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Quick Summary
Mary Magdalene was a follower of Jesus from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee. Luke introduces her as the woman "from whom seven demons had gone out" (Luke 8:2), one of several women who traveled with Jesus and supported his ministry from their own resources. She stood near the cross when most of the disciples had fled, watched where Jesus was buried, and came to the tomb on Easter morning. All four Gospels place her at the empty tomb, and in John 20 she is the first person to see the risen Jesus. She carried the news to the disciples with the words "I have seen the Lord" (John 20:18), which is why early Christian writers called her the "apostle to the apostles." The popular idea that she was a prostitute comes from a sermon preached in 591, not from the Bible, and there is no historical evidence that she was married to Jesus.
Who Was Mary Magdalene?
Mary was one of the most common names for Jewish women in the first century, so the Gospels often add a detail to tell the Marys apart. This Mary is identified by her hometown. "Magdalene" means "from Magdala," the way we might say "Mary of Nazareth" or "Simon of Cyrene." The New Testament mentions at least six women named Mary, and I sort them out in all the Marys in the Bible.
The Gospels never mention her husband, children, or father. That is unusual. Women in the ancient world were normally identified by their relationship to a man: Joanna is "the wife of Herod's steward Chuza" (Luke 8:3), and another Mary is "the mother of James" (Luke 24:10). Mary Magdalene is identified by her town alone. That may suggest she was unmarried or widowed, and that she had some means of her own, since Luke says the women supported Jesus "out of their resources" (Luke 8:3).
What the Gospels tell us about her is brief but remarkable. Jesus freed her from seven demons. She followed him from Galilee to Jerusalem. She stayed at the cross. She saw where he was buried. And she was the first witness to his resurrection.
Mary Magdalene in the Bible
Mary Magdalene is named twelve times in the four Gospels. Outside of Luke 8:2, every mention places her at the crucifixion, the burial, or the empty tomb. When the Gospels list the women at those scenes, her name almost always comes first, the way Peter's name comes first in the lists of the Twelve. She seems to have been a leader among the women who followed Jesus.
| Moment | Where to Read It |
|---|---|
| Healed of seven demons; follows and supports Jesus | Luke 8:1-3: The Women Who Followed Jesus |
| Watches the crucifixion | Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49: Jesus Dies; John 19:25: The Crucifixion |
| Sees where Jesus is buried | Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55: The Burial of Jesus |
| Finds the empty tomb | Matthew 28:1-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12: The Resurrection of Jesus; John 20:1-2 |
| First to see the risen Jesus | Matthew 28:9-10; Mark 16:9; John 20:11-18: Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene |
| Tells the apostles | Luke 24:10; John 20:18 |
Where Was Magdala?
Magdala was a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, a few miles north of Tiberias and close to Capernaum, where Jesus based much of his ministry. (For the geography, see where is the Sea of Galilee.) The name comes from the Hebrew and Aramaic word for "tower." Many scholars identify it with Taricheae, a town the historian Josephus describes as a center of the fish-salting trade.
In 2009, archaeologists excavating at Magdala uncovered a first-century synagogue, one of the oldest ever found in Galilee. Its centerpiece is a carved stone block, now called the Magdala Stone, decorated with a seven-branched menorah. The synagogue was in use during Jesus' lifetime. Since the Gospels say Jesus taught "in their synagogues" throughout Galilee (Luke 4:44), it is possible he taught in the very building where Mary of Magdala worshiped.
Mary Magdalene and the Seven Demons
Luke introduces Mary as one of "some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out" (Luke 8:2). The longer ending of Mark repeats the detail, saying the risen Jesus "appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons" (Mark 16:9).
The Gospels never describe the moment of her healing. They tell us only that it happened, and that it changed the direction of her life. In the Bible, the number seven often signals completeness. Seven demons means Mary's suffering was total. Whatever she endured, it was severe, and Jesus set her completely free. You can read more about the other times Jesus cast out demons in the exorcisms of Jesus.
