the tomb who tells them that Christ has risen.

The earliest description of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances is a quote from a pre-Pauline creed preserved by Paul the Apostle at 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, written about 20 years before any of the Gospels. This passage makes no mention of Mary Magdalene, the other women, or the story of the empty tomb at all, but credits Simon Peter with being the first to see the resurrected Jesus. Despite this, all four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agree that Mary Magdalene, either alone or as a member of a group, was the first person to discover that Jesus’ tomb was empty. Still, the details of the accounts differ drastically.

According to Mark 16:1–8, the earliest account of the discovery of the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb just after sunrise, a day and a half after Jesus’ burial, and found that the stone was already rolled away. They went in 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. Instead, the women ran away and didn’t tell anyone because they were too scared. The original text of the gospel ends here, without the resurrected Jesus ever actually appearing to anyone. Casey argues that the reason for this abrupt end may be that the gospel of Mark is an unfinished first draft.

According to Matthew 28:1–10, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” went to the tomb. An earthquake occurred and an angel robed in white descended from heaven and rolled the stone aside while the women looked on. The angel told them that Jesus rose from the dead. Then the risen Jesus himself appeared to the women as they were leaving the tomb and told them to tell the other disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. According to Luke 24:1–12, a group of unnamed women went to the tomb and found the stone already rolled away, as with Mark. They went in and saw two young men dressed in white who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then they went and told the eleven remaining apostles, who dismissed their story as nonsense. In Luke’s account, Jesus never appears to the women, but makes his first appearance to Cleopas and an unnamed “disciple” on the road to Emmaus. Luke’s narrative also removes the injunction for the women to tell the disciples to return to Galilee, and instead has Jesus telling the disciples not to return to Galilee but rather to remain in the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Appearance of Jesus Christ to Mary Magdalene (1835) by (1835) by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov. In John 20:1-13 Mary Magdalene sees the resurrected Jesus alone and He tells her, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.”

The role of Mary Magdalene in the resurrection narrative is greatly expanded in the account from the Gospel of John. According to John 20:1–10, Mary Magdalene went alone to the tomb while it was still dark and saw that the stone had already been rolled away. She saw no one, but immediately ran to tell Peter and the “beloved disciple,” who came with her to the tomb and confirmed that it was empty, but returned home without seeing the risen Jesus. According to John 20:11-18, Mary, now alone in the garden in front of the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus’ body had been. Then the risen Jesus approached her. She at first mistook him for the gardener, but when she heard him say her name, she recognized him and called out “Rabbouni!” (that’s Aramaic for “teacher”). His next words can be translated as “Don’t touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my father” or “Stop clinging to me, [etc.]”, the latter being more likely given the grammar (present negated – imperative: stop doing something that is already in progress) and Jesus’ challenge to Thomas a week later (see John 20:24-29). Jesus then sent them to share the good news of his resurrection with the other apostles. The Gospel of John therefore presents Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle sent to the apostles.

Dissatisfied with the abrupt ending of Mark’s gospel, the scribes wrote several different alternative endings for it. In the “shorter end” found in very few manuscripts, the women go to “those around Peter” and tell them what they had seen at the tomb, followed by a brief explanation of the gospel being preached from east to west becomes. This “very forced” ending contradicts the last verse of the original gospel, which states that the women “told no one”. The “longer end” found in most surviving manuscripts is a “fusion of traditions” containing episodes drawn from the other gospels. First it describes an appearance of Jesus only to Mary Magdalene (as in the Gospel of John), followed by brief descriptions of His appearances to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (as in the Gospel of Luke) and to the eleven remaining disciples (as in the Gospel of Matthew).

In his book, published in 2006, Ehrman states that “it seems virtually certain” that the empty tomb stories, whether accurate or not, can definitely be traced back to the historical Mary Magdalene in Jewish society, which applied to women as unreliable witnesses and forbidden to testify in court, so early Christians would have had no reason to invent a story that a woman was the first to discover the empty tomb. Indeed, if they had made up the story, they would have had strong motivations to make Peter, Jesus’ closest disciple during his lifetime, the discoverer of the tomb instead. He also says that the story of Mary Magdalene discovering the empty tomb is independently attested in the Synoptics, the Gospel of John, and the Gospel of Peter. N. T. Wright states, “It is frankly impossible to imagine that [the women at the tomb] were inserted into the tradition after Paul’s day.”

Casey challenges this argument, claiming that the women at the tomb are not legal witnesses but rather heroines in accordance with a long Jewish tradition. He claims that the story of the empty tomb was fabricated by either the author of Mark or one of his sources, based on the historically true fact that the women were actually present at Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. In his book, published in 2014, Ehrman dismisses his own previous argument, stating that the story of the empty tomb can only be a later invention because there is virtually no way Jesus’ body could have been placed in any type of tomb, and if so Since Jesus was never buried, no one could have said at the time that his non-existent tomb was found empty. He concludes that the notion that early Christians would have had “no motive” for inventing the story simply “suffers from the imagination” and that they could have had all sorts of motives, especially since women were over-represented in early Christian communities and women themselves would have had strong motivation to invent a story about other women being the first to find the tomb. However, he later concludes that Mary Magdalene must have been one of the individuals who must have had an experience in which she believed she was seeing the resurrected Jesus, citing her prominent position in the gospel resurrection narratives and her absence anywhere otherwise in the Gospels as evidence.

Apocryphal early Christian writings[edit]

Apocrypha of the New Testament mention Mary Magdalene. Some of these writings were cited as scripture by early Christians. However, they were never included in the canon of the New Testament. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches generally do not consider these writings to be part of the Bible. In these apocryphal texts, Mary Magdalene is presented as a visionary and leader of the early movement who loved Jesus more than the other disciples. These texts were written long after the death of the historical Mary Magdalene. They are not considered by Bible scholars to be reliable sources of information about their lives. Sanders summarizes the scientific consensus that:

… very, very little in the apocryphal gospels could conceivably date back to the time of Jesus. They are legendary and mythological. Of all the apocryphal material, only a few of the sayings of Thomas’ gospel are worthy of consideration.

Despite this, the texts in modern works have often been promoted as if they were reliable. Such works often support sensationalist statements about the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Dialogue of the Redeemer[edit]

Fragment of a 4th-century text of the Savior’s Apocryphal Dialogue in which Mary Magdalene is a central figure

The earliest dialogue between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is probably the Dialogue of the Redeemer, a badly damaged Gnostic text discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. The dialogue consists of a conversation between Jesus, Mary and two apostles – Thomas the Apostle and Matthew the Apostle. In saying 53, the dialogue attributes to Mary three aphorisms attributed to Jesus in the New Testament: “The wickedness of each day [is enough]. Workers earn their food. Disciples are like their teachers.” The narrator praises Mary by saying, “She spoke that utterance as a woman who understood everything.”

Pistis Sophia[ edit ]

The Pistis Sophia, possibly as early as the second century, is the best-preserved Gnostic writing. It was discovered in the 18th century in a large volume containing numerous early Gnostic treatises. The document takes the form of a long dialogue in which Jesus answers questions from his followers. Of the 64 questions, 39 are asked by a woman referred to as Mary or Mary Magdalene. At one point Jesus says: “Mary, blessed one, whom I will perfect in all the mysteries of those on high, speak openly, you whose heart rises up to the kingdom of heaven more than all your brethren.” At another point he says to her : “Well done Mary. You are more blessed than all women on earth for you will be the fullness of fullness and the consummation of consummation.” Simon Peter, angered by Mary’s dominance in the conversation, says to Jesus, “My Master, we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and doesn’t let any of us speak, although she talks all the time.” Mary defends herself and says, “My Master, I understand in my mind that I can step forward at any time to interpret what Pistis Sophia [a female deity] said, but I am afraid of Peter because he threatens me and hates our race.” Jesus assures her, “Each of those who are filled with the Spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say: none will be able to oppose them.” Mainstream Christianity claims that God is one and says that other deities do not exist. [citation needed]

Gospel of Thomas [ edit ]

Last page of the Gospel of Thomas from Nag Hammadi, giving the account of Jesus’ reaffirmation of Mary’s authority over Peter

The Gospel of Thomas, which is usually dated to the late first or early second century, was among the ancient texts discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. The Gospel of Thomas consists entirely of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Many of these sayings are similar to those found in the canonical gospels, but others are quite unlike anything found in the New Testament. Some scholars believe that at least some of these sayings can be authentically traced back to the historical Jesus. Two of the sayings refer to a woman named “Mary” who is commonly believed to be Mary Magdalene. Saying 21, Mary herself asks Jesus the perfectly harmless question: “Who are your disciples like?” Jesus replies: “They are like children who have settled in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say, ‘Let’s have our field back.’ They (will) undress in their presence to give their field back to them and give it back to them. Following this, Jesus continues his explanation with a parable of the householder and a thief and ends with the usual rhetoric “he who has ears to hear, let him hear”.

However, Mary’s mention in Statement 114 has caused considerable controversy:

Simon Peter said to them: Let Mary go from among us, for women are not worthy of life. Jesus said, Behold, I will lead her to make her male, so that she also may become a living spirit like you husbands. For every woman who makes herself a man will enter the kingdom of heaven. Mayer 1992

Gospel of Philip[ edit ]

The second- or third-century Gospel of Philip survives in part among the texts found at Nag Hammadi in 1945 depicting Jesus’ female entourage and adding that she was his koinônos, a Greek word variously used in contemporary versions as partner, collaborator , comrade, companion is translated:[118]

There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother and her sister, and Magdalene, who was called his companion. His sister,[e] his mother and his mate were each a Maria. Grant 1961, pp. 129-140

The Gospel of Philip uses related koinônos and Coptic equivalents to refer to the literal mating of men and women in marriage and sexual intercourse, but also metaphorically to a spiritual partnership and the reunion of the Gnostic Christian with the divine realm. The Gospel of Philip also contains another passage related to Jesus’ relationship with Mary Magdalene. The text is heavily fragmented, and speculated but unreliable additions are shown in brackets:

And the companion of the [Saviour] was Mary Magdalene. [Christ] loved Mary more than [all] the disciples, [and used to] kiss her [often] on the [mouth]. The rest of the disciples [were offended and expressed disapproval]. They said to him: “Why do you love them more than all of us?” The Savior answered and said to them, “Why do I not love you as they do? When a blind man and a sighted man are both together in the darkness, they are no different from each other. When the light comes, the sighted will see the light, and the blind will remain in darkness.”[4] Grant 1961, pp. 129–140

For early Christians, kissing had no romantic connotation and it was common for Christians to kiss their fellow believers in greeting.[f] This tradition is still practiced in many Christian communities today and is known as the “kiss of peace”. Ehrman explains that the kiss of peace im Kontext des Philippus-Evangeliums als Symbol für den Übergang der Wahrheit von einer Person zur anderen verwendet wird und dass es sich in keiner Weise um einen Akt des „göttlichen Vorspiels“ handelt.

Evangelium nach Maria [ bearbeiten ]

Das Marienevangelium ist der einzige erhaltene apokryphe Text, der nach einer Frau benannt ist. Es enthält Informationen über die Rolle der Frau in der frühen Kirche.[125] Der Text wurde wahrscheinlich über ein Jahrhundert nach dem Tod der historischen Maria Magdalena geschrieben. Der Text wird ihr nicht zugeschrieben und sein Autor ist anonym. Stattdessen erhielt es seinen Titel, weil es um sie geht. Der wichtigste erhaltene Text stammt aus einer koptischen Übersetzung, die in einem Manuskript aus dem 5. Jahrhundert aufbewahrt wird (Berolinensis Gnosticus 8052,1), das 1896 in Kairo entdeckt wurde.[125] Aufgrund zahlreicher zwischenzeitlicher Konflikte wurde das Manuskript erst 1955 veröffentlicht. Etwa die Hälfte des Textes des Evangeliums in diesem Manuskript ist verloren gegangen; die ersten sechs Seiten und vier aus der Mitte fehlen. Zusätzlich zu dieser koptischen Übersetzung wurden auch zwei kurze Fragmente des Evangeliums aus dem dritten Jahrhundert im griechischen Original (P. Rylands 463 und P. Oxyrhynchus 3525) entdeckt, die 1938 bzw. 1983 veröffentlicht wurden.[125]

Der erste Teil des Evangeliums befasst sich mit den Abschiedsworten Jesu an seine Nachfolger nach einer Erscheinung nach der Auferstehung. Maria erscheint zuerst im zweiten Teil, in dem sie den anderen Jüngern, die alle um ihr eigenes Leben fürchten, sagt: „Weine nicht, sei nicht traurig und zweifele nicht, denn seine Gnade wird mit euch allen sein und euch beschützen. Lasst uns vielmehr seine Größe preisen, denn er hat uns vorbereitet und zu wahren Menschen gemacht.“ Anders als im Thomasevangelium, wo Frauen nur gerettet werden können, indem sie Männer werden, können sie im Marienevangelium so gerettet werden, wie sie sind. Petrus geht auf Maria zu und fragt sie:

