The Magdalene Mystique - The Path Inward

When I wrote The Magdalene Mystique, I had no intention of suggesting that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. And yet, as I studied the famous dialogue between Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John, I began to find hints that this was the case. To be sure, I make no claim to prove that they were married. I only suggest a hint. In the end we have to say that at this time in historical research we simply can’t know.

Scholars vary about this of course. Esther de Boer sees a kinship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus rather than a marriage. She finds in the Gospel of John a portrait of the Magdalene as belonging to a group of relatives to Jesus, and suggests that the Magdalene was either a sister-in-law or a niece of Jesus’ mother. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb to care for the body and receives comfort in close proximity as a relative. In the garden encounter he calls her by name and her response as Rabbouni suggests the intimacy of a kinship.[see DeBoer, The Gospel of Mary,(Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997):157-158]

Another scholar, Marvin Meyer, says while a reasonable case can be made that Jesus and Mary Magdalene may have been married, their love expressed in the Gospel of John seems more platonic and spiritual than physical. [see Marvin Meyer, The Gospels of Mary
(HarperSan Francisco, 2204) Perhaps they were married, perhaps not. We do not know.

But what seems important to me is that we are talking about this. The Da Vinci Code has started most of the stir and now the Talpiot Tomb discoveries are continuing the talk. This is a good thing. I have to say when I saw the photographs of the Jesus and Mariamne ossuaries in the book The Jesus Family Tomb, I was taken into a deep place in my heart. For me, it would be just fine to find out that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.

My guess is that we will never know about an actual marriage, and we will never know whether the Talpiot Tombs tell us about Jesus’s family. But let’s continue the talk. For in our conversation, we are called into confronting our our own views about sexuality and its sacredness.

If Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, it certainly brings sexuality back to its sacredness that it has lost for thousands of years. As Jean-Yves Leloup says in his The Gospel of Mary Magdalene : if Jesus were married, sexuality is then redeemed — something sorely needed in our era. [see Leloup (Rochester:Innner Traditions, 2002):11. mary magdalene Esther de BoerJean-Yves Leloupmarvin meyersacred marriage