SUBJECT:  Mary Magdalene

QUESTION: 

1.       Was Mary Magdalene the sister of Lazarus?

2.       Was Mary Magdalene the prostitute Jesus saved from stoning?

3.       Was it ever a possibility that Jesus could have or would have married Mary Magdalene?

ANSWER:

Mary Magdalene was NEITHER the sister of Lazarus NOR the prostitute Jesus saved from stoning. 

No, Jesus could NEVER have and would NEVER have married Mary Magdalene.

Notice the Bible dictionaries:

MARY MAGDALENE

Personal History:

Mary Magdalene enters the gospel narrative, with certain other women, as ministering to Jesus "out of their private means" (Luke 8:2-3); all of them being moved by gratitude for their deliverance from "evil spirits and sicknesses." Of Mary it is said that "seven demons [daimonia] had gone out" of her (v. 2; Mark 16:9). This life of ministration brought Mary Magdalene into companionship of the closest nature with Salome, the mother of James and John (15:40), and also with Mary the mother of the Lord (John 19:25). They "were standing at a distance, seeing these things" (Luke 23:49), during the closing hours of Christ's agony on the cross. The same close association that drew them together there is seen afterward. She remained by the cross till Jesus' death, and she waited till the body was taken down and wrapped in the linen cloth and placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (Matt 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55). She, with Salome and Mary, the mother of James, "brought spices, that they might come and anoint" the body (Mark 16:1). The next morning, accordingly, in the earliest dawn (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:2), they came to the tomb. Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb, had found it empty, and had seen the angels (Matt 28:5; Mark 16:5). She went with her cry of sorrow to Peter and John (Luke 24:10; John 20:1-2) and, returning with them, tarried after they went back. Looking into the tomb, she saw the angels, and she replied to their question as to her reason for weeping, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Turning back, she saw Jesus, but did not at first recognize Him. Recalled to consciousness by His utterance of her name, she exclaimed, "Rabboni" (Teacher) and rushed forward to embrace His feet. Jesus' response was to teach her a spiritual dependence upon Christ that could live without His visible presence: "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father." Mary then went to the disciples and told them what she had seen and heard (John 20:11-18). ~From The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

WAS MARY MAGDALENE THE SISTER OF LAZARUS?

MARY

Mary, Sister of Lazarus. The facts about her are few. She and her sister Martha appear in Luke 10:38-42 receiving Christ in their house. Mary sat listening eagerly for every word from the divine Teacher and was commended by Jesus as having "chosen the good part," the one thing necessary, while "Martha was distracted with all her preparations." The next mention of Mary is in connection with the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45). She sat still in the house until Martha came to her secretly and said, "The Teacher is here, and is calling for you." She arose hastily to go to meet Him. At first she gave way to complaint: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." But her great joy and love revived upon her brother's return to life, and found expression in the anointing at the last feast of Bethany (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8). Matthew and Mark do not mention her by name. Of her subsequent history we know nothing; the ecclesiastical traditions about her are based on the unfounded hypothesis of her identity with Mary Magdalene. ~From The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

Now this from another dictionary about Mary Magdalene—breaking into a thought…

Mary Magdalene:

The seven demons that had possessed her were her misfortune, not the proof that she had been in the common sense "a woman which was a sinner." Luke 7:37,39: the KJV heading of the chapter is wrong, identifying the two. Mary that anointed Jesus was the sister of Martha and Lazarus and distinct from Mary Magdalene. The mention of the anointing in John 11:2 is evidently John's anticipation of John 12:3, to inform his readers that the Mary in John 11 is the same as she whose anointing of the Lord they knew by common tradition. It does not mean that she had already anointed Him and was identical with the woman a sinner whose anointing of Him is recorded in Luke 7. ~from Fausset's Bible Dictionary

WAS MARY MAGDALENE THE SINNER JESUS SAVED?

