We don’t know a whole lot about Mary Magdalene. We’re told in Luke 8 that Jesus had done a mighty work of grace in her life by casting out seven demons. We know that she was one of the women who ministered to Jesus and the disciples. But that’s about all we know until we come to the activities during this last week of Christ’s life.
It is because we don’t have very much information about Mary Magdalene that church tradition has added details concerning her for which there is no evidence. In Luke 7 there’s a story of an unnamed sinner who anointed Christ’s feet, and for some reason church tradition has identified the unnamed sinner with Mary Magdalene. Furthermore, it’s projected that she was a prostitute redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ from this degrading life. But all that is speculation, you see. Probably it comes about because there was another Mary, Mary of Bethany, who also anointed Christ’s feet in the home of Lazarus later on and there was confusion of those two accounts.
All that we do know is that Mary Magdalene had been forgiven a great deal, and therefore the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Because she has been forgiven much, she loved much.” She loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and love kept her near to Him during those last hours.
Now it’s very instructive to review what happened during those hours of Jesus’ crucifixion and the time preceding the resurrection. Mary was one of the few who was there in Jerusalem in those days and witnessed the events. We’re told on three separate occasions and in three of the gospels—Matthew, Mark and John—that Mary specifically was there and saw the crucifixion. And if she saw the crucifixion, that means that she probably witnessed all of the other events connected with it.
She was in Jerusalem to hear the crowd crying out, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” She heard the judgment of Pilate, “I find him innocent. But nevertheless, take ye him and crucify him.” She saw the crucifixion. She heard the nails driven through His hands. She heard undoubtedly the terrible cries that came from our Lord on the cross: “I thirst” and “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” as Jesus bore our sin. She witnessed the hours of the darkness. She experienced the earthquake. Finally, she was there for the death itself.
We might wonder how could a woman in this frame of mind, distraught as she undoubtedly was, stay and witness such a horrible thing, that which would have been a trial for the strongest of men? Who has the stomach for something like that? The answer is that she stayed near the cross because she loved Him. She was determined that she would not leave the Lord Jesus Christ until the end came.
You know, even then she didn’t want to leave Him. She hadn’t been able to do anything for Him during the hours of His agony. But now that He was dead, she thought, “Well, at least I can anoint the body.” And so she talked to the other women about it and they agreed with her and they went off to buy the spices. Sometime on that same evening they saw the body taken down from the cross; they witnessed it being laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. She knew where it was, and she planned to come back on Sunday morning after the Passover Sabbath (probably on Friday of that year) and the regular Saturday Sabbath were over.
