1. Text and Context
1.1. Text
1.2. Context

2. Exegetical Background
2.1. Analysis of the text
2.2. Reading keys
2.3. Additional Sources

3. Further Information
3.1. Links
3.2. Bibliography

 

1. Text and Context

1.1. Text

[1] Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. [2] So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ … [10] Then the disciples returned to their homes.
[11] But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; [12] and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. [13] They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ [14] When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. [15] Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ [16] Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). [17] Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ [18] Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Christ appears to Mary Magdalene 'Noli me tangere'
anonymous, oil paint on canvas, 465 x 632 mm (canvas), 602 x 775 mm (frame)
Collection of the Centre for Religious Art and Culture
formerly owned by the Hospital Sisters of Antwerp

1.2. Context

John 20 is part of the so-called Book of Glory (John 13-21), the book which pays attention to Jesus’ glory through his suffering, death and resurrection. John 20:1-18 contains the stories of Easter taking place “early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark”, while the following passage, John 20:19-21, is during the evening and inside. John 20:11 follows on John 20:1-2. Mary Magdalene is visiting the tomb, sees the stone which has been rolled away, and goes to tell the disciples that the body has gone. Once the other disciples leave, after visiting the tomb, Mary Magdalene remains standing, weeping outside the tomb (John 20:11). The verses 3-10 are left out above because they do not deal with Mary Magdalene, but with Simon Peter and the other disciples.

2. Exegetical background

2.1. Analysis of the text

Description of the content

The meeting between Mary Magdalene and the Risen Christ is the first of the stories of Easter where the disciples have to learn to understand the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. Mary Magdalene’s understanding passes through several stages. First she goes to the tomb, and searches for the dead Jesus (John 20:1-2;13;15). She sees the Risen Christ first as the gardener (John 20:15). When she recognises Jesus she calls him by his earthly title “Rabbouni” (John 20:16). After the conversation she gives him the title “Lord”. He proclaims that he will ascend to his and their God and Father. It is typically John that he describes Jesus as being in an intermediate state: Jesus is risen, but has not yet ascended.

Structure of the passage

- Opening situation: the empty tomb (John 20:1-2)
Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb of Jesus, and announces to Peter and the beloved disciple that the stone has been rolled away and that the tomb is empty.

- Conversation between Mary Magdalene and Jesus in two phases (John 20:14-18)
1. Jesus as gardener
a. Mary Magdalene turns away from the angels and sees Jesus standing there, whom she presumes to be the gardener
b. Question of Jesus, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?”
c. Answer of Mary Magdalene, “Tell me where you have laid him.”
2. Jesus recognised as Rabbouni
a. Jesus speaks to her with her name (20:16)
b. Mary Magdalene turns towards Jesus as her Rabbouni (20:16)
c. Prohibition of touch with explanation and mission to proclaim (20:17)

- Concluding situation: Mary’s proclamation to the disciples (John 20:18)

Genre

John 20:1-2;11-18 combines elements from the stories of appearance and the story of the call of the first disciples (John 1:35-39)

Parallelism with John 1:35-39
• The motif of turning (1:38 and 20:14;16)
• Jesus’ question ‘whom are you looking for?’ (1:38 and 20:15)
• The answer of the disciples/ Mary with the title Rabbi/Rabbouni, followed by a question (1:38 and 20:16)
• The motif of Jesus’ location (1:38-39 and 20:17)

Parallelism with stories of appearance
• The fact that Jesus appears in two forms (gardener and Christ)
• The fact that Mary Magdalene does not immediately recognise Jesus (see John 21; compare with the Emmaus story in Luke 24 and with the appearance to the Eleven in Luke 24:36-49)

Analysis of text

Keywords

Searching: the motif of searching and (not) finding is known from the Old Testament in relationship to God (see for instance Dt 4:29; Am 8:4; Hos 3:5 and 5:6; Jer 29:13; Pro 8:17; W 1:1). In the Gospel of John this centres on Jesus: 1:38; 7:34; 20:15. John 20 refers to Jesus’ previous words, that he will be sought for but not (yet) found, and that where he is going they can not (yet) follow.

Mary – Rabbouni: these words fulfil Jesus’ previous words in 10:3-4;14: Mary listens to his voice and recognises him; Christ has given his life, knows his flock and they know him.

Repetitions

Weeping: John 20:11 [x2];13. The story turns Jesus’ previous words (16:20) into reality: her sorrow will turn into joy.

Characters

Mary Magdalene
In the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene is mentioned first as a witness of the crucifixion (John 19:25). According to John, Mary Magdalene is also the first witness of the resurrection, and proclaimer to the other disciples. She calls Jesus “Rabbouni” (Master), which implies that she is one of his disciples.

