I visited Magdala, the city of Mariam on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, one afternoon in May. Magdala, today only ruins and sand, was a prosperous commercial city of salted fish where lived the woman who became to the Judeo-Christian tradition as the redeemed sinner Mary Magdalene.
As when Mariam walked through the narrow streets of Magdala, now the wind of the Sea of Galilee whips with deafening noise forcing to keep silence because the voices become inaudible. In May, walking quietly to the ruins of the synagogue I lived, metaphorically, what happened almost two millennia ago with the women closest to Jesus to whom the dominant power forced to remain in silence.
The Christian tradition identifies Mary Magdalene as the “sinful woman” of the Gospel of Luke (7:37) although this woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed him with expensive perfume lacks a name in said Gospel. “Sinner” is a euphemism for prostitute; any sin of a woman within the misogynist tradition is primarily related to her sexuality.
Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the Church of the Crusaders of Emmaus (Abu Gosh) Israel. Photo: Aída Reboredo
There is no text in the Gospels that allows one to even suspect that Mariam of Magdala was a sinner or a prostitute. The canonical gospels mention Mary Magdalene as the recipient and witness of the miracles of Jesus, as well as her companion touring villages in Galilee along with other women. During the crucifixion Mariam was near the crucified watching from some distance. When Jesus was laid in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, Mary Magdalene sat opposite to the tomb (Matthew 27:61) unafraid, unlike those recognized as apostles who mostly hid in fear.
The four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all agree and narrate that the first person to witness the resurrection of Jesus the master of the nearby town of Nazareth, was Mariam the merchant of Magdala. This is the narration according to Mark: “He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe” (Mark 16.9-11). Who did not believe Mariam and her two women companions? “… the eleven and all the rest…. their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24: 9-11).
The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas presents a woman who was very close to Jesus named Mariam, and who could be Mary Magdalene. Peter, who according to the canonical Gospels did not believe the women testimony when they shared their experience of the resurrection, asked Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas to exclude Mariam from the group of closest disciples. Peter said: “Let Mary leave from us, for women are not worthy of life” (114,2-3). On the other hand, according to the Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Peter asked Mariam to share her wisdom: “Sister, we know that the Master loved you more than all other women. Tell us the words of the Master that you remember, the things which you know that we don’t because we haven’t heard them” (Folio 10,2-6).
Mary Magdalene is one of the many victims of the Judeo-Christian misogyny. Clarifying the dark side of this Christianity without Jesus releases the memory of Mary Magdalene beyond any religious belief; as the result of this rescue, a brave and coherent model of humanity emerges from concealment.
The violence that Peter openly manifested in the Gospel of Thomas against Mariam and the women corresponds in the canonical Gospels to his disbelief in the women’s testimony; disbelief that constitutes a subtle form of violence. Under Pedro’s Semitic belief system, the only valued female identity is the maternal one. Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have historically focused on the power of men and the subordination of women. Because of this belief system that violates the rights of women, the figure of Mary Magdalene had to be minimized from a beloved disciple to a repentant sinner.
It is inconceivable that a belief system that disdain the dignity of women would accept that Jesus chose a woman, who was considered by this system as an impure and incapable being designated only to remain silent at the service of men and procreation, as a beloved disciple; even less as the main witness of the supreme fact of the resurrection presented in the canonical Gospels. Although the central role of Mary Magdalene as promoter of Jesus’ ministry and brave woman is explicit in the Gospels, the tradition buried her under the derogatory image of a prostitute. Thus Mariam, the rich merchant of Magdala, Tower of the Fishes, went on to be a redeemed sinful merchant of sex: a total distortion of the truth.
Today, Mariam is a symbol of women’s resistance against gender violence which manifests itself through the most subtle ways such as the underestimation given to the word of women, and through sexual violence and feminicide. The true story of Mariam was slowly clarified from the finding in 1945 of Nag Hammadi’s manuscripts, which support what was always known through the canonical gospels, but was belittled by the dominant misogynist power. Today we know that Mary of Magdala was not the prostitute rescued and redeemed by Jesus, but one of the women who shared and promoted his ministry; this knowledge denies centuries of defamation.
The false beliefs that generate gender violence are transmitted by both men and women. Freeing the conscience of women implies liberating the conscience of all humanity. That is why it is not about championing a struggle between the sexes, but unifying humanity in a conscience of interconnection. It is about detecting, united men and women, from where the financial, political and religious power that enslaves humanity by fragmenting it into racist, ethnic, classist, sexist practices is coming from, to keep it as a human farm while abusing other species and destroy this wonderful planet.
Underestimating is a form of violence; granting a person more credibility than another is also violence. It is necessary to recognize the subtle forms of gender violence carried out by women against themselves or against other woman: for example, self inflicted violence considering that suffering in silence is a merit; violence against their daughters by not recognizing them the same rights and virtues as their sons; and violence inflicted to other women by judging them or allying with others in prejudices, jokes and teasing.
By recognizing the responsibility that women have on the transmission of gender violence chains, we will have the opportunity to generate radical changes in mentalities that generate unavoidable respect for our human rights and a new way of life for humanity. Women are co-responsible for the transmission of misogynistic values that make us victims, therefore, we are capable – because we have the power to be transmitters of values - to transform this humanity to the extent that we first transform ourselves.
The mass demonstrations and marches of women in Mexico and around the world show that we are no longer invisible, that we are no longer silencing the horrors that have been carried out against us for millennia with our tacit complicity. We have broken the molds of the dominant policies that have turned women into rivals: today we express solidarity between us. Among us women, we believe in one another; millions of us are engaged in this alliance to generate a non-evil way of life. We have stopped the shushing and we have stopped accepting to be silenced.
The life-giving content of the Gospels, the meaning that can no longer be ignored, hidden or misrepresented empowers women, slaves among slaves, as Yoko Ono and John Lennon shouted to the world in 1972 in the song Woman is the Nigger of the World: “we make her paint her face and dance… If she won’t be aslave, we say that she don’t love us; if she’s real, we say she’s trying to be a man… the woman is the slave of the slaves … “.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians, written in year 50 AC, synthesizes the meaning of unified consciousness: “… there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (3:28).” Whoever believes and lives the above with confidence becomes a generator and a promoter of Life.
¡NI UNA MÁS! This cry runs through Mexico and not only shows pain and anger, but empowerment and courage on the part of women.
#NoOneMore!
Acerca de la autora
- Es autora de libros y artículos; cofundadora del primer centro de estudios de la mujer en México. Es Psicóloga Clínica con estudios de maestría y doctorado realizados en Francia y Brasil. Fue profesora universitaria en diversas instituciones académicas de la Ciudad de México y de Veracruz, así como cofundadora de las Agencias Especializadas en Delitos Sexuales.
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