Mary Magdalene has been misunderstood for centuries. To some, she was a rich supporter. To others, a repentant sinner. But what if the story isn’t about her sin — but her faith and courage to seek the kingdom of God?
As the woman with the flow of blood dared to reach out — Magdalene reached out, risking shame to be seen, healed, and heard. Her touch was not a secret act, but a sacred gesture. For centuries she was remembered as the Woman of The Gospel.
Many women throughout history have reached out in similar ways —wearing a crown of thorns, mismatched having married too young—clinging to the wrong man.
Until she met Jesus and heard him say...if you had known the gift of God and "Who" it is who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him.
Until she heard her name and embraced the Gardener…
The Woman Jesus called Mary did not realize:
to be the Light,
she must go and sin no more—
and cling to her true Husbandman—
who sends her out, saying, “Let there be Light.”
Until the 12th Century, Christians saw Mary Magdalene as the Theotokos, the Mother of God. She was the first human to realize the goal of the incarnation--the deification of humanity.
The man she was engaged to was going to annul their engagement for committing adultery. But her love and hospitality for humanity and her faith in the incarnation, won her bridegroom's heart (Matthew 1:19; James 2:25).
Until 1969, the Roman Catholic Church saw Mary Magdalene as the Woman who anointed Jesus. Today, feminists and popular theology insist there is no explicit evidence to conflate Mary Magdalene with the other Marys of the Gospel or the Woman with the Alabaster Jar. (Vogt Turner MALS thesis project 2011)
Christianity and the Gospel is about forgiving sins and acknowledging the tears of those we have wronged or hurt. It's about acknowledging the TRUTH, even when we are afraid to acknowledge the TRUTH and cause our selves and our loved ones to suffer.
Remembering and acknowledging how we hurt others matters. It is time as an Ecumenical body of believers preaching the Gospel to confess our faith and publicly express the love we have for both the Man Jesus called the Teacher of Israel and the Woman Jesus called the Magdalene! Their love causes Christ the Rock, the Everlasting Father, sealing the Tomb to free the door and allow true worshippers to worship the Father in Truth and Spirit.
Jesus says, "...wherever the gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
“It’s not just about what happened. It’s about what we remember… and what we’re finally ready to see.”
In this deeply personal and provocative unveiling, Linda Vogt Turner challenges long-held assumptions about Mary Magdalene, the Bridegroom, and the hidden faith story pulsing through scripture, tradition, and memory.
Read an Excerpt
He lifts his Assembly bag to his knee. It’s different from the Woman’s. It’s plain unbleached cotton with an etched red pen-and-ink drawing of a dove. Wings resembling flames…
He looks inside. Finds a two-fold piece of paper. Hands it to her.
On the cover page of an article is a pen-and-ink drawing of a woman and a man tied back to back. Below are the words:
“Face to Face”
Literature and Art in the Renewal of The Church’s Mission
A Project of the Orthodox Academy of Crete
The Greek gives her a moment. To take this in…
“How can I go to Greece? Ask my husband to come and see… a man who’s seen me naked? Who loves me. Author something to make peace and reconciliation. With him and his wife. I’m a homemaker. No money of my own…”
She sighs. The Greek, seeing a colleague, excuses himself. The Woman, invitation safely in her bag, rises, makes her way to the tent. Strains of “Santo, Santo, Santo. Mi Corazón te adora” come out of the flaps.
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Who Mary Magdalene was matters especially in the context of how Jesus related to her. Many people want to know: Who was she? Was she merely one of many female disciples accompanying Jesus? Have traditional roles and sexual morality defined her and kept her from being recognized as Jesus’s counterpart, his equal? What is the historical reality within the stories told about her? Can that even be determined? What evidence is there?
Download and read my Master of Arts Liberal Studies (MALS) thesis project.
Vogt Turner MALS Project (pdf)
DownloadAbstract
This article lifts up the Woman with the Alabaster Jar of Luke’s Gospel, chapter 7. The Pharisee saw her as a sinner because according to Pharisaic laws she was. Jesus, the Teacher at the Pharisee’s house agrees. He says the Woman has sinned much and is forgiven much. This paper explores the importance of forgiveness and the importance of showing hospitality, love, and justice to one’s neighbour. Roman Catholic tradition used to conflate this woman with Mary Magdalene claiming that Mary Magdalene was the sinner forgiven for her great love for the Teacher. In recent years, many people have opposed Roman Catholic tradition because too many Christians were exploiting the image of Mary Magdalene in a negative way to gain power over women and people of other races and faiths. [1] Thus this article opposes both the modern and the old exploited views. It maintains that the Woman of Luke 7 is the bitterly treated woman of the Gospel who overcame and rose with the Teacher as the Christ. She earned the title “Mary” because of the way people bitterly treated her for “breaking” God’s ancient Patriarchal law that scholars and priests were using to chastise and exclude women and their Gentile and Samaritan neighbours from the great banquet of life where God’s Love and eco-justice is for all. She earned the title the “Magdalene” because she is a tower of strength and a great light, a burning torch that the Teacher speaks face to face with in the garden.
Keywords Patriarchal Laws, Forgiveness, God’s Love, Eco-justice
The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (pdf)
DownloadDo you dare to see what she saw? To learn more—to do more?
Download these peer reviewed resources and other papers I've written. Explore how the witness of Mary—called The Magdalene, the one with the jar, and the first to see the risen Lord—reveals the hidden face of God, long veiled by tradition.
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