„Schwester, wir wissen, dass der Erretter dich mehr geliebt hat als alle anderen Frauen. Erzähle uns die Worte des Erretters, an die du dich erinnerst und die du kennst, aber wir wissen sie nicht und haben sie auch nicht gehört.“ Maria antwortete und sagte: “Was dir verborgen ist, werde ich dir verkünden”. Und sie fing an, diese Worte zu ihnen zu sprechen: “Ich”, sagte sie, “ich sah den Herrn in einer Vision, und ich sagte zu ihm: Herr, ich habe dich heute in einer Vision gesehen.” de Boer 2005, p. 74

Maria fährt dann fort, die gnostische Kosmologie eingehend zu beschreiben und offenbart, dass sie die einzige ist, die die wahren Lehren Jesu verstanden hat. Andreas, der Apostel, fordert Maria heraus und besteht darauf: „Sag, was du von dem hältst, was sie gesagt hat, aber ich glaube nicht, dass der Retter das gesagt hat. Diese Lehren sind seltsame Ideen.“ Peter antwortet und sagt: „Hat er wirklich ohne unser Wissen privat mit einer Frau gesprochen? Sollten wir alle auf sie hören? Hat er sie uns vorgezogen?“ Die Antworten von Andreas und Petrus sollen zeigen, dass sie die Lehren Jesu nicht verstehen und dass es wirklich nur Maria ist, die wirklich versteht. Matthäus der Apostel kommt zu Marias Verteidigung und erteilt Petrus eine scharfe Zurechtweisung: „Petrus, du bist immer zornig. Jetzt sehe ich, wie du wie ein Widersacher gegen diese Frau argumentierst. Wenn der Retter sie würdig gemacht hat, wer bist du, sie zurückzuweisen? der Retter kennt sie gut. Deshalb liebte er sie mehr als uns.“

Borboritische Schriften [ bearbeiten ]

Die Borboriten, auch bekannt als Phibioniten, waren eine frühchristliche gnostische Sekte im späten vierten Jahrhundert, die zahlreiche Schriften über Maria Magdalena hatte, darunter Die Fragen Mariens, Die Großen Fragen Mariens, Die Kleinen Fragen Mariens und Die Geburt von Maria. None of these texts have survived to the present, but they are mentioned by the early Christian heretic-hunter Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion.[143] 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.[143] Then, upon ejaculating, Jesus drank his own semen and told Mary, “Thus we must do, that we may live.”[143] Upon hearing this, Mary instantly fainted, to which Jesus responded by helping her up and telling her, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”[143] 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. 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”.

legacy [edit]

Patristic era [ edit ]

c. 240 and contains the oldest surviving depiction of Mary Magdalene. She is shown alongside two other women (the third now almost completely missing due to extensive damage), each holding a lit torch and a bowl of This fresco from the nave of the Dura-Europos church dates to240 and contains the oldest surviving depiction of Mary Magdalene. She is shown alongside two other women (the third now almost completely missing due to extensive damage), each holding a lit torch and a bowl of myrrh , as they approach Jesus’s tomb , which is still sealed.

Most of the earliest Church Fathers do not mention Mary Magdalene at all, and those who do mention her usually only discuss her very briefly. In his anti-Christian polemic The True Word, written between 170 and 180, the pagan philosopher Celsus declared that Mary Magdalene was nothing more than “a hysterical female… who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken notion (an experience which has happened to thousands), or, which is more likely, wanted to impress others by telling this fantastic tale, and so by this cock-and-bull story to provide a chance for other beggars.” The Church Father Origen ( c. 184 – c. 253) defended Christianity against this accusation in his apologetic treatise Against Celsus, mentioning Matthew 28:1, which lists Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” both seeing the resurrected Jesus, thus providing a second witness. 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. Origen merely dismisses this, remarking that Celsus “pours on us a heap of names”.

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.[1] The misconception likely arose due to a conflation between Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (who anoints Jesus’s feet in John 11:1–12), and the unnamed “sinful woman” who anoints Jesus’s feet in Luke 7:36–50.[1] As early as the third century, the Church Father Tertullian ( c. 160 – 225) references the touch of “the woman which was a sinner” in effort to prove that Jesus “was not a phantom, but really a solid body.” This may indicate that Mary Magdalene was already being conflated with the “sinful woman” in Luke 7:36–50, though Tertullian never clearly identifies the woman of whom he speaks as Mary Magdalene. 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 sermon describes the conflated woman as a “second Eve” who compensates for the disobedience of the first Eve through her obedience. The sermon also explicitly identifies Mary Magdalene and the other women as “apostles”. The first clear identification of Mary Magdalene as a redeemed sinner comes from Ephrem the Syrian ( c. 306 – 373). Part of the reason for the identification of Mary Magdalene as a sinner may derive from the reputation of her birthplace, Magdala, which, by the late first century, was infamous for its inhabitants’ alleged vice and licentiousness.

In one of his preserved sayings, Gregory of Nyssa ( c. 330 – 395) identifies Mary Magdalene as “the first witness to the resurrection, that she might set straight again by her faith in the resurrection, what was turned over in her transgression.” Ambrose ( c. 340 – 397), by contrast, not only rejected the conflation of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the anointing sinner, but even proposed that the authentic Mary Magdalene herself was, in fact, two separate people: one woman named Mary Magdalene who discovered the empty tomb and a different Mary Magdalene who saw the risen Christ. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) entertained the possibility that Mary of Bethany and the unnamed sinner from Luke might be the same person, but did not associate Mary Magdalene with either of them. Instead, Augustine praised Mary Magdalene as “unquestionably… surpassingly more ardent in her love than these other women who had administered to the Lord”.

Early Middle Ages [ edit ]

The unnamed “sinful woman” in Luke 7:36–50 is never identified as a prostitute 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”. The notion of Mary Magdalene specifically being a former prostitute or loose woman dates to a narrative by Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great”) made in an influential homily in around 591, in which he not only identifies Magdalene with the anonymous sinner with the perfume in Luke’s gospel and with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, but also, for the first time, explicitly identifies her sins as ones of a sexual nature:

She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing the Lord’s feet, she now planted her mouth on the Redeemer’s feet. For every delight, therefore, she had had in herself, she now immolated herself. She turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance. Pope Gregory I (homily XXXIII), Carroll 2006

In Pope Gregory’s interpretation, the seven demons expelled from Mary Magdalene by Jesus are transformed into the seven deadly sins of medieval Catholicism, leading Mary “to be condemned not only for lust, but for pride and covetousness as well.” The aspect of the repentant sinner became almost equally significant as the disciple in her persona as depicted in Western art and religious literature, fitting well with the great importance of penitence in medieval theology. In subsequent religious legend, Mary’s story became conflated with that of Mary of Egypt, a repentant prostitute who then lived as a hermit. With that, Mary’s image was, according to Susan Haskins, author of Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor, “finally settled…for nearly fourteen hundred years,” although in fact the most important late medieval popular accounts of her life describe her as a rich woman whose life of sexual freedom is purely for pleasure.[171] 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.[172]

The “composite Magdalene” was never accepted by the Eastern Orthodox churches, who saw only Mary the disciple, and believed that after the Resurrection she lived as a companion to Mary the mother of Jesus, and not even in the West was it universally accepted. The Benedictine Order always celebrated Mary of Bethany together with Martha and Lazarus of Bethany on July 29, while Mary Magdalene was celebrated on July 22.[173] Not only John Chrysostom in the East (Matthew, Homily 88), but also Ambrose (De virginitate 3,14; 4,15) in the West, when speaking of Mary Magdalene after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, far from calling her a harlot, suggest she was a virgin.[174] 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.

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.[176] Gregory states that Mary Magdalene was buried in the city of Ephesus. Modestus, the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 630 until 634, describes a slightly different tradition that Mary Magdalene had come to Ephesus to live with the apostle John following the death of Mary the mother of Jesus.

High Middle Ages [ edit ]

Fictional biographies [ edit ]

Starting in early High Middle Ages, writers in western Europe began developing elaborate fictional biographies of Mary Magdalene’s life, in which they heavily embellished upon the vague details given in the gospels. Stories about noble saints were popular during this time period; accordingly, tales of Mary Magdalene’s wealth and social status became heavily exaggerated. In the tenth century, Odo of Cluny ( c. 880 – 942) wrote a sermon in which he described Mary as an extraordinarily wealthy noblewoman of royal descent. Some manuscripts of the sermon record that Mary’s parents were named Syrus and Eucharia and one manuscript goes into great detail describing her family’s purported land holdings in Bethany, Jerusalem, and Magdala.

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”, but that she committed adultery, so she fled to Jerusalem and became a “public sinner” (vulgaris meretrix). Honorius mentions that, out of love for Jesus, Mary repented and withdrew into a life of quiet isolation. Under the influence of stories about other female saints, such as Mary of Egypt and Pelagia, painters in Italy during the ninth and tenth centuries gradually began to develop the image of Mary Magdalene living alone in the desert as a penitent ascetic. This portrayal became so popular that it quickly spread to Germany and England. From the twelfth century, Abbot Hugh of Semur (died 1109), Peter Abelard (died 1142), and Geoffrey of Vendome (died 1132) all referred to Mary Magdalene as the sinner who merited the title apostolorum apostola (Apostle to the Apostles), with the title becoming commonplace during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Alleged burial in France [ edit ]

In western Europe, elaborate and conflicting legends began to develop, which said that Mary Magdalene had travelled to southern France and died there. Starting in around 1050, the monks of the Abbey of la Madaleine, Vézelay in Burgundy said they discovered Mary Magdalene’s actual skeleton.[186] At first, the existence of the skeleton was merely asserted, but, in 1265, the monks made a spectacular, public show of “discovering” it and, in 1267, the bones were brought before the king of France himself, who venerated them. On December 9, 1279, an excavation ordered by Charles II, King of Naples at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, Provence, led to the discovery of another purported burial of Mary Magdalene. The shrine was purportedly found intact, with an explanatory inscription stating why the relics had been hidden. Charles II commissioned the building of a new Gothic basilica on the site and, in return for providing accommodation for pilgrims, the town’s residents were exempt from taxes. Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume gradually displaced Vézelay in popularity and acceptance.

In 1279, the monks of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume said they discovered Mary Magdalene’s skeleton. The reliquary at St. Maximin, created in the nineteenth century, contains her purported skull.

The Golden Legend [ edit ]

The most famous account of Mary Magdalene’s legendary life comes from The Golden Legend, a collection of medieval saints stories compiled in around the year 1260 by the Italian writer and Dominican friar Jacobus de Voragine ( c. 1230 – 1298). In this account, Mary Magdalene is, in Ehrman’s words, “fabulously rich, insanely beautiful, and outrageously sensual”, but she gives up her life of wealth and sin to become a devoted follower of Jesus. Fourteen years after Jesus’s crucifixion, some pagans throw Mary, Martha, Lazarus (who, in this account, is their brother due to a conflation with Mary of Bethany), and two other Christians named Maximin and Cedonius onto a rudderless boat in the Mediterranean Sea to die. Miraculously, however, the boat washes ashore at Marseille in southern France. Mary persuades the governor of the city not to offer sacrifices to a pagan god and later persuades him to convert to Christianity after she proves the Christian God’s power by successfully praying to Him to make the governor’s wife pregnant. The governor and his wife sail for Rome to meet the apostle Peter in person, but their ship is struck by a storm, which causes the wife to go into labor. The wife dies in childbirth and the governor leaves her on an island with the still-living infant at her breast. The governor spends two years with Peter in Rome 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. Then the governor’s wife rises from the dead and tells him that Mary Magdalene has brought her back. The whole family returns to Marseille, where they meet Mary again in person. Mary herself spends the last thirty years of her life alone as a penitent ascetic in a cave in a desert in the French region of Provence.[197] At every canonical hour, the angels come and lift her up to hear their songs in Heaven. On the last day of her life, Maximin, now the bishop of Aix, comes to her and gives her the Eucharist. Mary cries tears of joy and, after taking it, she lies down and dies. De Voragine gives the common account of the transfer of Mary Magdalene’s relics from her sepulchre in the oratory of Saint Maximin at Aix-en-Provence to the newly founded Vézelay;[199] the transportation of the relics is entered as undertaken in 771 by the founder of the abbey, identified as Gerard, Duke of Burgundy.[200]

Spouse of John the Evangelist [ edit ]

The monk and historian Domenico Cavalca ( c. 1270 – 1342), citing Jerome, suggested that Mary Magdalene was betrothed to John the Evangelist: “I like to think that the Magdalene was the spouse of John, not affirming it… I am glad and blythe that St Jerome should say so”. They were sometimes thought to be the couple at the Wedding at Cana, though the Gospel accounts say nothing of the ceremony being abandoned. 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.[200]

Late Middle Ages and Renaissance [ edit ]

Penitent Magdalene ( c. 1454) by 1454) by Donatello , showing her as “an old, emaciated and toothless woman… worn down by years of hard solitude in her cave”. The sculpture is an “extreme” example of Mary Magdalene’s usual portrayal as a penitent ascetic. Mary Magdalene ( c. 1515), traditionally attributed to 1515), traditionally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci ‘s student Giampietrino . This painting shows a very different image of Mary Magdalene as “a woman who repents of nothing, who feels no shame or guilt.”

