Meet an Unusual Lady

What can "the truth of the gospel" do for one whose life has become a tragic ruin?

Here's a basket-case woman badly twisted out of shape by sexual exploitation. Its ruinous after-effects were so bad that the Bible says "seven devils" had control of her (Galatians 2:5,14; Mark 16:9). Let's review the story in our familiar more literal version:

"And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. And she broke the flask, and poured it on His head.

"But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, 'Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii¹ and given to the poor.' And they criticized her sharply.

"But Jesus said, Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.

"'She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman did will also be spoken as a memorial to her.'"—Mark 14:3-9

Mark doesn't identify this woman, but he uses a literary device that points us to the lady who is called Mary Magdalene in 15:40, 47, and 16:1, 9. Matthew tells the story much like Mark does, but likewise he does not identify the heroine (26:6-13). But John identifies her clearly (12:2-9).

She is either a brilliant person who is right on, or she turns out to be a wild fanatic. Those "three hundred denarii" (silver coins) are a fantastic sum which she blew in just a few moments of aromatic bliss at this party. At first thought it would seem that the "some" who didn't like what she did were thinking clearly. Jerusalem and its suburbs were full of poor people who could have used the food or clothing that this princely sum could have purchased for them.

But Jesus saves her from a fanatic's ignominy. He transforms her into a famous lady: never did He speak so highly of any other contemporary person! How could you ask for a higher endorsement under Heaven? This modest book has come into existence as a tiny fruition of that encomium by Jesus—her story must be proclaimed "throughout the whole world." In fact, the sobering truth dawns on us that maybe we can't really understand "this gospel" unless we hear and appreciate what the Bible says about this lady!

There's something in the story that strikes long dormant chords of music in our souls. We may preach all about the many "doctrines" that we have been pleased to speak of as "the present truth," but if we omit this story we have deprived our listeners of essential truth that people in these last days are hungering to understand.

Jesus intended that her story be a part of the proclamation of "the everlasting gospel" for the world. Not until our "time of the end" has it even been possible that it could be told "throughout the whole world," as He said. Heart-warming truth in this story will yet penetrate the age-old barriers of soul set up in the hearts of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, pagans, hard-hearted secularists, lukewarm Christians,"all men." We may discover the reason why our message hasn't yet gripped the consciousness of the "worldly" world we have yet to reach.

Convincing the intellect with PowerPoint® doctrines is great; but unless the heart has been reached, our efforts are in vain. Isaiah speaks of how the Father hid His Son Jesus as a secret weapon, a "polished" arrow in "His quiver," to penetrate to the world's heart. In Mary's quiver is the evangelism arrow that will make its way into now hard-to-reach hearts around the world.

What Jesus said seems clear: we must employ her to help us reach the heart. But unless our own heart has been melted, how can we do it?

John supplies another important detail that Mark omits.

He spills the beans on the surprising identity of who those "some" were who condemned Mary's prodigal offering of "very precious" ointment (12:1-8).

To their eternal embarrassment, the critics turn out to be the twelve apostles! Only a few days before Calvary, here they are with no better understanding than to join in condemning what turns out to be the most beautiful deed ever performed by a repentant sinner, something that illuminates what happened on the cross.

Then the apostle John reveals an even more embarrassing detail. Besides confirming that the otherwise unnamed heroine was Mary Magdalene, he tells us why the Eleven apostles were so ready to lend their voices to the bitter denunciation of her: they were blindly following the lead of Judas Iscariot, the soon-to-be traitor and betrayer.

The Eleven didn't come up with those cruel words of condemning Mary's offering. But they were willing to be led by the most notorious apostate of all time, and this within a week of the crucifixion, which they should have been preparing for. They had all the instruction Jesus had been giving them. (But they hadn't been listening.)

Of course Christ forgave them for following Judas into this disgraceful misjudgment, but for all eternity they will humble their forgiven souls for their blind willingness to follow the traitor in condemning the sacrifice of Christ. (Condemning Mary's deed involves condemning Jesus, as we shall see.)

Who was this lady?

It has been popular through the ages for scholars and theologians to label Mary Magdalene a prostitute. A surprisingly detailed mosaic picture emerges from a study of all that the four Gospel writers say about her, but there seems no suggestion there that she was a prostitute. Instead, her problem was some kind of sin that landed her in demon possession.

Bible narratives are unabashed in portraying individuals as prostitutes if that's what they were. Nothing is hidden. Mary may have had an even more serious problem than simple prostitution: some scholars believe they see evidence that she was a nymphomaniac, a woman driven out of her reasoning mind by a demon of lust that was apart from a desire for monetary gain.