Jesus
John 20 contains several different images of Jesus:
• Jesus as dead body (missing from the tomb)
• Jesus as living stranger (a gardener)
• Jesus as Rabbouni (a teacher)
• Jesus as Risen Lord (this is related to the disciples and their common Lord and Father, who should not be searched for in the tomb but in the community of faith)

Time and place

Time: early in the morning, on the first day of the week (John 20:1). From the perspective of the story, this is after the crucifixion and burial, the first occurrence of Easter. Theologically speaking, this is after the resurrection and before the Ascension to the Father (John 20:17)

Place: in the garden, where the tomb is. In later tradition, the garden is seen as a symbol for Paradise (resurrection as new creation), and an allusion to the enclosed garden of the Song of Songs (the search of the beloved bride/the Church for the beloved God/Christ)

Plot

The finding of Jesus is typical in this passage:
• The stone which has been rolled away refers to the missing body
• Jesus is seen as the gardener
• Jesus is recognised as Rabbouni
• Jesus is announced as Risen Lord to the community of disciples

Exegetical problems

John 20:17: “Do not hold on to me.” The Greek mê mou haptou can be translated in different ways: “do not touch me”, “do not hold on to me”, “do not approach me”, and so on. Depending on the translation, the action of Mary Magdalene can be interpreted in a different way: does she try to touch/embrace/hold, and is this not allowed? Or, has she embraced Jesus, and does she have to prepare for a new relationship towards the Risen Christ? Does she hold on to him, and then have to let go of him so that they can each go their own way?
There are two problems here: on the one hand, the accurate translation of this verse; on the other hand, the reason for the prohibition. Each interpretation has to take into account the reason given in the text: Jesus has not yet ascended to his God and Father, and Mary Magdalene has to go to the disciples.

She turned away (John 20:14, 16): Mary Magdalene turns twice in this passage. The first time she turns away from the tomb, and the second time she turns towards Jesus. In the Jewish mindset, repentance has two aspects: turning away and turning towards. Thus the scene in John 20 can be seen as a kind of confession, in different stages. The person who turns away from the empty tomb does not necessarily have insight into the full meaning of the resurrection. Resurrection is not the same as the resuscitation of a dead body, nor is it about coming back to the same life as before (as Rabbouni).

Historical background information

The oldest sources on Mary Magdalene are the Gospels (end first, beginning second century A.D.). The little material that we can reconstruct on this basis is the following:
• Mary Magdalene was from the Galilean town of Magdala, on the west coast of the Lake of Galilee.
• She accompanied Jesus in his public life, from Galilee to Jerusalem (Mark 15:41; cf. Mt 27:55; Luke 8:1-3).
• She was follower of Jesus’ (Mark 15:40-41), she calls Him ‘Rabbouni’, ‘Teacher’, which makes her a disciple (John 20:17).
• She is one of the women who are present at the crucifixion (Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49 [implicitly]; Mt 27:55-56; John 19:25), who watch as Jesus is laid in the tomb (Mark 15:47; Mt 27:61; Luke 23,55 [implicitly]) and who visit the tomb the next day (Mark 16:5; Mt 28:1; Luke 24:1).
• At the (abandoned) tomb, Mary, together with the other women, experiences a apparition of an angel and/or Christ (Mark 16:5-6 [a young man]; 16:9 [Jesus, the ending of the Gospel of Mark was added later]; Mt 28:5-7 [an angel].9-10 [Jesus]; Luke 24:5-7 [two men]). According to John, Mary Magdalene (alone? with others?) went to the tomb. There she sees angels and there she is the first one to behold the risen Christ (John 20:1.15-18).
• Mary Magdalene receives a mission from Jesus (according to John 20:18 she is alone, according to Mt 28:9-10 she is in the company of the other Mary).
• According to Luke 8:1-3, Jesus freed her from seven demons. One can wonder whether this is historically correct, for we lack a collection of independent sources (Mark 16:9-20 was added to the Gospel of Mark in later times and is presumably based on Luke). Some authors call Luke 8:1-3 a deliberate attempt to discredit Mary Magdalene.
Throughout the history of the Church and the history of art, Mary Magdalene has been depicted as a prostitute. How did this image originate? In the process of evangelisation, preachers found themselves reducing the separate Gospel images into one. The story of Mary of Bethany who dries Jesus’ feet with her hair (John 12:1-8) was thus combined with the story of the anonymous sinful woman who makes the same gesture (Luke 7). This woman then became a Mary. After the anonymous sinful woman story in Luke, Mary Magdalene is named first in the list of women who follow Jesus (Luke 8:1-3). Because of this, Mary Magdalene and the anonymous sinful woman come to be seen as the same woman. Her sin becomes interpreted as a sexual sin. Thus, Mary Magdalene is identified as a prostitute. An important event in this process was the sermon of Gregory the Great in Rome (591), in which he identifies Mary Magdalene as the sinful woman from Luke.
 

