(the Lord), Who is it that says these words in the show? Even if covered, she often wears only a drape pulled around her, or an undergarment. [120][121][119] As a result of numerous intervening conflicts, the manuscript was not published until 1955. It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. Lilith is the name of Mary Magdalene when she first appears in episode one. In The Chosen, when we first meet Mary Magdalene, most of the characters refer to her as Lili. [71][73][74] Despite this, all four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agreed that Mary Magdalene, either alone or as a member of a group, was the first person to discover that Jesus' tomb was empty. [174][173] 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. Enough said.). [136][137] Then, upon ejaculating, Jesus drank his own semen and told Mary, "Thus we must do, that we may live. 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 Velzquez. (Plots & Theme), Episode 2 Guide: Philip, Nathanael, & Matthew, Episode 3 Guide: Life Among the Disciples of Jesus, Episode 4 Guide: Simon the Zealot & the Man at the Bethesda Pool, Episode 5 Guide: Mary's Demons & the Destiny of John the Baptist, Episode 8 Guide: Judas, Matthew, & the Sermon on the Mount, Episode 1 Guide: Mary Magdalene, Lilith, and the Redeemer, Episode 2 Guide: Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, and Shabbat, Episode 3 Guide: Depicting Jesus in Art, Film, and TV, Episode 4 Guide: When Jesus Met Simon (Peter), Episode 6 Guide: Jesus, Shmuel, & the Pharisees. [197] In 1449, King Ren 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. Making a Woman 5 once. [88] In fact, if they had made the story up, they would have had strong motivation to make Peter, Jesus' closest disciple while he was alive, the discoverer of the tomb instead. When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. He attempts to heal her and exorcise the evil spirit in her, but he is unsuccessful and concludes that she is beyond hope. [282] Presbyterians honor her as the "apostle to the apostles"[283] and, in the book Methodist Theology, Kenneth Wilson describes her as, "in effect", one of the "first missionaries". In the ensuing centuries, a heretical Christian sect called the Cathars forwarded the theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a romantic couple. [117] Roughly half the text of the gospel in this manuscript has been lost;[122][123] the first six pages and four from the middle are missing. They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them". Lilith's creation is recounted in The Tales of Ben Sira, an apocryphal work from the tenth century C.E. "[90][6], Casey challenges this argument, contending that the women at the tomb are not legal witnesses, but rather heroines in line with a long Jewish tradition. [300] 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. (which is Aramaic for "teacher"). After Jesus heals her evil spirit, she resumes calling herself "Mary," her birth name . [86] First, it describes an appearance by Jesus to Mary Magdalene alone (as in the Gospel of John),[86] followed by brief descriptions of him appearing 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). To clarify why the creators would want to add new characters and stories and leave some stories out, you could ask the following questions: What are some other popular adaptations of books into film or television? In Pope Gregory's interpretation, the seven demons expelled from Mary Magdalene by Jesus are transformed into the seven deadly sins of medieval Catholicism,[150][163] leading Mary "to be condemned not only for lust, but for pride and covetousness as well. If you try it out, please let me know how it goes and if you have any feedback! Click here for my affiliation policy. You can find episode one free on YouTube here, although there are lots of ads. Pope Gregory's Easter sermon resulted in a widespread belief that Mary Magdalene was a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman. Below I'll share an outline describing how to do a Viewing Party for The Chosen Episode 1 (I Have Called You by Name). [67][68][69] An earthquake occurred and an angel dressed in white descended from Heaven and rolled aside the stone as the women were watching. The Chosen isn't trying to mess with the Bible. "Greek Lexicon entry for Koinonos". She was the Samaritan woman to whom He said, "Call thy husband". [11] The whole family returns to Marseille, where they meet Mary again in person. After Jesus heals her evil spirit, she resumes calling herself "Mary," her birth name, and refuses to answer to the name associated with her spiritual oppression. [185][181][186] In this account, Mary Magdalene is, in Ehrman's words, "fabulously rich, insanely beautiful, and outrageously sensual",[185] but she gives up her life of wealth and sin to become a devoted follower of Jesus. [142][11][143] 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. [62] Casey