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.”[206] A document, possibly written by Ermengaud of Béziers, undated and anonymous and attached to his Treatise against Heretics,[207] makes a similar statement:[208]

Also they [the Cathars] teach in their secret meetings that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Christ. She was the Samaritan woman to whom He said, “Call thy husband”. She was the woman taken into adultery, whom Christ set free lest the Jews stone her, and she was with Him in three places, in the temple, at the well, and in the garden. After the Resurrection, He appeared first to her.[209]

In the middle of the fourteenth century, a Dominican friar wrote a biography of Mary Magdalene in which he described her brutally mutilating herself after giving up prostitution, clawing at her legs until they bled, tearing out clumps of her hair, and beating her face with her fists and her breasts with stones. 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. In 1449, King René d’Anjou gave to Angers Cathedral the amphora from Cana in which Jesus changed water to wine, acquiring it from the nuns of Marseilles, who told him that Mary Magdalene had brought it with her from Judea, relating to the legend where she was the jilted bride at the wedding after which John the Evangelist received his calling from Jesus.[g]

Reformation and Counter-Reformation [ edit ]

In 1517, on the brink of the Protestant Reformation, the leading French Renaissance humanist Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples published his book De Maria Magdalena et triduo Christi disceptatio (Disputation on Mary Magdalene and the Three Days of Christ), in which he argued against the conflation of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the unnamed sinner in Luke.[174] Various authors published a flurry of books and pamphlets in response, the vast majority of which opposed Lefèvre d’Étaples.[174] In 1521, the theology faculty of the Sorbonne formally condemned the idea that the three women were separate people as heretical,[174] and debate died down, overtaken by the larger issues raised by Martin Luther.[174] Luther and Huldrych Zwingli (1484 – 1531) both supported the composite Magdalene.[213] Luther, whose views on sexuality were much more liberal than those of his fellow reformers, reportedly once joked to a group of friends that “even pious Christ himself” had committed adultery three times: once with Mary Magdalene, once with the Samaritan woman at the well, and once with the adulteress he had let off so easily. Because the cult of Mary Magdalene was inextricably associated with the Catholic teaching of the intercession of saints, it came under particularly harsh criticism by Protestant leaders. Zwingli demanded for the cult of Mary Magdalene to be abolished and all images of her to be destroyed. John Calvin (1509 – 1564) not only rejected the composite Magdalene,[213] but criticized Catholics as ignorant for having ever believed in it.

During the Counter-Reformation, Roman Catholicism began to strongly emphasize Mary Magdalene’s role as a penitent sinner. Her medieval role as a patron and advocate became minimized and her penitence became regarded as her most important aspect, especially in France and in the Catholic portions of southern Germany. A massive number of Baroque paintings and sculptures depict the penitent Magdalene, often showing her naked or partially naked, with a strong emphasis on her erotic beauty. Poems about Mary Magdalene’s repentance were also popular. Estates of nobles and royalty in southern Germany were equipped with so-called “Magdalene cells”, small, modest hermitages that functioned as both chapels and dwellings, where the nobility could retreat to find religious solace. They were usually located away in wild areas away from the rest of the property and their exteriors were designed to suggest vulnerability.

modern times [edit]

Not she with trait’rous kiss her Saviour stung,

Not she denied Him with unholy tongue;

She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave,

Last at His cross, and earliest at His grave. Eaton Stannard Barrett, Woman (1810), Part I, lines 141–145

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.[224] Edgar Saltus’s historical fiction novel Mary Magdalene: A Chronicle (1891) depicts her as a heroine living in a castle at Magdala, who moves to Rome becoming the “toast of the tetrarchy”, telling John the Baptist she will “drink pearls… sup on peacock’s tongues”. St Peter Julian Eymard calls her “the patroness and model of a life spent in the adoration and service of Jesus in the sacrament of His Love.”[225][226]

The common identification of Mary Magdalene with other New Testament figures was omitted in the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, with the comment regarding her liturgical celebration on July 22: “No change has been made in the title of today’s memorial, but it concerns only Saint Mary Magdalene, to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection. It is not about the sister of Saint Martha, nor about the sinful woman whose sins the Lord forgave.”[227][228] Elsewhere it said of the Roman liturgy of July 22 that “it will make mention neither of Mary of Bethany nor of the sinful woman of Luke 7:36–50, but only of Mary Magdalene, the first person to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection”.[229] According to historian Michael Haag, these changes were a quiet admission from the Vatican that the Church’s previous teaching of Mary Magdalene as a repentant whore had been wrong. Mary of Bethany’s feast day and that of her brother Lazarus is now on July 29, the memorial of their sister Martha.[231]

Nonetheless, despite the Vatican’s rejection of it, the view of Mary as a repentant prostitute only grew more prevalent in popular culture. 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, 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. Mary is likewise portrayed as a reformed prostitute in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. 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. Ki Longfellow’s novel The Secret Magdalene (2005) draws on the Gnostic gospels and other sources to portray Mary as a brilliant and dynamic woman who studies at the fabled library of Alexandria, and shares her knowledge with Jesus.[238] Lady Gaga’s song “Judas” (2011) is sung from Mary’s perspective, portraying her as a prostitute who is “beyond repentance”.[239]

The 2018 film Mary Magdalene, starring Rooney Mara as the eponymous character, sought to reverse the centuries-old portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute, while also combating the conspiracy statements of her being Jesus’s wife or sexual partner. Instead, the film portrays her as Jesus’s closest disciple and the only one who truly understands his teachings. This portrayal is partially based on the Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene. The film, which described as having a “strongly feminist bent”, was praised for its music score and cinematography, its surprising faithfulness to the Biblical narrative, and its acting, but was criticized as slow-moving, overwritten, and too solemn to be believable. It was also criticized by many Christians, who were offended by the film’s use of extracanonical source material.

In Western art [ edit ]

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. She may be shown either as very extravagantly and fashionably dressed, unlike other female figures wearing contemporary styles of clothes, or alternatively as completely naked but covered by very long blonde or reddish-blonde hair. The latter depictions represent the Penitent Magdalene, according to the medieval legend that she had spent a period of repentance as a desert hermit after leaving her life as a follower of Jesus. Her story became conflated in the West with that of Mary of Egypt, a fourth-century prostitute turned hermit, whose clothes wore out and fell off in the desert. The widespread artistic representations of Mary Magdalene in tears are the source of the modern English word maudlin, meaning “sickeningly sentimental or emotional”.

In medieval depictions Mary’s long hair entirely covers her body and preserves her modesty (supplemented in some German versions such as one by Tilman Riemenschneider by thick body hair), but, from the sixteenth century, some depictions, like those by Titian, show part of her naked body, the amount of nudity tending to increase in successive periods. Even if covered, she often wears only a drape pulled around her, or an undergarment. In particular, Mary is often shown naked in the legendary scene of her “Elevation”, where she is sustained in the desert by angels who raise her up and feed her heavenly manna, as recounted in the Golden Legend.

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”.[251] Other isolated depictions occur, but, from the thirteenth century, additions to the Virgin Mary and John as the spectators at the Crucifixion become more common, with Mary Magdalene as the most frequently found, either kneeling at the foot of the cross clutching the shaft, sometimes kissing Christ’s feet, or standing, usually at the left and behind Mary and John, with her arms stretched upwards towards Christ in a gesture of grief, as in a damaged painting by Cimabue in the upper church at Assisi of c. 1290. A kneeling Magdalene by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel ( c. 1305) was especially influential.[252] 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. As the swooning Virgin Mary became more common, generally occupying the attention of John, the unrestrained gestures of Magdalene increasingly represented the main display of the grief of the spectators.[253]

According to Robert Kiely, “No figure in the Christian Pantheon except Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and John the Baptist has inspired, provoked, or confounded the imagination of painters more than the Magdalene”.[254] Apart from the Crucifixion, Mary was often shown in scenes of the Passion of Jesus, when mentioned in the Gospels, such as the Crucifixion, Christ Carrying the Cross and Noli me Tangere, but usually omitted in other scenes showing the Twelve Apostles, such as the Last Supper. As Mary of Bethany, she is shown as present at the Resurrection of Lazarus, her brother, and in the scene with Jesus and her sister Martha, which began to be depicted often in the seventeenth century, as in Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Velázquez.[255]

gallery

In music [ edit ]

The Byzantine composer Kassia wrote the only penitential hymn for Mary Magdalene, Kyrie hē en pollais . [256]

. Marc-Antoine Charpentier: [257] Magdalena lugens voce sola cum symphonia, H.343 & H.343 a, motet for 1 voice, 2 treble instruments and continuo (1686–87). For Mary Magdalene, H.373, motet for 2 voices, 2 flutes and continuo (date unknown). Magdalena lugens , H.388, motet for 3 voices and continuo (date unknown). Dialogus inter Magdalena et Jesum 2 vocibus Canto e Alto cum organo, H.423, for 2 voices and continuo (date unknown).

Religious beliefs[edit]

Eastern Orthodox[ edit ]

The Eastern Orthodox Church has never identified Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany or the “sinful woman” who anoints Jesus in Luke 7:36–50 and has always taught that Mary was a virtuous woman her entire life, even before her conversion. They have never celebrated her as a penitent. Mary Magdalene’s image did not become conflated with other women mentioned in Biblical texts until Pope Gregory the Great’s sermon in the sixth century, and even then this only occurred in Western traditions. Instead, she has traditionally been honored as a “Myrrhbearer” (Μυροφόρος; the equivalent of the western Three Marys) and “Equal to the Apostles” (ἰσαπόστολος). For centuries, it has been the custom of many Eastern Orthodox Christians to share dyed and painted eggs, particularly on Easter Sunday. The eggs represent new life, and Christ bursting forth from the tomb. Among Eastern Orthodox Christians this sharing is accompanied by the proclamation “Christ is risen!” One folk tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, she used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by the Roman emperor Tiberius in Rome. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed, “Christ is risen!” The emperor laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house.[260]

Roman Catholicism [ edit ]

During the Counter-Reformation and Baroque periods (late 16th and 17th centuries), the description “penitent” was added to the indication of her name on her feast day, July 22. It had not yet been added at the time of the Tridentine Calendar of 1569 and is no longer found in the present General Roman Calendar but, once added, it remained until the General Roman Calendar of 1960.[261] The Gospel reading in the Tridentine Mass was Luke 7:36–50[262] (the sinful woman anointing the feet of Jesus), while in the present version of the Roman Rite of Mass it is John 20:1–2, 11–18[263] (meeting of Mary Magdalene with Jesus after his resurrection).[264][265][266]

According to Darrell Bock, the title of apostola apostolorum first appears in the 10th century, but Katherine Ludwig Jansen says she found no reference to it earlier than the 12th, by which time it was already commonplace. She mentions in particular Hugh of Cluny (1024–1109), Peter Abelard (1079–1142), and Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) among those who gave Mary Magdalene the title of apostolorum apostola (apostle of the apostles). Jane Schaberg adds Geoffrey of Vendôme (c. 1065/70–1132).

The equivalent of the phrase apostolorum apostola may have appeared already in the 9th century. Chapter XXVII of the Life of Mary Magdalene attributed to Hrabanus Maurus (c. 780 – 4 February 856) is headed: Ubi Magdalenam Christus ad apostolos mittit apostolam (Wherein Christ sends Magdalene as an apostle to the apostles).[268] The same chapter says she did not delay in exercising the office of apostolate with which he had been honored (apostolatus officio quo honorata fuerat fungi non distulit).[269] Raymond E. Brown, commenting on this fact, remarks that Hrabanus Maurus frequently applies the word “apostle” to Mary Magdalene in this work. However the work is actually no earlier than the 12th century.[271] Because of Mary Magdalene’s position as an apostle, though not one of those who became official witnesses to the resurrection, the Catholic Church honored her by reciting the Gloria on her feast day – the only female saint so honored apart from Mary, the mother of Jesus. In his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem (“On the dignity and vocation of women”, parts 67–69) dated August 15, 1988, Pope John Paul II dealt with the Easter events in relation to the women being present at the tomb after the Resurrection, in a section entitled ‘First Witnesses of the Resurrection’:

The women are the first at the tomb. They are the first to find it empty. They are the first to hear ‘He is not here. He has risen, as he said.'[273] They are the first to embrace his feet.[274] The women are also the first to be called to announce this truth to the Apostles.[275] The Gospel of John[276] emphasizes the special role of Mary Magdalene. She is the first to meet the Risen Christ. […] Hence she came to be called “the apostle of the Apostles”. 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. This event, in a sense, crowns all that has been said previously about Christ entrusting divine truths to women as well as men. John Paul II[277]

On June 10, 2016, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree which elevated Mary’s liturgical commemoration from an obligatory memorial to a feast day, like that of most of the Apostles (Peter and Paul are jointly commemorated with a solemnity).[278] The Mass and Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) remain the same as they were, except that a specific preface was added to the Mass to refer to her explicitly as the “Apostle to the Apostles”.[279]

Protestantism[ edit ]

The 1549 Book of Common Prayer had on July 22 a feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, with the same Scripture readings as in the Tridentine Mass and with a newly composed collect: “Merciful father geue us grace, that we neuer presume to synne through the example of anye creature, but if it shall chaunce vs at any tyme to offende thy dyuine maiestie: that then we maye truly repent, and lament the same, after the example of Mary Magdalene, and by lyuelye faythe obtayne remission of all oure sinnes: throughe the onely merites of thy sonne oure sauiour Christ.” The 1552 edition omitted the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, which was restored to the Book of Common Prayer only after some 400 years.[280]

Modern Protestants honor her as a disciple and friend of Jesus.[281] Anglican Christians refer to her as a saint and may follow her example of repentance; While some interpret the Thirty-Nine Articles as forbidding them to call upon her for intercession,[284] other Anglicans, citing the Episcopal burial service, say they can ask the saint to pray for them. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America honors Mary Magdalene on July 22 as an Apostle, albeit as a Lesser Festival.[286] Presbyterians honor her as the “apostle to the apostles” and, in the book Methodist Theology, Kenneth Wilson describes her as, “in effect”, one of the “first missionaries”.

