On the third day, which is Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, demonstrating victory over sin and death. The first person to witness his resurrection was Mary Magdalene, probably the most underrated disciple for centuries, but justice was served... eventually.
Today's little session is probably about the most popular book within the ancient gnostic writings.
For two reasons:
One, because it is the only female narration of the life of Jesus, unlike the male apostles this lady has no competition, and therefore other ladies prefer her telling above others.
And maybe it helps that Dan Brown used her Gospel as evidence in his bestseller The Davinci Code.
The Gospel of Mary, is attributed to Mary Magdalene. A lady who with the passing of time has been depicted in many ways.
She has been the Harlot who was rescued by Jesus, and she has been his wife and the bearer of his blood.
Is there any proof?
The Harlot part is hard to prove, the lady who sold her body to the night was not called Mary. She was unnamed, and only later this unnamed lady was merged with Mary.
The wife and lover of Jesus, maybe:
The Gospel of Philip another Dead Sea Scroll says:
"And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her [...]. The rest of the disciples [...]. They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?'"
As some words were wiped out the text is incomplete but there is definitely something there.
Jesus Lover
And why would Jesus not have a wife, why would his most faithful disciple not be a woman that loves him dear? And why would a man not accept the love of a faithful woman? he might have been divine, but he certainly was flesh and blood while he walked this earth.
Like most of the Gnostic texts and Dead Sea Scrolls, the date attributed to the Gospel of Mary does not match the actual journey Mary went on.
The scroll is from around the 5th century while the writing style puts the Gospel around 200 AD. And well Mary lived around AD, didn´t she?
This is not strange as many texts are written versions of stories that were handed down mouth to mouth.
Mary the Harlot
Mary probably was not a prostitute as I said before, but let me explain what I think happened. There are several stories involving unnamed women who are described as sinners or prostitutes in the New Testament.
One such woman is mentioned in Luke 7:36-50, she is the one that anoints Jesus' feet with perfume and tears, prompting criticism from the Pharisees.
Another story is of an adulterous woman brought before Jesus in John 8:1-11.
Over time these ladies were merged with Mary, despite the lack of explicit biblical evidence to support this.
This convolution started in Early Christian writings, particularly in the Western Church.
It was Pope Gregory I, in a sermon in the 6th century, who identified Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet. This added a lot to the perception of Mary Magdalene as a repentant prostitute.
The image of a prostitute turning to the Son of Man, and being forgiven for her sins grew wide in legends and folklore. These stories, while lacking a biblical basis, became influential in shaping popular perceptions of Mary Magdalene.
Paintings during the Renaissance and Baroque eras often portray Mary with long hair, wearing red or purple clothing, and holding a jar of perfume, to reinforce the association with prostitution.
It´s not excusable but explicable that Mary´s more intimate relationship with Jesus created jealousy both during and after her life.
During, as she received teachings the other disciples were not considered to be worthy of,
After, the patriarch church would have had a hard time explaining why Jesus, the example for all, chose a woman above 11 men. I mean even the apostle Peter asked Mary at some point to share the teachings she received but we (the other apostles) did not.
It must have been difficult to stomach for many men over many years that Mary received gnostic teachings to share with mankind. Even harder to suppress women if their savior chooses a woman above men. To put women in their place and establish the badly wanted hierarchy between the sexes Mary who might have been the wisest of all followers was made into a Harlot.
The Wise Woman
Why do I say the wisest, because of those teachings only she received. She was taught about Sin & The Ultimate Goo.
The ultimate good, could that be the primordial energy that makes us all one?
That might just be the case because Mary in her teachings focuses a lot on the soul and how it transcends the four levels of the cosmos. And that is when she started preaching to my choir.
If you have read my stuff you know that I consider living on earth painful, that I am not a fan of this mortal coil housing our souls, and that I often find myself surrounded by ignorance. So imagine my surprise finding out about level one.
Level One The Material Realm (Physical World):
The lowest level is characterized by impermanence, suffering, and ignorance. The material world is flawed, and illusory, basically a place of bondage where souls are trapped in physical bodies.
I like to think I completed level one, and entered level two some time ago.
I learned about Mary´s teachings later in life. Later, as in I was taught about these realms but not that they also were part of Mary´s Gospel
Level Two The Psychic Realm (World of Emotions and Desires):
The psychic place, the realm of the soul. Is not much better than level one if you look a bit. This level is driven by Ego, Emotions, and desires. It´s a step up from the wandering lost souls, but filled with walking talking bodies looking for instant gratification, as they are spiritually ignorant.
The next step up is where it gets interesting, where some of the talking monkeys actually come knocking on heaven's door.
Level Three The Celestial Realm (World of Archons and Powers):
And I think I am one of those monkeys standing on the outside looking in on the Celestial world inhabited by divine beings, archons, and spiritual powers.
Call me crazy but I met with some of those celestial beings and they are not always little angels, there are many different sources of power in this realm, some of whom may be hostile to humanity and to yours truly.