argues that Jesus was given a proper burial by Joseph of Arimathea,[63] noting that, on some very rare occasions, Roman governors did release the bodies of executed prisoners for burial. `Abdu'l-Bah 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). [176] Under the influence of stories about other female saints, such as Mary of Egypt and Pelagia,[176] 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. (ex. [270] The women are also the first to be called to announce this truth to the Apostles. [257] The Gospel reading in the Tridentine Mass was Luke 7:3650[258] (the sinful woman anointing the feet of Jesus), while in the present version of the Roman Rite of Mass it is John 20:12, 1118[259] (meeting of Mary Magdalene with Jesus after his resurrection). [52] Nonetheless, the gospels' accounts of Jesus' crucifixion differ considerably[53] and most secular historians agree that some of the details in the accounts have been altered to fit their authors' theological agendas. The overwhelming consensus of scholars is that the fragment is a modern forgery,[316][317][318] and in 2016, King herself said that the alleged Gospel was a forgery. Episode 7 Guide: Did Nicodemus Follow Jesus? 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. [176], 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",[176] but that she committed adultery, so she fled to Jerusalem and became a "public sinner" (vulgaris meretrix). What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She is mentioned several times in the Gospels as a devoted follower of Jesus who was present at his crucifixion and burial. The Gospel of Philip, dating from the second or third century, survives in part among the texts found in Nag Hammadi in 1945. [146][147] Origen merely dismisses this, remarking that Celsus "pours on us a heap of names". One is inaccurately . [321] Since Jesus taught that people should live as though the kingdom had already arrived, this teaching implied a life of unmarried celibacy. [47] Luke 23:55 mentions "the women who had followed him from Galilee", but does not list any of their names. Of all the apocryphal material, only some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are worth consideration. [233], 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' wife or sexual partner. [107] Some scholars believe that at least a few of these sayings may authentically be traced back to the historical Jesus. In the modern vernacular, a "red light district" is a term that refers to an area of the city known for prostitution, strip clubs, and other immoral establishments. "[104] Simon Peter, annoyed at Mary's dominance of the conversation, tells Jesus, "My master, we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and does not let any of us speak, though she talks all the time. 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. [169], 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. The Gospels never refer to Mary as Lilith. Jesus is said to have cast seven evil spirits out of her (, As I noted above, in the Bible there is no indication that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. [284], Mary Magdalene is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival and in the Episcopal Church with a Major Feast on 22 July. However, some scholars believe the word would be better translated as demoness and see it is a reference to a Mesopotamian spiritual being. [16][34][35] The Gospels writers normally relish giving dramatic descriptions of Jesus' public exorcisms, with the possessed person wailing, thrashing, and tearing his or her clothes in front of a crowd. [172][173] Stories about noble saints were popular during this time period;[172] accordingly, tales of Mary Magdalene's wealth and social status became heavily exaggerated. Mary Magdalene is never called Lili or Lilith in the Bible. Due to COVID restrictions, my youth group watched The Chosen online using Zoom. [102] At another point, he tells her, "Well done, Mary. [292], The Bah 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. [264] 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). [82][75] According to John 20:1118, Mary, now alone in the garden outside the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus' body had been. 