Mary Magdalene is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival and in the Episcopal Church with a Major Feast on 22 July.[289][290]

Baháʼí Faith [ edit ]

There are many references to Mary Magdalene in the writings of the Baháʼí Faith, where she enjoys an exalted status as a heroine of faith and the “archetypal woman of all cycles”.[291] `Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, said that she was “the channel of confirmation” to Jesus’ disciples, a “heroine” who “re-established the faith of the apostles” and was “a light of nearness in his kingdom”.[292] `Abdu’l-Bahá also wrote that “her reality is ever shining from the horizon of Christ”, “her face is shining and beaming forth on the horizon of the universe forevermore” and that “her candle is, in the assemblage of the world, lighted till eternity”.[293] `Abdu’l-Bahá considered her to be the supreme example of how women are completely equal with men in the sight of God and can at times even exceed men in holiness and greatness.[294] Indeed he said that she surpassed all the men of her time,[295] and that “crowns studded with the brilliant jewels of guidance” were upon her head.[296]

The Baháʼí writings also expand upon the scarce references to her life in the canonical Gospels, with a wide array of extra-canonical stories about her and sayings which are not recorded in any other extant historical sources. `Abdu’l-Bahá said that Mary traveled to Rome and spoke before the emperor Tiberius, which is presumably why Pilate was later recalled to Rome for his cruel treatment of the Jews (a tradition also attested to in the Eastern Orthodox Church).[297] Baháʼís have noted parallels between Mary Magdalene and the Babí heroine-poet Táhirih. The two are similar in many respects, with Mary Magdalene often being viewed as a Christian antecedent of the latter, while Táhirih in her own right could be described as the spiritual return of the Magdalene; especially given their common, shared attributes of “knowledge, steadfastness, courage, virtue and will power”, in addition to their importance within the religious movements of Christianity and the Baháʼí Faith as female leaders.[298]

Relics [ edit ]

Many of the alleged relics of the saint are held in Catholic churches in France, especially at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, where her skull (see above) and the noli me tangere are on display; the latter being a piece of forehead flesh and skin said to be from the spot touched by Jesus at the post-resurrection encounter in the garden.[299][300] A tibia also kept at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is the object of an annual procession.[300]

Her left hand relic is kept in the Simonopetra Monastery on Mount Athos.[301]

Speculations [ edit ]

Christ with Martha and Mary (1886) by (1886) by Henryk Siemiradzki , showing the conflated “composite Magdalene” sitting at Jesus’s feet while her sister Martha does chores.

In 1998, Ramon K. Jusino proposed an unprecedented argument that the “Beloved Disciple” of the Gospel of John is Mary Magdalene. Jusino based his argument largely on the Nag Hammadi Gnostic books, rejecting the view of Raymond E. Brown that these books were later developments, and maintaining instead that the extant Gospel of John is the result of modification of an earlier text that presented Mary Magdalene as the Beloved Disciple.[304] The gospel, at least in its current form, clearly and consistently identifies the disciple as having masculine gender, only ever referring to him using words inflected in the masculine. There are no textual variants in extant New Testament manuscripts to contradict this,[305] and thus no physical evidence of this hypothetical earlier document. Richard J. Hooper does not make the Jusino thesis his own, but says: “Perhaps we should not altogether reject the possibility that some Johannine Christians considered Mary Magdalene to be ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’.” 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. There is a theological interpretation of Mary as the Magdala, The Elegant Tower and certain churches honor her as a heroine of the faith in their teachings.[308]

Dan Brown’s 2003 bestselling mystery thriller novel The Da Vinci Code popularized a number of erroneous ideas about Mary Magdalene, including that she was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, that she was Jesus’s wife, that she was pregnant at the crucifixion, and that she gave birth to Jesus’s child, who became the founder of a bloodline which survives to this very day. There is no historical evidence (from the canonical or apocryphal gospels, other early Christian writings, or any other ancient sources) to support these statements. The Da Vinci Code also purports that the figure of the “beloved disciple” to Jesus’s right in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is Mary Magdalene, disguised as one of the male disciples; 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. 1513–1516). 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, 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. There would have even been precedent for it, since the earlier Italian Renaissance painter Fra Angelico had included her in his painting of the Last Supper. Numerous works were written in response to the historical inaccuracies in The Da Vinci Code, but the novel still exerted massive influence on how members of the general public viewed Mary Magdalene.

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.” The overwhelming consensus of scholars is that the fragment is a modern forgery,[320][321] and in 2016, King herself said that the alleged Gospel was a forgery.

Ehrman states that the historical sources reveal absolutely nothing about Jesus’s sexuality 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. None of the canonical gospels imply such a thing and, even in the late Gnostic gospels, where Mary is shown as Jesus’s closest disciple, the relationship between them is not sexual. The extremely late Greater Questions of Mary, which has not survived, allegedly portrayed Mary not as Jesus’s wife or partner, but rather as an unwilling voyeur. Ehrman says that the Essenes, a contemporary Jewish sect who shared many views with Jesus, and the apostle Paul, Jesus’s later follower, both lived in unmarried celibacy, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that Jesus did as well.

Furthermore, according to Mark 12:25, Jesus taught that marriage would not exist at all in the coming kingdom of God. Since Jesus taught that people should live as though the kingdom had already arrived, this teaching implied a life of unmarried celibacy. Ehrman says that, if Jesus had been married to Mary Magdalene, the authors of the gospels would definitely have mentioned it, since they mention all his other family members, including his mother Mary, his father Joseph, his four brothers, and his at least two sisters.

Maurice Casey rejects the idea of Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s wife as nothing more than wild popular sensationalism. Jeffrey J. Kripal writes that “the historical sources are simply too contradictory and simultaneously too silent” to make absolute declarations regarding Jesus’ sexuality.

See also[edit]

References[ edit ]

Notes [edit]

quotes[edit]

Sources[edit]

Title/Author: The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Publisher: Vikings

Pages: 429

Brief summary (publisher):

In her fascinating fourth novel, Sue Monk Kidd takes a bold approach to history, bringing her celebrated storytelling gifts to envision the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and courageous spirit. She secretly engages in scientific activities and writes short stories about neglected and silenced women. Ana is set to marry an elderly widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Their marriage develops with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana finds a home with Jesus, his brothers and their mother Mary. Ana’s pent-up yearnings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome’s occupation of Israel, led in part by her brother Judas. She is aided by her fearless Aunt Yaltha, who harbors an intriguing secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in danger, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds sanctuary in an unexpected environment. Ana determines her fate during a breathtaking confluence of events that rank among the most influential in human history.

Based on meticulous research and written with a reverent approach to the life of Jesus centered on His humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman’s courageous struggle to see the passion and potential within her while she lives in a time and place and develops culture to silence her. It’s a triumph of storytelling, both contemporary and timeless, from a master writer at the peak of her powers.

My Verdict: This was so good that I really tried to slow down and enjoy it, but the story made me turn the pages!

My thoughts:

This is the reinterpretation of the New Testament. Jesus was married. His wife’s name was Ana. And that was her story.

Ana was forced to marry an acquaintance of her father’s, Nathaniel, at the age of 14. When that failed, she had to marry the tetrarch Heron Antipas as a concubine this time. Ana did not have a happy childhood and always turned to her passion for writing for comfort.

She found love when she first met Jesus and it was he whom she wanted to marry even though it angered her parents but by then they had no choice but to accept.

She moved to Nazareth with Jesus and lived with his family. There she began a new life to which she was not accustomed. She felt lonely when Jesus was away on business and longed to travel with him. She finally got her chance when Jesus asked her to go with him to meet John the Immerser. In John the Immerser, Jesus found his purpose and true calling. He told Ana of his intention to follow him and she was devastated that no woman was allowed to be his student.

Around the same time, her life was in danger when Antipas discovered what she had done. Fearing for her life, she fled to Alexandria with her aunt Yaltha, also with the intention of finding Chaya, Yaltha’s long-lost daughter. Ana asked her brother Judas to inform her when it was safe for her to return to Nazareth. Thus began a new life for her in Alexandria, full of hope and purpose, if not without fear.

There was so much to love about The Book of Our Lives – the characters, the storyline, the locations and the amount of research that went into it.

I loved Anna. What a character. Courageous, open, passionate, impulsive, often proud and rebellious. Not afraid to stand up for herself, she escaped from Antipas’ concubine and was nearly stoned to death. She chose who to marry; she suffered and endured the loss of her baby; she risked her life trying to save Phasaelis, whom she cherished as a friend; she spoke out for Tabitha and fought for her; She continued to write even though she was not encouraged by her family and by Jesus’ family, who said, “The only women who wrote were sinners and necromancers.” When the whole world seemed to be against her, she stood up and fought back again and again.

Many other characters stood out as well, especially the women. Yaltha, her aunt, whom she loved as her own; Tabitha, her friend who gave her a reason to smile when she was forced to marry Nathaniel, her father’s acquaintance; Phasaelis, the wife of Antipas, who, like her, was forced into marriage and identified with one another; even her servant Lavi, whom she later called “brother”, and of course Jesus. I felt that Kidd captured the essence of his character perfectly.

And the storytelling was amazing. Kidd made everything, everywhere and everyone jump off the pages – from Ana escaping marriage to falling in love, from the smells and bustle of the market square to Alexandria’s glorious library. And wow, the therepeutae. Didn’t know about it and haven’t heard of it yet. It was a religious sect, a community that lived a contemplative life devoted to fasting, prayer, and the study of scriptures. And would I like to visit the Library of Alexandria and feast my eyes on the books as I watch the librarians climb up and down the ladders and bring out books for the scholars?

Would I recommend that? If you like what-ifs, reimagined stories and historical novels, then yes! Also read the author’s note. It is amazing to learn how much research has gone into this book to make it such an immersive read.

An imaginative, compelling and inspiring story of courage, hope, love and longing with compelling characters. This book is one that will stay with me for a long time.

have you read this book What did you think? If not, do you intend to? Are you intrigued by the premise? Have you read this author’s other books? Please share your thoughts with me!

Until then, HAPPY READING & STAY SAFE & WELL!

Natural number

777 (seven hundred [and] seventy-seven) is the natural number after 776 and before 778. The number 777 is significant in numerous religious and political contexts.

In mathematics[edit]

777 is an odd composite palindromic[1] repdigit.[2] It is also a sphenic number,[3] with 3, 7, and 37 as prime factors. Its largest prime factor is a concatenation of its smaller two; The only other number below 1000 with this property is 138.

777 is also:

Religious significance[ edit ]

According to the Bible, Lamech, Noah’s father, lived 777 years.[11] Some of the known religious connections to 777 are listed in the following sections.

Judaism [edit]

The numbers 3[12] and 7[13] are both considered “perfect numbers” in the Hebrew tradition.

Christianity [edit]

According to the American publication, the Orthodox Study Bible, 777 represents the triple perfection of the Trinity.[14] The number 777 as a triple 7 can be contrasted with the triple 6 for the number of the beast as 666 (instead of the variant 616).

Thema[ edit ]

777 is also found in the title of the book 777 and other Kabbalistic writings by Aleister Crowley that refer to the Law of Thelema.[15]

Political significance[edit]

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging [ edit ]

The Afrikaner Resistance Movement (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, AWB), a Boer nationalist, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist movement in South Africa, used the number 777 as part of their emblem.[16]

The number refers to a triumph of the “god number” 7 over the devil number 666.[17] On the AWB flag, the numbers are arranged in the form of a triskelion, resembling the Nazi swastika.

arithmetic [edit]

In the Unix chmod change-access-mode command, the octal value 777 grants all file access permissions to all user types in a file.