It's important to say what the seven demons do not mean. In the Gospels, demon possession is presented as an affliction a person suffers. It is never described as a punishment for sexual sin or as evidence of a sinful life. Luke lists Mary among women "cured of evil spirits and infirmities," the language of healing. Reading the seven demons as a sign of immorality is a later idea that the text does not support. I explore the setting of her introduction in The Women Who Followed Jesus (Luke 8:1-3).
Was Mary Magdalene a Prostitute?
No. The Bible never says Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, a sinner, or a repentant woman of the streets. That picture took shape centuries later, and it came from merging three different women into one.
The first is the unnamed "woman in the city, who was a sinner" who anoints Jesus' feet in Luke 7:36-50 (see A Sinful Woman Forgiven). The second is Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anoints Jesus in John 12. The third is Mary Magdalene, introduced in the very next chapter after the Luke 7 anointing.
In a sermon preached in Rome in 591, Pope Gregory the Great taught that these three women were the same person. Because Luke 7 and Luke 8 sit side by side, readers had already been tempted to connect them. Gregory's sermon made the connection official in the Western church for more than a thousand years. Medieval art painted Mary Magdalene with long flowing hair and a jar of ointment, weeping in repentance.
The Eastern Orthodox churches never adopted Gregory's view and always honored Mary Magdalene as a distinct woman and a witness to the resurrection. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church revised its calendar and dropped the connection. In 2016, Pope Francis raised her memorial day, July 22, to the rank of a feast, the same rank given to the apostles. Most scholars across Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions now agree that the Gospels describe three different women.
Mary Magdalene at the Cross
When Jesus was arrested, the male disciples scattered. Peter followed at a distance and then denied him three times. Mary Magdalene stayed.
Matthew and Mark both name her among the women "looking on from a distance" at the crucifixion (Mark 15:40). Luke says "the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things" (Luke 23:49), and he describes the scene in Jesus Dies (Luke 23:44-49). John places her closer, "standing near the cross of Jesus" with Jesus' mother and her sister (John 19:25), the scene I cover in John 19:17-27: The Crucifixion.
After Jesus died, Mary followed Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb. Mark says, "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid" (Mark 15:47). This is an overlooked detail! When the women came back on Sunday morning, they were not confused about which tomb to visit. They had watched it sealed. Luke tells the same part of the story in The Burial of Jesus (Luke 23:50-56).
Mary Magdalene, First Witness to the Resurrection
Every Gospel places Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb on the first Easter morning. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have her come with other women to anoint the body. Luke names her first in the group that told the apostles: "Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them" (Luke 24:10-11). You can read that scene in The Resurrection of Jesus (Luke 24:1-12).
John tells the most personal version. Mary comes to the tomb alone while it is still dark and finds the stone rolled away. She runs to tell Peter and the beloved disciple, who come, see the empty tomb, and go home. Mary stays, weeping. A man she takes to be the gardener asks why she is crying. Then he says her name: "Mary!" She recognizes him at once and answers in Aramaic, "Rabbouni!" which means Teacher (John 20:16).
Jesus tells her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father" (John 20:17), and sends her with a message for the disciples. She goes and announces, "I have seen the Lord" (John 20:18). I walk through this scene verse by verse in The Empty Tomb and Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:1-18).
This is one of the strongest historical details in the Gospels. In the first century, a woman's testimony carried little weight in a court of law. If the early church had invented the resurrection stories, it would not have chosen women as the first witnesses, much less a woman once known for being possessed by seven demons. The Gospels name her anyway, because that is what happened.
Why Is Mary Magdalene Called the Apostle to the Apostles?
An apostle is someone sent with a message (see what is an apostle in the Bible). On Easter morning, Jesus sent Mary Magdalene to the apostles with the news that he was alive. She was sent to the sent ones.
Early Christian writers noticed this. Hippolytus of Rome, writing in the early 200s, described the women at the tomb as apostles to the apostles. Medieval theologians, including Thomas Aquinas, applied the title to Mary Magdalene herself. Mary was never counted among the twelve apostles, but her role on Easter morning was apostolic in the truest sense: she was the first to proclaim that Christ is risen.
Was Mary Magdalene Married to Jesus?