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). See a Roman centurion fill Lilith/Mary s sight, a suggestion that the woman have. "[109] Jesus responds, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. "[136][134][137] 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. These texts portray her as an apostle, as Jesus' closest and most beloved disciple and the only one who truly understood his teachings. [161] The notion of Mary Magdalene specifically being a former prostitute or loose woman dates to a narrative in an influential homily by Pope Gregory I ("Gregory the Great") in around 591,[153][162][149] 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,[149] but also, for the first time, explicitly identifies her sins as ones of a sexual nature:[149]. Why do you think The Chosen depicted Mary as a prostitute? Meanwhile, in the youth ministry that I lead, I had the chance to view and discuss season one of The Chosen with several high schoolers and found it very fruitful. That's why I'm excited to share with you a new resource that I've created to help you study biblical adaptations & reflect on how they apply to everyday life. [249], Noli me tangere (c. 1440-1442), fresco by Fra Angelico, Mary Magdalene Reading (c. 15001510) by Piero di Cosimo, Mary Magdalene (early 1500s) by Ambrosius Benson, Magdalena Penitente (early 1500s) by Giampietrino, Mary Magdalene (1615) by Juan Bautista Mano, Penitent Magdalene (c. 15761578) by El Greco, Mary Magdalene (16151616 or 16201625) by Artemisia Gentileschi, St Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (c. 16191620) by Peter Paul Rubens, Magdalene with the Smoking Flame (c. 1640) by Georges de La Tour, Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene (between 1640 and 1650) by Pietro da Cortona, The Magdalene (before 1792) by George Romney, Mary Magdalene (18581860) by Frederick Sandys, Sarah Bernhardt as Maria Magdalena (1887) by Alfred Stevens, Christ and Mary Magdalene (1890) by Albert Edelfelt in a Finnish locale, The Eastern Orthodox Church has never identified Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany or the "sinful woman" who anoints Jesus in Luke 7:3650[254] and has always taught that Mary was a virtuous woman her entire life, even before her conversion. Come and See is a devotional journal designed specifically for studying Bible movies and shows like The Chosen. (he calls her by name at the end when he heals her). [171], 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. In the Bible, Mary Magdelene is a follower of Christ. [68][69][76] They went inside 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. After the Resurrection, He appeared first to her. [68][69][67] 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. [89] N. T. Wright states that "it is, frankly, impossible to imagine that [the women at the tomb] were inserted into the tradition after Paul's day. I wouldn't take too long discussing these questions. In all the four canonical gospels, Mary Magdalene was a witness to the crucifixion of Jesus and, in the Synoptic Gospels, she was also present at his burial. [4][1] Elaborate medieval legends from Western Europe then emerged, which told exaggerated tales of Mary Magdalene's wealth and beauty, as well as of her alleged journey to southern Gaul (modern-day France). Whether you're studying on your own or with your small group or ministry, Come and See is a perfect resource to help you dig deeper into The Chosen. [47] John 19:3942 does not mention any women present during Joseph's burial of Jesus,[47] but does mention the presence of Nicodemus, a Pharisee with whom Jesus had a conversation near the beginning of the gospel. '[269] They are the first to embrace his feet. During the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church emphasized Mary Magdalene as a symbol of penance. [39] Jesus' ministry did bring women greater liberation than they would typically have held in mainstream Jewish society. [183] 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. "[302] 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. 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. [185][186] The governor and his wife sail for Rome to meet the apostle Peter in person,[185] but their ship is struck by a storm, which causes the wife to go into labor. "Mary Magdalene Saint or Sinner? Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. [9] Unlike Paul the Apostle, Mary Magdalene left behind no known writings of her own. Narrative Ambiguity & Charitable Reading, The Chosen: 6 Good Friday & Easter Episodes, The Rings of Power, LOTR, and Bible Adaptation, Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power & The Challenges of Biblical Adaptation, In Defense of The Chosen and Other Christian Movies, Books, & Media (Part 1), In Defense of The Chosen and Other Christian Movies, Books, & Media (Part 2), Imagining Mary Magdalene (5 More Bible Adaptations While You Wait for The Chosen Season 2), Yussif, Jairus, & Shmuel in The Chosen (Adapting Biblical Characters), Reflecting on The Chosen Season 3 & Anticipating Season 4: What Worked & What to Fix, Ears to Hear (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 7 with Youth or Small Group), The Chosen Season 3 Episode 7 & Episode 8: Recap, Review, & Analysis, The Feeding of the 5,000 (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 8 with Youth or Small Group), Pontius Pilate & His Wife in The Chosen (Adapting Biblical Characters), Intensity in Tent City (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 6 with Youth or Small Group), Clean Part 2 (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 5 with Youth or