The Boss Level The Divine Realm (Kingdom of God):
Now I would not call it the kingdom of God, but on the other hand God is Light, energy is light, and this real,is characterized by divine light, unity, and gnosis (spiritual knowledge).
It is the ultimate destination of the soul, where liberation from the material world and reunion with the divine source are achieved. The divine source the primordial soup we all sprang, from which everything in the entire cosmos sprouted.
Mary´s Gospel coaches the soul through these levels, especially through the level I am stuck at.
Still at level three
As I said I am at level three and I feel stuck, I am aware of the world beyond our eyes and the divine beings beyond the veil but I have not dealt with the Wrath completely.
The Wrath
The Wrath are seven obstacles that every soul will face on their path to divinity,
These seven obstacles I will need to overcome before I can return to the origin of all, and reach the boss level.
Ignorance and Spiritual Blindness: Ignorance, as in lack of spiritual understanding I have overcome by seeking, finding, and absorbing spiritual knowledge. This allows the soul to see beyond conventional understanding.
Desire and Attachment: Transcending earthly desires and attachments, I have to admit that I have a hard time letting go of worldly pleasures. I do not have any attachment to possessions, nor to the souls I love, loved, and lost in this lifetime. But the pleasures of the flesh are unique, as there are none in the afterlife. The human body does not only bring pain, but it also brings pleasure and they need to be balanced, not renounced.
Ego and Self-Identification: Ego, the false sense of self, oh how I struggled with thy. How hard it was to overcome the idea of individuality and recognize that there is no core self the illusory that my true identity as a divine being is a spark of the overall divine.
Fear and Doubt: Fear, Uncertainty, and doubt can hinder you spiritually but also trading crypto, or even in your corporate and love life. The bottom line is always the same, it causes hesitation and sparks the very human resistance to change.
This one I overcame by having faith, and above all accepting that what happens is part of the path, that it is just another pebble I need to deal with on the spiritual path laid out for me. I have become aware of how to deal with FUD, but when I am all alone in the dark there still are times my faith is temporarily not strong enough.Anger and Resentment: Boy do I remember anger and resentment, the injustice I faced as a kid being led by parents and people who had not surpassed me on the road to divinity. I found my inner peace, and have learned to be patient with others, forgive others, and above all be patient with and forgiving towards myself.
Pride and Arrogance: Pride and arrogance are the trapholes for many young souls. It is not easy admitting that you are a limited being. But recognizing one's own limitations allows for seeking and accepting help and/or guidance from spiritual sources. And if you don´t seek and accept, they will slap your face till you do, trust me they do.
Accepting we are only an atom in that what makes up divinity will resolve your pride, it will make you feel smaller than you ever felt.
To get a bit of an idea:
Picture yourself on the moon staring down on the Earth, now try to locate any human from there, impossible. Try to see the highest mountain, invisible. This trick might help you accept that you are a minuscule particle in something unimaginable large.
7 Delusion and Distraction: Delusion and Distraction are two well-known acquaintances of mine.
How my mind loves to distract me with things that it thinks are so important, while in truth they are as trivial as sand in a desert.
You are your own worst enemy trying to mislead yourself, you are your own satan leading you astray from the spiritual path by illusions and worldly concerns.
Focus frequently on your spiritual goals and don´t let the FUD that your brain creates distract you too often.
Transcending from a talking monkey to overcoming the seven wraths, is a long spiritual road that might take some souls multiple lifetimes if not forever, but do not mistake those seven wraths for the seven sins.
Mary's Gospel explains how there is no universal sin, but that mankind created sin. Sin comes from humans that act contrary to the good in us.... which might explain why so many people nowadays still believe that the majority of humans deep down are good, and will choose good over sin.
Sin is a much broader concept than the simplified version that we got to know as the Seven Deadly Sins. But that Dear Reader is a different story.
I will write about Sin next time, but let me lift the veil a little and tell you that even though wrath and sin are nothing alike......they seem more related than I thought.
Previous Sunday School Sessions
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - 𝕭𝖊𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝕴 𝕿𝖔𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲?
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - The Secret Book of John (The Apostle) Part 2 (The Apple)
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - Funny Looking Angels
My Musical Sunday School Sessions - Thomas Told US Not To Look But To See
Soundtrack Of The Book of Revelations
My Book of Revelations Soundtrack - Part 1 - The Ladies of Revelation
My Book of Revelations Soundtrack - Part 2 - The Biblical Bad Guys
My Book of Revelations Soundtrack - Part 3 - The Bad Guy That Goes By Many Names
Thank goodness you made it till the end Pees, Love and I am out of here!
[Source Pic](All pictures are by Meme, MyI & AI unless source is listed)
Disclaimer One: The texts I use for these sessions are real, although like many scholars my ignorance and arrogance might cause me to misinterpret things, or explain things from my limited perspective. I therefore appreciate all critical feedback.
Disclaimer Two: I think everyone has a right to believe, and a right to disagree. I try to take a light philosophical approach and add some humor. If you're offended please check yourself, because being offended by something written by a simpleton as WhyWhy is a signal that you might have bigger issues.