Commercial[ edit ]

Aviation[ edit ]

Boeing 777-200

Boeing, the largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the United States, launched the Boeing 777 (commonly nicknamed the Triple Seven) in June 1995.[18] The 777 family includes the 777-200, 777-200ER, 777-300, 777-200LR Worldliner, 777-300ER and 777 Freighter. The -100 was discontinued due to loss of interest. In the 21st century, Boeing has developed something that will be used for various airlines, called the Boeing 777X. Projects have been delayed due to COVID-19 but will return to normal production.[19]

777 Tower[ edit ]

777 Tower is an office building in the USA and was built in 1991.[20]

Gambling and Luck[edit]

777 is used on most slot machines in the United States to identify a jackpot. Considered a lucky number, banknotes with a serial number that includes 777 are prized by collectors and numismatists. For this reason, the US Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing are selling 777 uncirculated $1 bills.[21]

Ritual act of applying aromatic oil to a person

“Anointed Ones” redirects here. For the Savior and Deliverer in the Abrahamic religions, see Messiah. For the character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, see Anointed One (Buffyverse)

Not to be confused with self-anointing in animals

Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person’s head or entire body.

By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of spraying, dousing, or smearing perfumed oil, milk, butter, or other fat on a person or object. Scented oils are used as perfumes and sharing is an act of hospitality. Their use to inaugurate a divine influence or presence is recorded from earliest times; The anointing was therefore used as a form of medicine to rid people and things of dangerous spirits and demons that were believed to cause disease.

In current usage, “anointing” is typically used for ceremonial blessings such as the coronation of European monarchs. This continues an earlier Hebrew practice observed most famously in the anointings of Aaron as high priest and of both Saul and David through the prophet Samuel. The concept is important to the figure of the Messiah or Christ (Hebrew and Greek for “The Anointed One”), which is prominent in Jewish and Christian theology and eschatology. The anointing – especially the anointing of the sick – may also be known as the anointing; The anointing of the dead as part of the last rites in the Catholic Church is sometimes referred to as “last rites”.

name [edit]

The present verb derives from the now obsolete adjective to anoint, which is synonymous with anointed.[3] The adjective is first attested in 1303,[n 1] derived from Old French enoint, the past participle of enoindre, from Latin inung(u)ere,[5] an intensified form of ung(u)ere (“to anoint”). It is therefore related to “anointing”.

The oil used in a ceremonial anointing may be called “Chrism” (from Greek χρῖσμα, khrîsma, “anointing”).[6]

Purpose [edit]

The anointing served and serves three different purposes: it is considered a means of health and comfort, a mark of honor, and a symbol of consecration. It seems likely that its healing purposes were enjoyed before it became an object of ceremonial religion, but the custom appears to predate written history and the archaeological record, and its origin is impossible to ascertain with certainty.

health [edit]

Used in conjunction with bathing, the anointing with oil closes the pores. It was considered to counteract the influence of the sun, thereby reducing sweating. Aromatic oils naturally mask body odors and other unpleasant odors.

Applications of oils and fats are also used as traditional medicines. The Bible records that olive oil was applied to the sick and poured into wounds.[n 2] Well-known sources date from times when anointing already had a religious function; Hence, anointing was also used to combat the evil influence of demons in Persia, Armenia and Greece. Anointing was also understood to ‘seal’ goodness and resist corruption, probably by analogy with using a top layer of oil to preserve wine in ancient amphorae, its corruption usually being attributed to demonic influence.

For hygienic and religious reasons, the bodies of the dead are sometimes anointed.[n 3] In medieval and early modern Christianity, the practice was particularly associated with protection from vampires and ghouls who might otherwise take possession of the corpse.

Hospitality[ edit ]

The anointing of guests with oil as a sign of hospitality and as a mark of honor is recorded in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as in the Hebrew Scriptures. It was a common practice among the ancient Hebrews[4] and continued among the Arabs into the 20th century.

religion [edit]

In the sympathetic magic common to prehistoric and primitive religions, the fat of sacrificial animals and persons is often regarded as a powerful magic equated with blood as the vehicle and seat of life.[17] Traditionally, East African Arabs anointed themselves with lion fat to gain courage and instill fear in other animals. Australian Aborigines rubbed themselves with the fat of a human victim to gain its powers.

In religions like Christianity, where animal sacrifices are no longer practiced, it is common to consecrate the oil in a special ceremony.

Egypt[ edit ]

According to early 20th-century scholars (Wilhelm Spiegelberg,[18] Bonnet,[19] Cothenet,[20] Kutsch,[21] Martin-Pardey[22]), officials of ancient Egypt were anointed as part of the anointing ceremony that introduced her to office. This assumption has been challenged by scholars such as Stephen Thompson, who doubt that such an anointing ever existed:

“After reviewing the evidence for the anointing of officials in ancient Egypt as part of their investiture, I must conclude that there is no evidence that such a ceremony was ever practiced in ancient Egypt. Attempts to trace the origin of the The Hebrew practice of anointing kings to an Egyptian source is misguided. The only clear case of an Egyptian king anointing one of his officials is that of EA 51. In this case it was likely that Thutmosis III. participated in a custom spread among Asiatics instead of introducing an Egyptian custom into Syria-Palestine” [23]

However, anointing the corpse with fragrant oils was a well-documented practice as an important part of mummification.[24]

India[ edit ]

Late Vedic rituals of anointing government officials, worshipers, and idols developed in Indian religion. These are now known as Abisheka. The practice spread to Indian Buddhists. [citation needed] In modern Hinduism and Jainism, anointing is common, although the practice usually uses water or yogurt, milk or (especially) butter from the sacred cow instead of oil. Many devotees are anointed at every stage of life as an act of consecration or blessing, with rituals accompanying birth, enrollment in education, religious initiation, and death. [citation needed] New buildings, houses and ritual instruments are anointed [citation needed] and some idols are anointed daily. In such rituals, special attention is paid to the direction of the smearing. People are anointed from head to toe, downwards. The water can come from one of the sacred rivers or be flavored with infusions of saffron, turmeric or flowers; the waste water produced by cleaning certain idols or writing certain verses can also be used. [citation needed] Ointments may contain ash, clay, sandalwood powder, or herbal pastes.

Buddhism[ edit ]

Buddhist anointing practices derive largely from Indian practices, but tend to be less elaborate and more ritualized. Buddhists can sprinkle water on assembled practitioners or mark idols of Buddha or the Bodhisattvas with cow or yak butter. Flower-scented water is also used, as are ink water and “saffron water”, which is colored yellow with saffron or turmeric.

Judaism [edit]

In ancient times, the use of a sacred anointing oil was important in the ordination of the Hebrews,[25] the Kohen Gadol (high priest)[26][27] and the sacred vessels.[28] Prophets[No. 5] and the kings of Israel were also anointed, the kings by a horn.[32] The anointing with chrism, prepared according to the ceremony described in the Book of Exodus[33], was considered a transmission of the “Spirit of the Lord.”[32] It was performed by Samuel in lieu of a coronation of either Saul[34] or David. The practice was not always observed and seems to have been essential only in the consecration of a new line or dynasty.

Because of its importance, the High Priest and the King were sometimes called “the Anointed One” History of the Complainants.

The phrase “anoint the shield” found in Isaiah[42] is a cognate or poetic usage that refers to the practice of rubbing oil on the leather of the shield to keep it supple and warworthy. The practice of anointing a shield precedes the anointing of other objects, since “smearing” (Hebrew “Mashiach”) the shield renewed the leather covering on a wooden shield. A victorious soldier was raised to his shield by his comrades after a battle or after his election as the new king. From this emerged the idea of ​​protection and selection and was expanded to include the idea of ​​a “chosen one,” leading to the modern concept of a messiah (Hebrew for the anointed).

Christianity [edit]

The Anointing of Jesus, by William Hole, 1906 , by William Hole, 1906

Christianity evolved from the association of Jesus of Nazareth with the Jewish prophecies of an “anointed one.”[n 8] His epithet “Christ” is a form of the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew title. He was not anointed by the High Priest according to the ceremony described in Exodus, but it was assumed that he was anointed by the Holy Spirit during his baptism. [n 9] A literal anointing of Jesus also takes place when he was lavishly oiled Mary of Bethany.[49][50] The anointing performed out of affection is said to have served as preparation for Jesus’ burial.

In the New Testament, John describes “anointing from the Holy One”[51] and “from Him abide in you.”[52] Both this spiritual anointing [citation needed] and the literal anointing with oil are usually associated with the Holy Spirit. Eastern Orthodox churches in particular attach great importance to the oil, which is said to have originally been blessed by the Twelve Apostles.

The practice of “chrismation” (baptism with oil) seems to have developed in the early church in the late 2nd century as a symbol of Christ, rebirth and inspiration.[53] The earliest surviving account of such an act appears to be the letter “To Autolycus” by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch. In it, he calls the plot “sweet and useful” and makes a pun on khristós (Greek: χριστóς, “anointed”) and khrēstós (χρηστóς, “useful”). He seems to go on to say “why we are called Christians because we are anointed with the oil of God”[54][n 10] and “whatever person that comes into this life or is an athlete is not with oil anointed?”[53] The practice is also defended by Hippolytus in his “Commentary on the Song of Songs”[55] and by Origen in his “Commentary on Romans”. Origen holds that “we are all in these visible waters and in a visible anointing can be baptized, in accordance with the form handed down to the Churches”.[56]

Among the Gnostics, anointing was particularly important. Many early apocryphal and Gnostic texts state that the water baptism of John the Baptist was incomplete and that the anointing with oil is a necessary part of the baptismal process. That is what the Gospel of Philip claims

chrisma is superior to baptism, because we are called “christians” from the word “chrisma” and certainly not from the word “baptism”. And from the “Chrisma” the “Christ” has its name. For the Father anointed the Son, and the Son anointed the Apostles, and the Apostles anointed us. He who has been anointed possesses everything. He has the resurrection, the light, the cross, the Holy Spirit. His father gave it to him in the bridal chamber; he merely accepted the gift. The Father was in the Son and the Son was in the Father. This is the kingdom of heaven.

In the Acts of Thomas, the anointing is the beginning of the baptismal ritual and is essential to becoming a Christian, since it says that God knows his own children by his seal and that the seal is received by the oil. Many such christations are described in detail in the work.

In medieval and early modern Christianity, the oil from the lamps that were burned in front of the altar of a church held a special sacredness. New churches and altars were anointed at their four corners during their dedication, as were tombs, gongs, and some other ritual instruments and paraphernalia.

James 5:14-15 in particular shows that when applied in faith, anointing oil is a powerful weapon against a spiritual onslaught from the enemy, which can turn into a disease designed to destroy the body.

Roman Catholicism[ edit ]

The Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Churches bless three types of holy oils for anointing: “Oil of the Catechumens” (abbreviated OS, from Latin oleum sanctum, meaning holy oil), “Oil of the Sick” (OI), and ” Oil of the Sick” (OI). Holy Chrism” (SC). The first two are to be blessed while the chrism is consecrated.

The oil of the catechumens is given to people immediately before baptism, whether they are infants or adult catechumens. In the early church, converts seeking baptism, known as “catechumens,” went through a formation phase known as catechumens, and during this instruction period they received one or more anointings with the oil of the catechumens to cast out evil spirits. Prior to the revision of the ordination rite in 1968, the ordaining bishop anointed the new priest’s hands with the oil of the catechumens.[58] The older form is now used only in the ordination of members of associations such as the Society of St. Peter. dedicated to the preservation of the pre-Vatican liturgy. In the later form, priests[59] like bishops[60] are anointed with chrism, the hands of a priest, the head of a bishop. (In the older form, a bishop’s hands as well as the head are anointed with chrism. The traditional Roman pontifical also has a rite of coronation of kings and queens, including anointing with the oil of catechumens. In some countries, such as France, the Oil used in this rite was chrism.

The oil of the sick was used from the late 12th to the late 20th centuries for the administration of the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, the ritual treatment of the sick and infirm through what was commonly referred to in Western Christianity as the last rites.[61]

Holy Chrism is used in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. It is also used in the dedications of new churches, new altars, and in the consecration of new patens and chalices for use in Mass. In the case of the sacrament of baptism, the subject receives two different anointings: one with the oil of catechumens, before baptism, and then, after water baptism has been performed, the subject receives an anointing with chrism. In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the anointing with chrism is the essential part of the rite.