Small Group), Clean Part 1 (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 4 with Youth or Small Group), Physician, Heal Thyself (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 3 with Youth or Small Group), Two by Two (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 2 with Youth or Small Group), Little James in The Chosen & Scripture (Adapting Biblical Characters), Homecoming (Exploring The Chosen Season 3 Episode 1 with Youth or Small Group), 2022 BY THE BIBLE ARTIST. [145] 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. At one point, Jesus says, "Mary, thou blessed one, whom I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height, discourse in openness, thou, whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all thy brethren". Let's look deeper into theses false stereotypes. [289] `Abdu'l-Bah 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. [1][148][150] 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. [27][28][29] That seven demons had possessed Mary is repeated in Mark 16:9,[30][31] part of the "longer ending" of that gospel this is not found in the earliest manuscripts and is actually a second-century addition to the original text, possibly based on the Gospel of Luke. Mary Magdalene is first mentioned by name in Mark, the second Gospel. In The Chosen, when we first meet Mary Magdalene, most of the characters refer to her as Lili. You can find episode one, The Bible includes Mary Magdalene in a list of women who had evil spirits healed by Jesus. "[104] Jesus assures her, "Any of those filled with the spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say: no one will be able to oppose them."[104]. [179][239] 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. It hints at where the show is going: This passage takes place after Jesus' death and resurrection at the end of the Gospels. [I]n the post-Biblical period, the sages identify the lilith . [245] 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. [16][19][20] Mary was, by far, the most common Jewish given name for girls and women during the first century,[16][c][21] so it was necessary for the authors of the gospels to call her Magdalene in order to distinguish her from the other women named Mary who followed Jesus. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness. [55][75] Nonetheless, the details of the accounts differ drastically. [47] Mark 15:47 lists Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus as witnesses to the burial of Jesus. All the four gospels identified her, either alone or as a member of a larger group of women which includes Jesus' mother, as the first to witness the empty tomb,[1] and, either alone or as a member of a group, as the first to witness Jesus' resurrection.[2]. [g], In 1517, on the brink of the Protestant Reformation, the leading French Renaissance humanist Jacques Lefvre d'taples 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. In The Chosen, when we first meet Mary Magdalene, most of the characters refer to her as Lili. [86] The "longer ending", which is found in most surviving manuscripts, is an "amalgam of traditions" containing episodes derived from the other gospels. "[221][222] 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 7:3650, but only of Mary Magdalene, the first person to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection". "[125] Unlike in the Gospel of Thomas, where women can only be saved by becoming men, in the Gospel of Mary, they can be saved just as they are. The portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute began in 591, when Pope Gregory I conflated Mary Magdalene, who was introduced in Luke 8:2, with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39) and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus' feet in Luke 7:3650. [75][82] According to John 20:110, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone when it was still dark and saw that the stone had already been rolled away. [67][68][69] According to Luke 24:112 a group of unnamed women went to the tomb and found the stone already rolled away, as in Mark. [243], 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". [142][143] The sermon also explicitly identifies Mary Magdalene and the other women as "apostles". By noting how Mary is in the "Red Quarter", The Chosen is implying that she is a prostitute. [48][49][50][51] James Dunn states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent". Instead, she has traditionally been honored as a "Myrrhbearer" (; the equivalent of the western Three Marys)[255] and "Equal to the Apostles" (). [186][189][190][191][192] At every canonical hour, the angels come and lift her up to hear their songs in Heaven. [234][237] It was also criticized by many Christians, who were offended by the film's use of extracanonical source material. Jesus is said to have cast seven evil spirits out of her (Luke 8:1-3). [218] 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".