Sexual demon possession is not a pleasant obsession. Its captives are held fast because the entanglements of sex in our psychic makeup go down to the primeval roots of our existence. We are beings created in the image of God, "male and female." Sex is not something for jokes; it's a life or death involvement in the profound creative mysteries of God.

And it was not one demon in Mary that called for exorcism, seven swirled about in her soul. The numeral "seven" is not a mere euphemism. Biblical evidence suggests that she was a very intelligent person, and the more intelligent you are, the more demons can inhabit your soul once they get in. This woman was far, far gone.

How could she ever have gotten this way?

God does not create people in such a condition! The mosaic pieces in the four Gospels fit together to indicate that the person who initially abused her sexually was Simon the Pharisee (the story as Luke tells it in chapter 7 can mean nothing else, as we shall see²). Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell analyze a hypothetical example of what happens to an innocent girl who suffers this fate. This is an insightful glimpse into what could well have been the source of Mary Magdalene's problem: "Consider the case of a young girl who is sexually abused by her uncle. The experience is emotionally devastating and contributes significantly to a deeply negative self-image, which, among other things, leads her into sexual promiscuity. … She continues to struggle with feelings of guilt and inferiority throughout her life."³

Mary's sexual abuse had obviously been foisted on her when she was young and vulnerable. Although her older sister and brother are prominent in the Bible story, there are no details of a father, who would have been Simon's brother. For some reason, he seems to have dropped out of sight. Contextual flashes in the story suggest that Mary's upbringing and education were supplied by Simon, the prominent church leader who lived in Bethany (a suburb of Jerusalem near the home of Mary's sister Martha and brother Lazarus).

As sometimes happens with uncles and nieces, Simon could have initiated an emotional relationship with Mary. Fatherless, she could have innocently responded to his subtle aggression. Carsten Johnson in his little volume, The Writing in the Sand, the Part of the Story That You Were Never Told About Mary Magdalene,⁴ suggests that she became pregnant. If so, Uncle Simon would have desperately wanted to exile her as soon as possible, lest his holy and reverend reputation be sullied by gossip that was unmistakably real. Mary's journey away would have been embittered by the deepest resentments any young woman can know.

The popular view that identifies her with the woman taken in adultery in John 8:1-11 seems to lack a biblical hint of support. Mary's problem was demon possession, not adultery. As a Jewish young woman of an excellent family receiving devout early training with siblings Martha and Lazarus, she would unlikely have gone into either prostitution or adultery. Even so, the context can't fit. The woman of John 8 was in Jerusalem, and Mary's problems occurred in Magdala, far north in Galilee.

Very likely, when we consider human nature, it seems reasonable that Mary would go to Magdala just to bury herself in shame. She took a nosedive into the darkness of despair. The "nuthin' goin' nowhere" philosophy could well have been hers. Dark as hell despair with corresponding unbelief became the setting for multiple devil possession.

Further, the timing of the story of the adulterous woman of John 8 is set near the end of Christ's ministry, close to its denouement when contention with the nation's leaders foretold His coming crucifixion. But Mary's problem became evident long before during Christ's First Missionary Journey, because her deliverance occurred either then or shortly after. We find she accompanied the group on their Second Missionary Journey. Mary's identity hardly fits either a Jerusalem prostitute or adulteress.

Uncle Simon was a very prominent, well-respected religious leader. There must be no story of any improper relationship with Mary leaked to the media of the day. Always taught to respect the elders and patriarchal heads of the family, Mary subjected herself to be meek and to be trodden under foot, her self-respect gone, and her emotional foundations shattered. As frustration and hopelessness settled in on her soul, she harbored so much bitter hatred in her heart that she became distraught emotionally. When her intellectual acumen was joined with emotional despair, there was a recipe for a brilliant kind of devil possession. "Seven" would describe it well.

If she had been totally bereft of self-respect (a heart condition such devil possession would produce), other men as well could have abused her (Roman soldiers were in Galilee). Her hatred toward men in general only would go deeper and become more bitter. Thus it wouldn't be long before she became a human soul inhabited by these agents of ancient darkness. When the Bible insists on "seven," it implies that she was beyond anyone's therapeutic help.

But it became her good fortune to meet Someone who knew how to help, Someone who can help us, too.

Notes:

1. A denarius was a Greek coin equivalent in value to a workingman's wage for a day (Matthew 20:2). Three hundred would be about a year's wages.
2. I am indebted for this detail to Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, May 9,1900.
3. Why I Am Not a Calvinist, InterVarsity Press, 2004, p. 208.
4. New York: Vantage Press, 1984.