Any bishop can consecrate the holy oils. They usually do this every Maundy Thursday at a special “Chrisma Mass”. In the Gelasian sacramentary, the formula for this is:

Send, O Lord, we beseech Thee to bring forth Thy Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, from heaven into this fatty oil, which thou hast deigned to bring forth from the green forest for the refreshment of mind and body; and by your holy blessings, may it be a protection of mind and body, of soul and spirit, to all who anoint with it, taste it, touch it, chasing away every pain, every infirmity, every insanity and body. For with it you have anointed priests, kings and prophets and martyrs, with this chrism of yours made perfect by you, O Lord, blessed, which dwells in our bowels in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Orthodoxy and Greek Catholicism

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Confirmation is known as Chrismation. The Mystery of Chrismation is performed immediately after the Mystery of Baptism as part of a single ceremony. The ritual uses sacred myron (μύρον, “Chris”), which is said to contain a residue of oil blessed by the Twelve Apostles. In order to keep the apostolic blessing uninterrupted, the reservoir is never completely emptied but is refilled when necessary, usually at a Maundy Thursday ceremony in the Patriarchate of Constantinople[62] or in the Patriarchal Cathedrals of the Autocephalous Churches[63]. In the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the process is overseen by the Archontes Myrepsoi, lay officials of the Patriarchate. Various clergymen can also take part in the preparation, but the ordination itself is always carried out by the patriarch or a bishop commissioned by him for this purpose. The new Myron contains olive oil, myrrh and numerous spices and fragrances. This myron is usually kept on the sacred table or on the offering table. During Chrismation, the “newly enlightened” person is anointed by making the sign of the cross with the myron on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, lips, both ears, chest, hands and feet. The pastor uses a special brush for this. Before the 20th century, the myron was also used to anoint orthodox monarchs.

The oil with which catechumens are anointed before baptism is plain olive oil, which is blessed by the priest just before pouring it into the baptismal font. Then he takes with his fingers some of the blessed oil floating on the surface of the baptismal water and anoints the catechumen’s forehead, chest, shoulders, ears, hands and feet. He then immediately baptizes the catechumen with three immersions in the name of the Trinity.

The Anointing of the Sick is called the “Holy Mystery of the Anointing”. The practice is used for both spiritual and physical ailments, and believers can ask for the anointing as many times as they like. In some churches it is customary for all believers to receive unction during a service on Holy Wednesday of Holy Week. The holy oil used for the anointing is not kept in the church like the myron, but consecrated anew for each individual service. When an Orthodox Christian dies, having received the mystery of the anointing and some of the consecrated oil remains, it is poured over his body just before the burial. It is also customary to bless oils that have been blessed either by a simple blessing from a priest (or even a revered monk), or by contact with a sacred object, such as a saint’s relics, or taken from an oil lamp placed in front of a miracle-working one Icon or other shrine burns. [citation required]

In the Armenian Church, crosses are not traditionally considered sacred until they have been anointed and prayed for, thereby initiating the Holy Spirit into them. The same ritual used to be observed in the other Orthodox Churches.

Protestantism[ edit ]

Because of their particular focus on the work of the Holy Spirit, Pentecostal churches sometimes continue to use anointing for the consecration and ordination of pastors and elders, and for the healing of the sick.

The Pentecostal expression “the anointing breaks the yoke” comes from a passage in Isaiah[64] that discusses the power the Holy Spirit gave to the prophet Hezekiah over the tyrant Sennacherib.

Latter-day Saints[ edit ]

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice anointing with pure, consecrated olive oil[65] in two ways: 1) as a priesthood ordinance in preparation for administering a priesthood blessing, and 2) in conjunction with washing as part of the foundation.[66] The Doctrine and Covenants contains numerous references to the anointing[67] and administration to the sick[68] by those who have authority to perform the laying on of hands.[69] On January 21, 1836, Joseph Smith instituted the anointing during the rites of sanctification and dedication in preparation for the rites practiced in the Kirtland Temple.[70] The anointing prepared church members to receive the gift of “power from on high” promised in an earlier revelation of 1831.[71] Currently, any Melchizedek Priesthood holder can anoint a person’s head by the laying on of hands. Olive oil must be used when available, and it must have been previously dedicated in a short ordinance that any Melchizedek Priesthood holder can perform.[72]

License fees [ edit ]

Ointment in a silver box from the coronation of King Gustav III of Sweden, 1772, with lavender and roses

In addition to its use for Israelite kingship, the anointing was an important ritual in Christian coronation rites, particularly in Europe. As the legal adviser Tancredus reports, initially only four monarchs were crowned and anointed, they were the kings of Jerusalem, France, England and Sicily:

Et sunt quidam coronando, et quidam non, tamen illi, qui coronatur, debt inungi: et tales have privilege from antiquo, et de consuetudine. Alii modo non debt coronari, nec inungi sine istis: et si faciunt; ipsi abutuntur indebite. […] Rex Hierosolymorum coronatur et inungitur; Rex Francorum Christianissimus coronatur et inungitur; Rex Anglorum coronatur et inungitur; Rex Siciliae coronatur et inungitur.

And [the kings] are both crowned, and not those who are crowned need to be anointed: they have that privilege by ancient custom. The others, on the other hand, are not to be crowned or anointed: and if they do so improperly, it is abuse. [73]

Later French legends held that a vial of oil, the Sacred Ampoule, descended from heaven to anoint Clovis I king of the Franks after his conversion to Christianity in 493. The practice apparently preceded him in Spain. [n 11] The ceremony, closely modeled on the rite described in the Old Testament, was performed by Quiricus, archbishop of Toledo, in 672; It was apparently copied a year later when Flavius ​​Paul defected and joined the Septic rebels whom he had been charged with appeasing.[n 12] The rite embodied the Catholic Church’s sanctioning of the rule of the monarch; It was notably employed by usurpers such as Pepin, whose dynasty replaced the Merovingians in France in 751. While it could be argued that the practice subordinated the king to the Church, in practice the sacral anointing of kings was viewed as elevation of the king to priestly or even saintly status. It gave European regimes a directly religious aspect alongside the ecclesiastical hierarchy and was rarely performed by the popes for political and practical reasons. Instead, the anointing was usually administered by a bishop from a major seat of the empire, often the national primate. [citation needed] Lupoi argues that this set in motion the conflicting claims that developed into the Investiture Crisis. At the same time, the royal anointing recontextualized the elections and popular acclamations, which were still legally responsible for the elevation of new rulers. They were no longer understood as autonomous authorities, but only as agents in the service of God’s will. The divine right of kings was thus gradually recreated in a Christian context and continued to exist even when the monarchs possibly dispensed with the anointing ceremony altogether. The supposedly indelible nature of the anointing was alluded to in Shakespeare’s Richard II:

Not all the water in the rough sea

Can wash the balm off an anointed king.[82]

In Eastern Orthodoxy, the anointing of a new king is considered a sacred secret. The deed is believed to endow him—by the grace of the Holy Spirit—with the ability to fulfill his God-appointed duties, particularly his ministry in defense of the faith. The same myron used in chrismation is used for the ceremony. In Russian Orthodox ceremonial, the anointing took place during the Tsar’s coronation, towards the end of the service, just before he received Holy Communion. The sovereign and his consort were escorted to the Holy Doors (iconostasis) of the cathedral and anointed together by the metropolitan. Thereafter, the Tsar was led alone through the Holy Door – an act normally reserved for priests only – and received Communion at a small table next to the Holy Table.

Today, royal anointing is less common, only practiced by the monarchs of Great Britain and Tonga. [citation needed] The paraphernalia of practice are sometimes regarded as regalia, such as the ampoule and spoon used in the former kingdom of France and the ointment horns used in Sweden and Norway. [citation needed] The biblical formula is not necessarily followed. For the coronation of King Charles I of England in 1626, the sacred oil was made from a blend of orange, jasmine, distilled roses, distilled cinnamon and ben oil.

See also[edit]

coronation, the assumption of office by receiving a crown

Enthronement, taking office by sitting on a throne

Investiture, taking office by receiving a piece of clothing

Messiah, the “anointed” in Jewish and Christian and Islamic scriptures and traditions

Notes [edit]

quotes[edit]

References[ edit ]

Illustration described in the Gospel of John

Mary of Bethany[a] is a biblical figure mentioned only by name in the Gospel of John of the Christian New Testament. According to John, she lives with her siblings Lazarus and Martha in the village of Bethany, a small village in Judea south of the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem.[1]

Medieval Western Christianity identified Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and with the sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50, which was very common for the time. This influenced the liturgy of the Roman Rite of the Feast of Mary Magdalene with a Gospel reading on the sinful woman and a collection relating to Mary of Bethany. Since the revision of this liturgy in 1969, the feast day of Mary Magdalene is still July 22, but Mary of Bethany is celebrated along with her brother Lazarus on July 29, the memorial of her sister Martha.[2] In Eastern Christianity and some Protestant traditions, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are considered separate persons.[3] The Eastern Orthodox Church has its own traditions regarding the life of Mary of Bethany that go beyond the Gospel accounts.

Biblical references[edit]

Gospel of John[ edit ]

Martha prepares the meal while (in the background) Mary of Bethany sits at Jesus’ feet; Painting (1566) by Joachim Beuckelaer

In the Gospel of John a Mary appears in connection with two events: the resurrection of her brother Lazarus [11:1–2] and the anointing of Jesus [12:3] The identification that this is the same Mary In both cases the author expressly states: ” Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was now sick, was the same one who poured out perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.” [John 11:1-2] ​​The mention of her sister Martha suggests a connection with the woman named Mary in Luke 10:38-42.

In the account of the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus meets the sisters in turn: Martha, followed by Mary. Martha immediately goes to meet Jesus when he arrives, while Mary waits to be called. As one commenter notes, “Martha, the more aggressive sister, went to meet Jesus while the quiet and contemplative Mary stayed at home. This depiction of the sisters agrees with that in Luke 10:38-42.”[4] When Mary meets Jesus, she falls at his feet. In conversation with Jesus, both sisters lament that He did not come in time to prevent their brother’s death: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” [John 11:21,32] Martha to teach them Calling for hope and faith, his response to Mary is more emotional: “When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping too, he was deeply moved and troubled .[John 11:33] Like the Welsh commentator Matthew Henry of the 17th century states: “Mary added no more as Martha did; but as it follows, it seems that what she lacked in words she made up for in tears; she said less than Martha, but she cried more.”[5]

Anointing of Jesus[edit]

A narrative in which Mary of Bethany plays a central role is the anointing of Jesus, an event related in the Gospel of John, in which a woman pours the entire contents of an alabastron containing very expensive perfume over her feet [John 12:3]. . Jesus. Only in this account [John 12:1-8] is the woman identified as Mary, whereas the earlier mention in John 11:1-2 identifies her as the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, lived. A meal was held here in Jesus’ honor. Martha served while Lazarus sat at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure spikenard, an expensive perfume; She poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the scent of perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected: “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? He didn’t say that because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as the keeper of the purse, he used what was put into it. “Leave them alone,” Jesus replied. “You should save this perfume for the day of my funeral. You will always have the poor under you, but you will not always have me.” John 12:1-8 New International Version

The woman’s name is not mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew [26:6-13] and Mark [14:3-9], but the event also takes place in Bethany, specifically in the house of a certain Simon the leper, a man its meaning is not explained anywhere else in the Gospels.

According to the Markan report, the perfume was the purest of spikenard. Some of the onlookers were upset because this expensive perfume could be sold for a year’s wages, which Mark puts at 300 denarii, and the money given to the poor. The Gospel of Matthew states that the “disciples were indignant” and the Gospel of John states that it was Judas Iscariot who was most offended (explained by the narrator as Judas being a thief and wanting the money for himself) . In the accounts, Jesus justifies Mary’s actions by saying that they always have the poor among them and could help them whenever they wish, but that he would not always be with them and that their anointing was done to prepare him for his burial . As one commentator notes, “Mary seems to have been the only one sensitive to Jesus’ imminent death and willing to materially express her appreciation for him. Jesus’ response shows his appreciation for their act of dedication. “[4] The accounts in Matthew and Mark add these words of Jesus: “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she did shall also be said to her remembrance.” [ Mt 26:13] [14:9]

Easton (1897) noted that circumstances would make it appear that the family of Lazarus possessed a family vault [John 11:38] and that a large number of Jews had come from Jerusalem to comfort them of the death of Lazarus [ Jn 11:39] that this family in Bethany belonged to the wealthier class of the people. This would help explain how Mary of Bethany could afford to own large quantities of expensive perfume.[6]

A similar anointing is described in the Gospel of Luke [7:36-50], which took place in the home of a certain Simon the Pharisee, in which a woman, who had been sinful and weeping all her life, anointed Jesus’ feet and made them as hers Tears fell on his feet, she wiped them away with her hair. Luke’s account (like John’s) differs from that of Matthew and Mark in that the anointing is on the feet rather than the head. Although a subject of considerable debate, many scholars agree that these actually describe two separate events.[7]

Jesus’ response to the anointing in Luke is entirely different from that recorded in the other gospel accounts to the anointing. In place of Jesus’ above-mentioned remarks about the “poor you will always have with you,” he tells his host in Luke the parable of the two debtors. As one commentator notes, “Luke is the only one to record the parable of the two debtors, and he chooses to keep it in this setting. … Considering the other gospel accounts as variations of the same event, it is so likely that the parable is not authentically set to music, otherwise the powerful message of the parable that is in that setting would likely have been preserved elsewhere as well, if one however, if the story is considered historically correct, this happened in the life of Jesus, apart from similar recorded incidents in the other gospels, the question of the authenticity of the parable is answered differently… Echoing Wilckens’ ideas, John Nolland writes: “It can hardly give a precursor to the episode which does not contain the present parable, for that would leave the Pharisee’s concerns in v. 39 without an adequate answer.”[8]

Luke 10[ edit ]

In chapter 10 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha who live in an unnamed village. Mary is contrasted with her sister Martha, who was “burdened with many things” [Luke 10:40] while Jesus was her guest, while Mary chose “the better part” of hearing the Master’s discourse.[6]

As Jesus and his disciples were traveling, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her house to him. She had a sister named Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that needed to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” answered the Lord, “you worry and worry a lot, but only one thing is needed. Mary chose what is better, and it will not be taken from her.” Luke 10:38-42 New International Version

That Mary should sit at Jesus’ feet and that he allowed her to do so was itself controversial. In doing so, as one commentator notes, Mary “took the place of a disciple, sitting at the feet of the teacher. In first-century Judaism it was unusual for a woman to be accepted as a disciple by a teacher.” ]

Most Christian commentators have been willing to assume that the two occurrences of sisters called Mary and Martha refer to the same pair of sisters.