2.2. Reading keys

Parallel text

John 1:35-39: the call of the first disciples (see above). The most significant difference is that the disciples can follow Jesus to his home, while Mary Magdalene is sent away to the other disciples. This suggests that Jesus can be found in the middle of the faith community.

Interpretative perspectives

1. As a story of faith with elements of a story of call, the text takes the readers into a process of growing, from the search for the earthly Jesus, to the experience of the Risen Christ, culminating in the mission to the community.
2. The mission of Mary: the importance of the belief or experience of the resurrection. Also, the connection among people, and between people, Christ and their common God and Father
3. The symbolism of touching/holding/letting go (John 20:17), in general, and in relation to women in particular.
4. Gender: a woman is the first witness of the resurrection and receives a mission towards the faith community

Pitfalls

The four Gospels each tell their own witness of Jesus Christ, from the perspective of their own Christian community. This is why the four Gospels each have a different image of Mary Magdalene. In early Christianity, there is the tendency to reduce the differences between similar stories. This happens for instance by identifying different people with each other, and this happened to the figure of Mary Magdalene.
- First, there is the mingling of the four different portraits of Mary Magdalene in the Gospels: Markian (the follower of Jesus and the witness), Matthean (the caregiver and provider), Lukan (the woman cured from demons in the company of Jesus), and Johannine (the first witness of the resurrection).
- Then, Mary Magdalene is identified with Mary of Bethany and the sinful woman from Luke 7 (see historical background information).
If one wants to pay justice to the witness of John, one has to interpret Mary Magdalene through his Bible text.

Under the influence of the popularity of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, one often forgets that this is not a history book, but a ‘Fact fiction’. It is written as a fictitious story told against a recognisable and realistic background. In fact, the book is about pseudo-historical conspiracy theories, which became popular from the 1980’s through books such as The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail by Michael Baigent cs. In the Da Vinci Code, Mary is proven to be the spouse of Jesus. However, we do not know a lot about the historical Mary Magdalene. She is part of the first followers of Jesus; she goes with him to Jerusalem, is present at the crucifixion, and receives an appearance of the Risen Jesus. The fact that she is known to us by name means that she had an important place in the early Church. We cannot prove anything more about her.

2.3. Additional sources
 

- The gospel of Mary (Magdalene) is an apocryphal gospel that was found in Cairo in 1896 and which was scientifically published in 1955. The gospel of Mary Magdalene as we know it today is estimated to date back to the third century A.D. The beginning of the text is missing. Mary Magdalene is presented as an important follower of Jesus’. While the other disciples fear that they will share in Jesus’ fate, Mary Magdalene reacts to Jesus’ assignment with words of encouragement. In response to her effort, Peter asks Mary to speak about Jesus’ words. Mary Magdalene tells of a vision of an encounter with Jesus who shares all sorts of secrets with her. What follows is an argument among the disciples about Mary Magdalene’s authority as a woman ànd a disciple. Andrew expresses doubts about the content of her message (because the difference with the known words of Jesus is too great) and Peter calls into question that Jesus would have spoken to a woman to place her in a higher position than the other disciples. Levi makes a stand for Mary Magdalene and the company goes out to proclaim and preach.
 

- B. Baert & R. Bieringer & K. Demasure & S. Van Den Eynde, Noli me tangere. Mary Magdalene: One Person, Many Images (Documenta libraria, 32), Louvain: Peeters, 2006. This is an exhibition catalogue of the eponymous exhibition in the Maurits Sabbe Library in Louvain (23/2-30/4/06), which features some thirty photographs and adjoining explanatory notes, and four introductory articles. The catalogue gathers paintings, embroidery work, a statue, a photograph, wood engravings, devotionals, a porcelain statue, and bibles.

3. Further Information

3.1. Links

• • http://www.adam.com.au/stmarymag/links.htm#A1: links to the different places of worship of Mary Magdalene.
• • http://www.womenpriests.org/magdala/magd_ovr.asp: information about different aspects: Mary Magdalene in the Gnostic writings, in the Early church, in history, in the Middle Ages and in Art.
• • http://www.magdalene.org/music.php: information about different aspects of the figure of Mary Magdalene.
• • http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/jesusandwomen/maglinks.stm: an entry on pieces of art about Mary Magdalene.

3.2. Bibliography
 

•  B. Baert & R. Bieringer & K. Demasure & S. Van Den Eynde, Noli me tangere. Mary Magdalene: One Person, Many Images (Documenta libraria, 32), Louvain: Peeters, 2006.
• • R. Bieringer, Mary Magdalene in the Four Gospels, in The Bible Today 43 (2005) 34-41.
• • E. de Boer, Mary Magdalene: Beyond the Myth, Harrisburg PA: Trinity Press, 1997.