Mary Magdalene has long been in popular tradition equivalent to "Mary the sinner" and has been identified with the penitent woman who anointed Jesus. There were probably two anointings recorded in the gospels, the acts of two different women: one in some city unnamed, during our Lord's Galilean ministry (Luke 7:37-38), and the other at Bethany, before the last entry into Jerusalem (Matt 26:7; Mark 14:3; John 12:3), by the sister of Lazarus. There is no reliable evidence to connect Mary Magdalene with either anointing. (1) When her name appears in Luke 8:2 there is not one word to connect it with the history immediately preceding. (2) The belief that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are identical is more startling. The epithet Magdalene, whatever may be its meaning, seems chosen for the express purpose of distinguishing her from the other Marys. No one evangelist gives the slightest hint of identity. Nor is this lack of evidence in the NT itself compensated by any such weight of authority as would indicate a really trustworthy tradition (Smith, Dict., s.v.). ~From The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

Here is another Bible Dictionary:

MARY

Mary not the Sinful Woman of Luke 7: As she was the first to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus, it is important that we should get a correct view of her position and character. The idea that she was a penitent, drawn from the life of the street, undoubtedly arose, in the first instance, from a misconception of the nature of her malady, together with an altogether impossible identification of her with the woman who was a sinner of the preceding section of the Gospel. It is not to be forgotten that the malady demon-possession, according to New Testament ideas (see DEMON, DEMONOLOGY), had none of the implications of evil temper and malignant disposition popularly associated with "having a devil." The possessed was, by our Lord and the disciples looked upon as diseased, the victim of an alien and evil power, not an accomplice of it. Had this always been understood and kept in mind, the unfortunate identification of Mary with the career of public prostitution would have been much less easy.

According to New Testament usage, in such cases the name would have been withheld (compare Luke 7:37; John 8:3). At the same time the statement that 7 demons had been cast out of Mary means either that the malady was of exceptional severity, possibly involving several relapses (compare Luke 11:26), or that the mode of her divided and haunted consciousness (compare Mark 5:9) suggested the use of the number 7. Even so, she was a healed invalid, not a rescued social derelict.

The identification of Mary with the sinful woman is, of course, impossible for one who follows carefully the course of the narrative with an eye to the transitions. The woman of chapter 7 is carefully covered with the concealing cloak of namelessness. Undoubtedly known by name to the intimate circle of first disciples, it is extremely doubtful whether she was so known to Luke. Her history is definitely closed at verse 50.

The name of Mary is found at the beginning of a totally new section of the Gospel (see Plummer's analysis, op. cit., xxxvii), where the name of Mary is introduced with a single mark of identification, apart from her former residence, which points away from the preceding narrative and is incompatible with it. If the preceding account of the anointing were Mary's introduction into the circle of Christ's followers, she could not be identified by the phrase of Luke. Jesus did not cast a demon out of the sinful woman of chapter 7, and Mary of Magdala is not represented as having anointed the Lord's feet. The two statements cannot be fitted together. ~from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST TWO QUESTIONS

We see from the above Bible dictionaries that Mary Magdalene was neither the prostitute nor the sister of Lazarus.

WOULD JESUS HAVE MARRIED MARY MAGDALENE?

No.

The life of Jesus was NOT His own.  He was here doing the work of His Father.  It was prophesied throughout the Old Testament.  His murder was not the whim of man.  Jesus died so mankind could enter into the Salvation Process and eventually have eternal life in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus states several times that His mission was to do His Father’s will.   Notice some scriptures:

This excerpt from John is John’s testimony regarding Jesus:

John 1:1-18

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

His death and the design or purpose of His death was prophesied in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 53:3-5

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  ----READ THE WHOLE CHAPTER

Following are just a few of the scores and scores of scriptures showing His mission to earth and the fact that it was all planned that He would come to the earth in flesh, live a sinless life and die for our sins:

Matthew 20:28

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Matthew 26:28

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

John 1:29

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 3:14-17

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

John 10:11

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Acts 5:30

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Romans 3:24-25

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Romans 5:6

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 8:32

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Romans 8:34

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Romans 14:9

For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures

2 Corinthians 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Galatians 1:4

Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Colossians 1:14-15

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Hebrews 1:3

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews 2:9

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Revelation 1:5

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

JESUS WAS SENT BY GOD THE FATHER TO BE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.

1 John 4:14

And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

JESUS EVEN STATED THAT HE WAS HERE DOING HIS FATHER’S BUSINESS (MISSION):

Luke 2:49

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Malachi 3:1

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

John 4:34

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

John 5:17

But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

John 6:38

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

John 8:29

And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

John 9:4

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Note:  It is clear that Jesus was here on a specific mission which had a specific, prophesied timetable and that it was in no way a part of that mission to marry anyone.