Medieval western identification with Mary Magdalene

In medieval Western Christian tradition, Mary of Bethany was identified as Mary Magdalene, perhaps in large part due to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in which he taught about several New Testament women as if they were the same person. This resulted in a merging of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene as well as with another woman (alongside Mary of Bethany who anointed Jesus) and the woman caught in adultery. Eastern Christianity never adopted this identification. In his 1910 article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Hugh Pope explained: “The Greek fathers as a whole distinguish the three persons: the ‘sinner’ of Luke 7:36-50; the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Luke 10:38–42 and John 11; and Mary Magdalene.”[10]

Father Hugh Pope enumerated the accounts of each of these three individuals (the unnamed “sinner,” Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany) in the Gospel of Luke and concluded that, based on these accounts, “there is no evidence of an identification of the three persons, and if we had only Luke to guide us we would certainly have no reason to so identify her [as the same person].” He then first explains the position then common among Catholics, Mary of Bethany with the sinful wife of Equating Luke by referring to John 11:2, where Mary is identified as the woman who anointed Jesus, and indicating that this reference predates John’s account of the anointing at Bethany:

John, however, clearly identifies Mary of Bethany with the woman who anointed Christ’s feet (12; cf. Matthew 26 and Mark 14). It is noteworthy that as early as John 11:2 John spoke of Mary as “he who anointed the Lord’s feet”, er aleipsasa. It is generally said that he refers to the subsequent anointing which he himself describes in 12:3-8; but it may be questionable whether he would have used aleipsasa if another woman, and she a “sinner” in the city, had done the same. It is conceivable that just because he is writing so long after the event and at a time when Mary was dead, John might want to point out to us that she really was the same as the “sinner”. In the same way Luke may have veiled her identity precisely because he did not want to defame one who was still alive; he certainly does something similar in the case of St. Matthew, whose identity with the publican Levi (5:27) he conceals. If the above argument is correct, Mary of Bethany and the “sinner” are one and the same.[10]

Hugh Pope then explained the identification of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene on the assumption that because of Jesus’ high praise for her act of anointing him, it would be incredible that she should not have been present at his crucifixion and resurrection either. Since Mary Magdalene is said to have been present on these occasions, by this reasoning she must be the same person as Mary of Bethany:

An examination of the Gospel of John makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene. From John we learn the name of the “woman” who anointed Christ’s feet before the last supper. We may note here that it seems unnecessary to record this because Matthew and Mark say “two days before the Passover” while John says “six days”, so there were two different anointings that followed one another. John doesn’t necessarily mean that the supper and anointing took place six days before, just that Christ came to Bethany six days before Passover. At that supper, Mary received the glorious praise: “She has done a good work for me. … By pouring this ointment on my body, she did it for my funeral. … Wherever this gospel is to be preached … . .. also what she did should be told in her memory.” In light of all this, is it credible that this Mary should have no place either at the foot of the cross or at the tomb of Christ? But it is Mary Magdalene who, according to all evangelists, stood at the foot of the cross and helped with the burial and was the first witness of the resurrection. And while John calls her “Mary Magdalene” in 19:25, 20:1 and 20:18, he simply calls her “Mary” in 20:11 and 20:16.[10]

French scholar Victor Saxer dates the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute and as Mary of Bethany to a 21-century sermon by Pope Gregory the Great, who also identified an unnamed woman as Mary Magdalene. In another sermon, Gregory specifically identified Mary Magdalene as the sister of Martha mentioned in Luke 10.[11] But, according to a recent view by theologian Jane Schaberg, Gregory was only putting the finishing touches on a legend that predates him.[12]

Western Christianity’s identification of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany was reflected in the arrangement of the General Roman Calendar until it was changed in 1969,[13] reflecting the fact that until then the usual interpretation in the Catholic Church was, that Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, and the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet were three different women.[14]

Eastern Orthodox tradition[ edit ]

In the tradition of the Orthodox Church, Mary of Bethany is honored as a separate person from Mary Magdalene. Although not specifically identified as such in the Gospels, the Orthodox Church counts Mary and Martha among the myrrh-bearing women. These faithful followers of Jesus stood at Calvary during Jesus’ crucifixion and later came to his tomb early in the morning after the Sabbath with myrrh (costly oil), according to Jewish tradition, to anoint their Lord’s body. The myrrh bearers became the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, found the empty tomb and heard the good news from an angel.[15]

Orthodox tradition also records that Mary’s brother Lazarus was expelled from Jerusalem in the persecution against the Jerusalem Church after the martyrdom of St Stephen. His sisters Mary and Martha fled with him from Judea and helped him preach the gospel in different countries.[16] According to Cypriot tradition, the three later moved to Cyprus, where Lazarus became the first bishop of Kition (modern-day Larnaca).[17] All three died in Cyprus. [citation required]

Commemoration as a Saint[edit]

In the Roman rite of the Catholic Church, Mary of Bethany is celebrated together with her brother Lazarus on July 29, the memorial day of her sister Martha.[2] In 2021, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments added their names to the memorial, making it a liturgical celebration of all three family members.[18]

Also in the Lutheran calendar of saints July 29 is the date of commemoration of Mary (along with Martha and Lazarus), as well as in the almanac of the Episcopal Church and the Church of England (along with Martha).[19]

She is commemorated in the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine rites with her sister Martha on June 4 and on Sunday of the Myrrh Bearers (the third Sunday of Passover). She also plays a prominent role in the commemorations on Lazarus Saturday (the day before Palm Sunday).

Mary is commemorated (with Martha and Lazarus) in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on July 29.[20]

Notes [edit]

ministry of Jesus

In the Christian gospels, Jesus’ ministry begins with his baptism in the rural areas of Roman Judea and Transjordan, near the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem after the Last Supper with his disciples.[1] The Gospel of Luke (Luke 3:23) states that Jesus was “about 30 years old” when he began his ministry.[2][3] One chronology of Jesus typically has the date of the beginning of his ministry as September 11, AD 26,[4] others have put it at around AD 27–29 and the end in the range of AD 30–36 . Estimated. 5][Note 1]

Jesus’ early ministry in Galilee begins when, after his baptism, he returns to Galilee from his temptation in the Judean Desert.[6] During this early period he preaches throughout Galilee and recruits his first disciples who begin to travel with him and eventually form the nucleus of the early church[1][7] since it is believed that the apostles went out from Jerusalem to meet the apostolic to set up chairs. The great Galilean ministry, beginning in Matthew 8, involves the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles and covers most of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.[8][9] The final ministry in Galilee begins after the beheading of John the Baptist as Jesus prepares to go to Jerusalem.[10][11]

In later Judean ministry, Jesus begins his final journey to Jerusalem through Judea.[12][13][14][15] When Jesus, in later Perean ministry, travels to Jerusalem, about a third of the way from the Sea of ​​Galilee (actually a freshwater lake) along the Jordan River, he returns to the area where he was baptized.[16][17] [18]

The final service in Jerusalem is sometimes referred to as Passion Week and begins with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.[19] The Gospels provide more detail about the last ministry than the other periods, devoting about a third of their text to the last week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem.[20]

Overview [ edit ]

The Gospels place the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the countryside of Roman Judea, near the Jordan River.[1]

The Gospels present the ministry of John the Baptist as the forerunner of the ministry of Jesus and the baptism of Jesus as the beginning of the ministry of Jesus after which Jesus travels, preaches, and performs miracles.[1][21][22]

The baptism of Jesus is generally regarded as the beginning of his ministry and the last supper with his disciples in Jerusalem as the end.[1][21] However, some authors also consider the period between the resurrection and the ascension to be part of Jesus’ ministry.[23]

Luke 3:23 says that Jesus was “about 30 years old” when he began his ministry.[2][3] There have been different approaches to estimating the date of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.[2][24][25][26] An approach based on combining information from the Gospel of Luke with historical data about Emperor Tiberius gives a date around AD 28–29, while a second independent approach based on statements in the Gospel of John together with historical information from Josephus about the Der Temple in Jerusalem leads to a date of around AD 27-29 [3][24][25][27][28][Note 1]

In the New Testament, the date of the Last Supper is very close to the date of Jesus’ crucifixion (hence his name). Scholarly estimates for the date of the crucifixion generally fall in the range AD 30–36 [30] [31]

The three synoptic gospels refer to only one Passover, specifically the Passover at the end of Jesus’ ministry when he is crucified. While the Gospel of John refers to two actual Passovers, one at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and the second at the end of Jesus’ ministry. There is a third reference to Passover which many claim is a third actual feast, but this cannot be supported, it is rather a prediction of the second Passover in the Gospel of John. This third reference to a Passover in John’s gospel is why many suggest that Jesus’ ministry spanned a period of about three years. Scholars who support a three-year ministry, such as Köstenberger, explain that the Gospel of John simply gives a more detailed account.[21][22][32]

During Jesus’ ministry, Herod Antipas was the tetrarch ruling over Galilee and Perea at that time, who held the position in dividing up the territories after the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC. [33]

Baptism and early ministry[ edit ]

Portion of Madaba map showing Bethabara (Βέθαβαρά) and calling it the place where John was baptized.

The Gospels present the ministry of John the Baptist as the forerunner of the ministry of Jesus and the baptism of Jesus as the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.[1][21][22]

In his sermon in Acts 10:37-38, delivered at the house of the centurion Cornelius, the apostle Peter gives an overview of the ministry of Jesus, referring to what was happening “throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the baptism that John preached ” and that Jesus, whom “God had anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power,” went about “doing good.”[34]

John 1:28 specifies the place where John baptized as “Bethany beyond the Jordan.”[35][36] This is not the village of Bethany just east of Jerusalem, but the city of Bethany, also called Bethabara in Perea.[36] Perea is the province east of the Jordan River, opposite the southern part of Samaria, and although the New Testament does not mention Perea by name, John 3:23 implicitly refers to it again when it says that John baptized at Enon near Salim : “because there was much water there”.[35][36] The first-century historian Flavius ​​Josephus also wrote in the Antiquities of the Jews (18 5.2) that John the Baptist was at Machaerus on the border of Perea imprisoned and then killed.[37][38]

Luke 3:23 and Luke 4:1 point to possible activities of Jesus near the Jordan River around the time of His baptism, as does the first encounter with the disciples of John the Baptist in John 1:35–37, where “two disciples heard spoke to him, and they followed Jesus.”[39][40][41] Assuming that there were two instances of cleansing of the temple located in Jerusalem, a possible indication of an early Judean ministry might be John 2 : be 13-25. [42] [43] [44]

Service in Galilee[edit]

Early Galilean service[ edit ]

The early Galilean ministry begins when, according to Matthew, Jesus returns to Galilee from the Judean desert after rejecting Satan’s temptation.[6] During this early period, Jesus preached in Galilee and in Matthew 4:18-20 his first disciples met him and began to travel with him, eventually forming the nucleus of the early church.[1][7]

The Gospel of John includes the marriage at Cana as the first miracle of Jesus to take place in this early period of ministry with his return to Galilee.[45][46] Some villages in Galilee (e.g. Kafr Kanna) have been suggested as the location of Cana.[47][48]

The return of Jesus to Galilee follows the arrest of John the Baptist.[49] Jesus’ early teachings lead to his rejection in his hometown when Jesus says in Luke 4:16–30 in a synagogue, “No prophet is acceptable in his own land” and the people reject him.

