Mary Magdalene's Great Commission
Posted by Joan Norton at 4/19/2009 7:23 AM 
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was given the first "Great Commission" but apparently not credited for it. A friend of mine mentioned that phrase , "the Great Commission", in relation to her own spiritual journey and her church and I didn't know what she was talking about. I've since learned that it means Jesus gave specific instructions to people to carry on his work, saying first to be in a peaceful state themselves and secondly to understand that they exist in the same relation to God as he does. In looking up the passage in the Gospel of John I learned that it comes right after the "Beloveds meet again in the Garden" scene. 
I was very, very surprised that Mary Magdalene was also given a clear "Great Commission" pretty much the same as the more famous one to the disciples. She was told to go to the brethren and say to them that there's life after death and that God is the same for all, "my God and your God". The next thing we're told is that she did this. She didn't doubt or become confused. She stood firmly on her own experience.
I read one discussion of this passage, John 20:17-18, which described the scene as one in which Jesus told Mary Magdalene urgently to go arrange a meeting. Kind of like an administrative assistant would do for her boss. She was to arrange a meeting so the disciples could be given instructions. The one good thing I'd say about that interpretation is that it illuminates the relational function of the feminine spirit, the "eros" which connects all things. But I don't think it captures the importance of the scene, do you? It was to His Sacred Complement Mary Magdalene, to the Sacred Feminine Herself, that he communicated. It's through the feminine aspect of everyone that the Ineffable Mystery communicates first. (your right brain)
She met him again in the Garden of Life, which is to say the cyclic renewal of life physically and spiritually was made apparent in this scene. We have a whole body of literature now of people who've seen their beloveds after death, and the beloved one most frequently says to not worry, everything's fine in the "other world". And many times the "one left behind" is told to go on with life, it's not their time to go...they still have a life to complete. It's common to want to go with the departed one into their world.....and don't we just imagine that the love between Mary Magdalene and Jesus was such a one that she would want to "cling" in intimacy at first?
I'm still struck by the fact that it's the "don't touch me" mistaken interpretation of the scene which has gotten so much play in artwork.. It begins to look like the scene in which Christianity departed from the Sacred Feminine for good. "Don't touch me, I'm going on without you."
In The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Jean-Yves LeLoup edition, there's a passage I really like which is a reflection of the Great Commission scene. It's passage 9: 14-20, where the disciples are overwhelmed with the loss of Jesus, they're in sorrow and doubt and afraid they're going to be killed too. Mary tells them to try to get out of their negative emotional state of disarray and remember what Jesus has taught them. "Thus Mary turned their hearts toward the Good, and they began to discuss the meaning of the Teacher's words."
I think May Magdalene is still trying to convey her "Great Commision" and I think it's happening exactly like they showed us it would happen, within Love between the masculine and feminine inside of us and outside of us, within the Way of the Heart.
click here to order 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
click here to order a Magdalene Rosary , prayers for The Seven Gospel Mysteries of Mary Magdalene and The Seven Legends of Mary Magdalene ,as developed by
click here to order a Magdalene Rosary , prayers for The Seven Gospel Mysteries of Mary Magdalene and The Seven Legends of Mary Magdalene ,as developed by
Hi Joan,
First of all, the art images you always choose to upload with your entries just slay me (like, in a good way). Gosh.
Anyway, I love the idea of Her Commission. And I feel that she DID have a commission to take the teachings to the most western part of the Roman Empire (Gaul) while James remained in Jerusalem, both to anchor and continue the teachings of love.
I've been musing over the idea of Jesus' sense of parity, not only with his Beloved, but with everyone. I've been reading George Lamsa's "Idioms of the Bible," and Jesus frequently used the phrase "Son of Man" to describe himself (rather than "Son of God"), According to Lamsa, in Aramaic the "Son of Man" meant the ordinary human being. So in a sense Jesus didn't teach people to raise themselves above others, but rather, promoted the idea that says, within the ordinary human being is the extraordinary human being.
Mary Magdalene's Commission to bring the teachings of love and the idea that the Everlasting lives in each of us, still feel like it continues as we connect with her essence, her beauty, her power.
Love, Jennifer
"The Holy Book of Mary Magdalene"
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Hi Jennifer, Thanks for enjoying the artwork I find...it's the most personal "fun" I have with writing. I'm always satisfied at the writing part but the image part is truly fun. Where's the artwork picturing Magdalene's moment of realizing "the Great Commission"? I think the picture you painted for the cover of your book gives a wonderful feeling of Mary Magdalene accepting her role to teach and her willingness to carry it out into the world. What are the scrolls in her hands? xoJoan
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Hi Joan,
The scrolls that Mary Magdalene hold are meant to be the writings that she brought with her to Gaul, from Jerusalem.
When I did research for the first chapter of my book, I discovered a book called "James, the Brother of Jesus," a rather a dense and lengthy tome, but I was struck by a seemingly insignificant paragraph that quoted the ancient authors Origen and Hyppolytos, in regards to a certain "Mariamme" (Mary) in Jerusalem.
Here's what I wrote in my book... "Author Robert Eisenman, in his book "James the Brother of Jesus," writes about a post-crucifixion group in which a certain Mary (Mariamme) was the leader. He quotes Hyppolytus as having written that James the brother of Jesus, "handed down numerous discourses to Mariamme." He also cites the ancient author Origen who "[...] speaks of a group centering about the name `Mariamme'[...]." While Mariamme was a common name, this could have been a reference to Mary Magdalene. [and I think it was]. It's reasonable to assume that some of the followers of Jesus, who had seen the close relationship between them, would want to center around her after his death."
[page 5, HBMM]
In addition I had read in the book "Mary Magdalene" by Lynn Picknett, the suggestion that "copies of the Magdalene Gnostic Gospels were circulating in France in the centuries before the Albigensian Crusade." [pg. 100].
So, in my mind's eye, I envisioned Mary Magdalene's journey to Gaul as including these scrolls from the First Church of Jerusalem, as well as being her own writings, her own recollections of her experiences with Jesus, as well as her own teachings. Frankly I can't imagine that she would NOT have written these things down.
I agree with Lynn Picknett that the Magdalene Scrolls were destroyed during the Cathar persecutions in France (Gaul). These ideas became the source of my vision for the painting, "The Magdalene in Gaul."
Also, one detail in the painting, you can see that one scroll is unrolled on the table before her and if you hold the book sideways you can read, "Hagia Agape, Hagia Sophia" (Holy Love, Holy Wisdom), identifying Mary Magdalene as the holder of Sophian Love and Wisdom.
Blessings of Our Lady,
Jennifer Reif
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Dear Jennifer,
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Joan,
As I read that first paragraph just now (I'd already read it a couple of times yesterday) it hit me that part of Mary's message (to me anyway) is her willingness and ability to put grace in motion toward the apostles. I'm thinking specifically of that wanker Peter (of course Luke's gospel is pretty lame, too) and how she refused to meet their jealousy/anger toward her with like emotion. She met them with love and compassion.
Today, as I celebrated the life of an aged family member, it was my first time back in that church since my grandmother's funeral. I found myself quite emotional during the funeral, feeling waves of anger toward my aunts and mother and dead grandmother. And then I read the first paragraph of this post again.
Right now, as I wade my way through this quagmire of emotion, I see a commission being offered to me: forgiveness. So I sit and seek within my own heart, to forgive my aunts and mother and try to hold Mary's experience with the apostles as my guide.
(Sigh)
Jen
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Hi Jen,
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