IT IS Semana Santa so nothing could be more fitting than this – we’re going to talk about the leading lady of Jesus Christ.
No, moi did not experience an epiphany. There is nothing religious about this column although there are remote connotations or references. This is a story about feminism and, most of all, hypocrisy.
There are two extremes in this material world we live in – Religion and Atheism. If you cannot find a balance between the two you will find yourself with a closed mind and become a slave to that closed mind.
As Bob Marley would say, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds.”
Having said that, the Bible is just a book written and edited by men. It is a compilation or a history of some sort that chronicled events particular to the Christian or Catholic faith. As the Bible was written and edited by mortal men, these writers and editors omitted or included and rewrote some significant chapters or gospels in Christianity’s history.
The editors of the Bible omitted two particular chapters or gospels and these are The Gospel of Judas and The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. We will not talk about the Gospel of Judasl that’s another story. We will talk about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
For starters, “we’re trying to right a 2,000-year-old wrong, according to Heidi Schlumpf in her book “Who framed Mary Magdalene?”
And she further said: “But the first witness to the Resurrection — as all four gospel writers agree — was a woman whose name and reputation have become so misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misconstrued over the centuries that she is more commonly, though erroneously, remembered as a prostitute than as the faithful first bearer of the Good News.”
That woman is Mary of Magdala and, finally, her centuries-old case of mistaken identity is being rectified.
Now that scripture scholars have debunked the myth that she and the infamous repentant sinner who wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears were one and the same woman, word is trickling down that Mary Magdalene’s penitent prostitute label was a misnomer. Instead, her true biblical portrait is being resurrected, and this “apostle to the apostles” is finally taking her rightful place in history as a beloved disciple of Jesus and a prominent early church leader.”
Don’t worry, you won’t get eternal damnation by reading this, so moving on, what really is the Gospel of Mary Magdalene?
From that free online encyclopedia we commonly refer to as the internet:
“The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is an apocryphal book discovered in 1896 in a 5th-century papyrus codex written in Sahidic Coptic. The codex Papyrus Berolinensis 8502 was purchased in Cairo by German scholar Karl Reinhardt.
“Although the work is popularly known as the Gospel of Mary, it is not canonical nor is it technically classed as a gospel by scholastic consensus. For example, Andrew Bernhard notes in his text-critical edition of non-canonical gospels that “the term ‘gospel’ is used as a label for any written text that is primarily focused on recounting the teachings and/or activities of Jesus during his adult life.”
Arguments in favor of Mary Magdalene are based on her status as a known follower of Jesus, the tradition of being the first witness of his resurrection, and her appearance in other early Christian writings.
So Mary Magdalene was not really a repentant prostitute as what we were made to believe from the time we attended our first -ver class in religion. She was the “apostle to the apostles”, the most loved and trusted of all of Jesus Christ’s disciples in fact she could have been the first Pope and not Peter.
She was the “rock upon which Christ will build his Church” and I agree with Jesus Christ. Why will I choose Peter when at the first sign of trouble he immediately without any hesitation denied Jesus Christ to save himself?
It seemed Peter muscled his way and conspired to get rid and discredit Mary Magdalene after the death of Jesus simply because she was a woman and he could not accept the fact that Jesus chose Mary Magdalene over him.
There are several theories as to what happened to Mary Magdalene after the death of Jesus Christ and Peter taking over the apostles.
“Most western Catholics, separated from the East after the Great Schism, believe she fled to France in a boat with Mary, Lazarus and others and lived out her life in a cave for 30 years before dying at the Chapel of Saint-Maximin, located in the Aix En province, about 75 miles northeast of Marseille, in the southeast of France. In the Eastern traditions, Mary is believed to have left Jerusalem with Mary, mother of Jesus, and travelled to Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey. Both traditions only add to the mystery that surrounds the life of Mary Magdalene.”
Where Mary went and what she did after she left the apostles is debatable. One of the most extreme is that Mary was pregnant with Jesus’ child and went to France, where her descendants eventually founded the Merovingian line of kings.
That’s just Dan Brown’s theory. Remember him? He’s the author who wrote in his book Inferno that Manila is “the gates of hell.” (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