In this early period Jesus’ call begins to spread throughout Galilee. In Mark 1:21–28 and Luke 4:31–37, in the episode exorcism in the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus goes to Capernaum where the people “are amazed at his teaching; for his word was with authority”. by healing the mother of Peter’s wife.[50][51]

Luke 5:1–11 contains the first episode of Miraculous Draft of Fish where Jesus tells Peter, “Now you will catch people”. Peter leaves his net and with him come James and John, the sons of Zebedee, then Jesus as a disciple.[52][53][54]

This period includes the Sermon on the Mount, one of Jesus’ major discourses in Matthew, and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke’s Gospel.[7][55] The Sermon on the Mount, which includes chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel, is the first of the five discourses of Matthew and the longest teaching of Jesus in the New Testament.[55] It summarizes many of Jesus’ moral teachings, including the Beatitudes and the widely recited Lord’s Prayer.[55][56]

The Beatitudes are expressed in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount as eight blessings, and four similar blessings appear in Luke’s Sermon on the Mount, where they are followed by four woes reflecting the blessings.[57] The Beatitudes represent the highest ideals of Jesus’ teachings on mercy, spirituality, and compassion.[57][58]

Great Galilean Ministry[ edit ]

The Great Galilean Ministry, also called the Great Galilean Ministry, begins in Matthew 8 after the Sermon on the Mount and pertains to activities up until the death of John the Baptist.[8][9]

Beginnings of this period include The Centurion’s Servant (Matthew 8:5–13) and Calming the Storm (Matthew 8:23–27), both of which deal with the issue of faith and fear. When the centurion shows his faith in Jesus by asking for “healing from afar,” Jesus commends him for his extraordinary faith.[59] On the other hand, when his own disciples show fear of a storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee, Jesus instructs them to have more faith after commanding the storm to stop.[60][61]

At this time, Jesus is still gathering the twelve apostles, and the calling of Matthew takes place in Matthew 9:9.[62] The conflicts and criticisms between Jesus and the Pharisees continue, e.g. they criticize Jesus for dealing with “tax collectors and sinners,” to which Jesus replies: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”[63]

The commissioning of the twelve apostles refers to the initial selection of the twelve apostles from among Jesus’ disciples.[64][65] Jesus goes out on a mountainside to pray, and after spending the night praying to God, in the morning he calls his disciples and chooses twelve of them.[66]

In the missionary discourse, Jesus instructed the twelve apostles named in Matthew 10:2-3 not to carry any belongings as they travel from city to city preaching.[8][9] Separately, Luke 10:1-24 refers to the seventy disciples, where Jesus appoints a larger number of disciples and sends them out in pairs on the missionary’s errand to go into the villages before Jesus gets there.[67]

In Matthew 11:2-6, two messengers come from John the Baptist to ask Jesus if he is the expected Messiah, or “shall we wait for another?”[68] Jesus replies, “Go back and tell John what you hear and see, the blind see, and the lame walk.”[69] After this Jesus begins to speak to the crowds about the Baptist.[70]

This period is rich in parables and teachings and includes the parabolic discourse that provides many of the parables for the kingdom of heaven beginning in Matthew 13:1.[71][72] These include the parables “The Sower”, “The Weeds”, “The Mustard Seed” and “The Leaven”, which are aimed at the general public, as well as “The Hidden Treasure”, “The Pearl” and “Drawing in the Net”. .[72]

At the end of the great Galilean ministry, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. His wisdom is recognized, challenged and rejected there.[73]

Last Galilean Ministry[ edit ]

The final Galilean ministry begins after the death of John the Baptist and includes the episodes “The 5,000 Are Feeding” and “Walking on the Water,” both in Matthew 14. [10] [11] After hearing of the Baptist’s death, departs Jesus returns privately by boat to a secluded spot near Bethsaida, where he addresses the crowd who had followed him on foot from the cities, feeding them all “five loaves and two fishes” supplied by a boy were provided.[74]

Following this, the Gospels present the episode “walking on water” at Matthew 14:22-23, Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21 as an important step in the development of the relationship between Jesus and His disciples in his ministry at this stage.[75] The episode emphasizes the importance of faith by saying that when Peter lost faith and became afraid, he began to sink trying to walk on water. At the end of the episode, the disciples increase their faith in Jesus and say in Matthew 14:33, “Truly you are the Son of God.”[76]

Key teachings of this period include the discourse on defilement found in Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23, where Jesus, in response to a complaint from the Pharisees, says, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘ unclean, but whatever comes out of his mouth makes him unclean.[77]

After this episode, Jesus retires to the “parts of Tire and Sidon” near the Mediterranean where the episode of the Canaanite woman’s daughter takes place in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30.[78] This episode is an example of Jesus emphasizing the value of faith by telling the woman, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”[78] The importance of faith is also emphasized in the episode “Cleansing the Ten Lepers” in Luke 17:11–19.[79][80]

In the Gospel of Mark, after passing through Sidon, Jesus enters the region of the Decapolis, a group of ten cities southeast of Galilee, where the miracle of healing the deaf-mute is recorded in Mark 7:31-37. After the healing, the disciples say, “He causes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.” The episode is the last in a series of miracles that build on Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as Christ in Mark 8:29.[81]

Judea and Perea to Jerusalem[edit]

Later Judean Service[ edit ]

At this time, Jesus begins his final journey to Jerusalem, going around Samaria, through Perea, and on through Judea to Jerusalem. At the beginning of this period, Jesus predicts his death for the first time, and this prediction then builds on the other two episodes, with the final prediction occurring just before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, the week of his crucifixion.[82 ][ 83] In Matthew 16:21-28 and Mark 8:31-33, Jesus teaches his disciples that “the Son of Man must suffer many things, and must be rejected and put to death by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and rise again after three days.”[84 ]

Later in this period, about halfway through each of the three Synoptic Gospels, two related episodes mark a turning point in Jesus’ ministry: Peter’s Confession and Jesus’ Transfiguration.[12][13][14][]fifteen] These episodes begin in Caesarea Philippi, north of the Sea of ​​Galilee, at the beginning of the last journey to Jerusalem, which ends with the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus.[85] These episodes mark the beginning of the gradual revelation of Jesus’ identity as Messiah to his disciples; and his prediction of his own suffering and death.[12][13][85][86][87]

Peter’s confession begins as a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples at Matthew 16:13, Mark 8:27, and Luke 9:18. Jesus asks his disciples: But who do you say I am? Simon Peter answers him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.[85][88][89] At Matthew 16:17, Jesus blesses Peter for his answer, saying, “Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” In blessing Peter, Jesus not only accepts the titles Christ and Son of God that Peter gave him attributes, but declares the proclamation a divine revelation, declaring that his Father in heaven revealed it to Peter.[90] In this claim, affirming both titles as divine revelation, Jesus unequivocally declares that he is both Christ and the Son of God.[90][91]

In Matthew, after this episode, Jesus also chooses Peter to be the leader of the apostles and says that “on this rock I will build my church”.[33] Then, in Matthew 16:18, Jesus continues, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” The word “church” (Greek ekklesia) used here occurs only once in the Gospels, namely in Matthew 18:17, and refers to the community of believers at that time.[92]

Later Perean service[ edit ]

After Peter’s preaching, the next major event is the account of Jesus’ transfiguration, found in Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36.[13][86][87 ] Jesus takes Peter and two other apostles and climbs a mountain that has no name. Having arrived on the mountain, Matthew 17:2 says that Jesus was “transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as the light”. At this point the prophets Elijah and Moses appear and Jesus begins to speak to them.[86] Luke specifically describes Jesus in a state of glory, with Luke 9:32 referring to “they saw his glory.”[93] A bright cloud appears around them, and a voice from the cloud says: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”[86]

Not only does the transfiguration support Jesus’ identity as the Son of God (as in his baptism), but the statement “listen to him” identifies him as the messenger and mouthpiece of God.[94] The importance is enhanced by the presence of Elijah and Moses, for it reminds the apostles that Jesus is the voice of God and that he should be listened to instead of Elijah or Moses because of his filial relationship with God.[ 94] 2 Peter 1 ,16–18 echoes the same message: At the transfiguration, God confers a special “honor and glory” on Jesus, and it is the turning point where God exalts Jesus above all other powers in creation.[95]

Many of the episodes in the later Judean ministry are drawn from the Gospel of Luke, but in general these episodes of Luke’s episodes do not provide enough geographical information to determine Perea, although scholars generally assume that the path followed by Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem passed was by Perea.[18] However, the Gospel of John states that he returned to the area where he was baptized, and John 10:40–42 states that “many men believed on him beyond the Jordan”, saying: “All the things that John of spoke to this man were true”.[16][17][18] The area where Jesus was baptized is inferred in John John 1:28 and John 3:23 to be near the Perea area, given the Baptist’s activities at Bethabara and Aenon.[35][36]

This ministry includes the discourse on the church, in which Jesus anticipates a future community of followers and explains the role of his apostles in leading that community.[71][96] It contains the parables of the lost sheep and the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, which also relate to the kingdom of heaven. The general theme of the discourse is the anticipation of a future community of followers and the role of its apostles in leading them.[96][97]

In Matthew 18:18 Jesus says to his apostles: “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The discourse emphasizes the importance of humility and self-sacrifice as high virtues within the expected community. It teaches that personal humility is what counts in the kingdom of God, not social prominence and clout.[96][97]

At the end of this period, the Gospel of John contains the episode of the raising of Lazarus at John 11:1-46, in which Jesus resurrects Lazarus of Bethany four days after his burial.[19] In the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus is the culmination of the “seven signs” that progressively confirm Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and the expected Messiah.[98] It is also a pivotal episode that begins the chain of events leading to the crowd searching for Jesus at his triumphant entry into Jerusalem – leading to the decision of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin to plot to kill Jesus (Jesus’ crucifixion) .[99]

Graduating service in Jerusalem[ edit ]

Flevit super illam (He wept over it); through (He wept over it); by Enrique Simonet, 1892.

The final service in Jerusalem is traditionally called the Passion and begins with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the week that includes the Last Supper and is liturgically known as Holy Week.[19][100][101][102][103 ]. ][104] The Gospels give special attention to the account of the last week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem, and the narrative accounts for about a third of the text of the four Gospels, showing its theological importance in Christian thought of the early Church.[20 ][105]

Before arriving in Jerusalem, in John 12:9-11, after Lazarus was raised from the dead, crowds gather around Jesus and believe in Him, and the next day the crowd that had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast welcomes Jesus , as he descends from the dead toward Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19.[100][101][102][106 ] In Luke 19:41–44, as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it, foretelling the suffering that awaits the city.[100][102][107]

In the three Synoptic Gospels, the entry into Jerusalem is followed by the episode “Cleansing of the Temple”, in which Jesus expels the money changers from the Temple and accuses them of turning the Temple into a den of thieves through their commercial activities. This is the only account of Jesus using physical violence in any of the gospels.[44][108][109] The synoptics include a number of well-known parables and sermons such as the widow’s mite and the prophecy of the second coming the following week.[100][101]

This week the Synoptics also recount conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish elders, in episodes such as Jesus’ Authority Questioned and The Sufferings of the Pharisees, in which Jesus criticizes their hypocrisy.[100][101] Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, approaches the Jewish elders and carries out the “bargain of Judas” in which he agrees to betray Jesus and hand him over to the elders.[110][111][112] Matthew gives the price as thirty silver coins.[111]

In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, Jesus gives an end-time discourse, also called the Olivet Discourse because it was given on the Mount of Olives.[71] The discourse revolves mainly around the judgment and expected behavior of Jesus’ followers and the need for followers’ vigilance in view of the coming judgment.[113] The discourse is generally considered to refer both to the impending destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and to the end times and second coming of Christ, but the many scholarly opinions remain divided as to which verses refer to which event ]

A key episode in the final part of Jesus’ ministry is the Last Supper, which involves the institution of the Eucharist. In Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20, during the last supper, Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, for whom it is there she is”. He also gives them “the cup” to drink, saying that this is his blood. Although it may have been fermented, it is not referred to as wine in any of the biblical accounts, but as “the fruit of the vine” or ” the cup.” At 1 Corinthians 11:23–26, Paul the Apostle refers to the Last Supper.[114][115][116][117] John 14–17 concludes the Last Supper with a lengthy three-chapter Sermon known as the farewell sermon, preparing the disciples for Jesus’ departure.[118][119]

See also[edit]

Gospels and Theology

Associated Places

Notes [edit]

a b Chronos, Kairos, Christos: Paul L. Maier states explicitly that he considers the date of John’s temple visit to be “around AD 29”, using various factors which he summarizes in a chronology table. Maier’s table considers AD 28 to be roughly Jesus’ 32nd birthday, and elsewhere he states that AD 5 was the year of Jesus’ birth.[29] Paul N. Anderson dates the incident at the temple to “about AD 26-27.” Jerry Knoblet estimates the date at around AD 27. Robert Fortna & Thatcher in their book estimate the date at around AD 28. Köstenberger & Kellum (p. 140) make the same statement as Maier, viz that Jesus’ 32nd birthday was AD 28 when his ministry began. Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible states that Jesus’ ministry was “c. AD 28” in “ca. age 31” began. In Paul L. Maier specifically states that he considers the date of John’s temple visit to be “about AD 29,” using various factors, which he summarizes in a chronology table. Maier’s table considers AD 28 to be approximately the 32nd birthday of Jesus, and elsewhere he states that AD 5 was the year of Jesus’ birth. Paul N. Anderson dates the Temple Incident to “about AD 26-27.” Jerry Knoblet puts the date at about AD 27/CE. In their book, Robert Fortna & Thatcher estimate the date at around AD 28. Köstenberger & Kellum (p. 140) make the same statement as Maier, namely that Jesus’ 32nd birthday was around AD 28 than his work began.

References[ edit ]