There is no historical evidence that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus. The New Testament never suggests it, and no early Christian writer claims it.
The idea draws mainly on two texts written long after the New Testament. The Gospel of Mary, from the second century, presents Mary as a disciple who receives special teaching from Jesus. The Gospel of Philip, from the third century, calls her Jesus' "companion" and includes a damaged passage about Jesus kissing her, with the key word missing from the manuscript. Neither text says they were married, and both come from groups whose teaching differed sharply from the apostles'.
The theory became famous through Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, which claimed that the figure beside Jesus in Leonardo's Last Supper painting is Mary Magdalene. I look at what the painting actually shows in The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci: 12 Hidden Secrets and Symbolism. In 2012, a papyrus scrap called the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" briefly made headlines; by 2016 it had been shown to be a modern forgery.
What Happened to Mary Magdalene?
The Bible does not tell us what happened to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection. Acts mentions that "certain women" were praying with the apostles in the upper room after the ascension (Acts 1:14), and Mary was likely among them, but she is not named.
Two later traditions compete. An Eastern tradition, recorded by Gregory of Tours in the sixth century, says she went to Ephesus with John and died there. A medieval French legend says she sailed to southern France, preached in Provence, and spent her last years in prayer in a cave. A basilica at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume claims her relics. Neither tradition can be confirmed.
What Mary Magdalene Teaches Us
Mary Magdalene's story begins with being set free. Before she ever followed Jesus, he healed her. Her discipleship grew out of gratitude, and that gratitude carried her all the way to the cross.
Her story is also about faithfulness when it costs something. The disciples who had promised to die with Jesus ran away. Mary stood at the cross, watched the tomb, and came back in the dark. Faithfulness in the Gospels often looks like simply staying.
And her story is about being known by name. Mary recognized the risen Jesus the moment he spoke her name. The risen Christ still calls people that way, one by one, the way a shepherd calls his own sheep (John 10:3).
For more on the women who followed Jesus, see women disciples of Jesus, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who stood with Mary at the empty tomb, and Susanna in the Bible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Mary Magdalene? Mary Magdalene was a woman from Magdala in Galilee whom Jesus freed from seven demons (Luke 8:2). She followed Jesus, supported his ministry, stood near the cross, saw where he was buried, and was the first person to see the risen Jesus (John 20:11-18).
What were Mary Magdalene's seven demons? The Bible does not describe them. Luke and Mark say only that seven demons had gone out of her (Luke 8:2; Mark 16:9). The number seven suggests her affliction was complete and severe. The Gospels present it as suffering she endured, never as a sign of sin.
Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute? No. The Bible never says so. The idea came from a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in 591, which combined Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman of Luke 7 and Mary of Bethany. The Roman Catholic Church dropped the connection in 1969.
Is Mary Magdalene the same as Mary of Bethany? No. Mary of Bethany was the sister of Martha and Lazarus and lived near Jerusalem. Mary Magdalene came from Magdala in Galilee. The Western church merged them for centuries, but the Gospels describe two different women.
Was Mary Magdalene married to Jesus? There is no evidence she was. The New Testament never suggests it. The idea comes from later writings like the Gospel of Philip and was popularized by the novel The Da Vinci Code.
Why is she called Magdalene? "Magdalene" means "from Magdala," a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It distinguished her from the many other women named Mary.
Why is Mary Magdalene called the apostle to the apostles? Because Jesus sent her to tell the apostles he had risen (John 20:17-18). An apostle is someone sent with a message, and she was the first to announce the resurrection.
Where is Mary Magdalene in the Bible? She appears in Luke 8:2; Matthew 27:56, 27:61, and 28:1; Mark 15:40, 15:47, 16:1, and 16:9; Luke 24:10; and John 19:25, 20:1, and 20:18.
What is Mary Magdalene's feast day? July 22. In 2016, the Roman Catholic Church raised it to the rank of a feast. Anglican and Lutheran churches also remember her on July 22.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Works Consulted
Richard Bauckham, Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels
Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (Anchor Bible)
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (New International Commentary on the New Testament)
Susan Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor
Karen L. King, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala
