Gospel of Mary

The Gospel of Mary is a short Gnostic gospel not found in most Bibles. It is still just as much valid scripture as the New Testament gospels that are in the Bible. It is unlikely that it was actually written by Mary Magdalene, but it may have been written by someone who received this gospel passed down orally from generation to generation. The oldest version in existence has some damage and is missing pages 1-6, so it begins on page seven. In this Gospel, Mary is generally quoting things that Jesus said to her and the Apostles. I am reading the English translation of this gospel by David Curtis, though I have also looked at the one by Karen King.

The Material World

The Gospel of Mary starts with the disciples asking Jesus to teach them about the material world, and whether or not it will last forever. Jesus Christ replies that everything in nature, that is to say, everything material, will dissolve back into its roots. This may sound like some materialists who say matter can change form, but never be destroyed, but it isn’t. When Jesus, as Son of Man, says that matter will eventually return to its roots, he means that it will become spirit again, as it was before the Great Fall.

World of Sin

Peter then asks Jesus: “What is the sin of the world?” Jesus replies that there is no sin, we humans make it appear as if there is sin when we act according to the habits of our adulterated nature. In other words, when we act in a materialistic way. This matches well with the teachings of Cosolargy where we say that the only real sin is ignorance of God. Once you understand God, and the Will of God, you don’t act in opposition to God and therefore don’t sin.

Attachment Brings Suffering

On page eight of this gospel, Jesus says that attachment to matter causes suffering because it goes against “our true nature”. So if clinging to matter is against our true nature, then it should be obvious that our true nature is spiritual, not material and we should all be working on returning to the worlds of spirit.

Do Not Lay Down Rules

On page nine, Jesus tells the disciples, “Do not lay down any rules other than what I have given you”. This is something that is certainly not practiced by most Christians today. Churches love to make rules to control people, even though that is not the true purpose of religion. I can remember when I was a child, women had to wear some form of head covering whenever they were in a Catholic Church. That is an example of a rule created by the men who ran the church and were never taught by Jesus. Its only purpose was to give the impression that men were superior to women as men did not have a similar rule to follow. The Catholic Church no longer has that rule, but they still don’t allow women to be priests even though there is plenty of historical evidence that many women were priests during the first two centuries of the Christian Church (see the book “When Women Were Priests” by Karen J. Torjesen).

The Disciples Grieved

The next paragraph on page nine starts with: “the disciples grieved bitterly …”. So these events are now happening after the physical death of Jesus. They also worried that if they went out into the world to preach, they too would be killed. But Mary tells them not to remain stuck in sorrow, grief, and doubt for the grace of Christ would guide them and protect them. She adds: “Be thankful and praise his greatness, for he has brought us together and prepared us for this. Through him, we too can become fully human.” Again, she is telling them that they must change and become more spiritual to become fully human.

Greatly Loved

The next page starts with Peter saying to Mary: “Sister, we know that you are greatly loved by the Savior, more than any other woman.” He then asks her to reveal to them any words of Jesus that were said to her when the others were not around. Mary promises to do so.

This short paragraph tells us two important things. One is that Jesus loved Mary. Some even believe that Jesus married her, which might be true, but I think their spiritual connection was more important. I think their relationship was much like that of St. Francis and St. Clair who were spiritual counterparts that worked together, and undoubtedly loved each other, but in a spiritual way. The Gospel of Philip backs up the belief that Jesus had a strong relationship with Mary of Magdala.

Mary’s Vision

Mary then goes on to say to Peter that she once had a vision of Jesus. In the vision, Jesus praises her for not wavering at the sight of him in a vision, then tells her that she is “where the treasure lies, in that place where heaven and earth meet”. This is a key point, for it tells all of us that we need to seek this place through spiritual development techniques as taught by reputable spiritual schools.

The Soul is Questioned

In the next few pages of this Gospel, a soul is being questioned by various “authorities”. Much of this section is missing, but what is there has the soul being accused of various evils while on the earthly plane, which it denies. The soul replies that it has vanquished and overcome these weaknesses. So in a roundabout way, Mary is telling us that we must each vanquish, or at least let go of, earthly desires and passions, anger and jealousy, if we are to be successful at saving our souls.

Andrew and Peter

Andrew then says to the others that he does not believe what Mary has said. Peter thinks about it, then responds to Andrew’s comment by saying: “Did he really speak secretly with a woman and not openly

so that we could all hear? Are we just going to turn around and listen to her? Did he really choose her and prefer her to us? Surely, he wouldn’t have wanted to show that she is more worthy than we are?”. So Peter is also doubting what Mary said, mainly because he doesn’t think Jesus would have told a woman things he didn’t tell them.

Mary wept at hearing what they said, and replied: “My brother, Peter, what are you thinking? Do you really believe that I made all this up, or that I would tell lies about our Savior?”

Levi then jumped in to defend Mary, saying: “Peter, you have always been hot-tempered from the beginning, and now we see you arguing against this woman as though you were her adversary. Yet if the Savior deemed her worthy, indeed if he himself has made her worthy, then who are you to despise and reject her? Surely the Savior’s appraisal of her is completely reliable. That is why he loved her more than us.”

The Importance of Humility

Levi continues by saying: “Let us cloak ourselves with True Humanity.” We too can follow his instructions and cultivate this in ourselves. He understands that Andrew and Peter are not showing true humility, and such humility is important for spiritual development.

Summary

The Gospel of Mary, also known as the Gospel of Mary Magdalene (or Mary of Magdala), is a non-canonical early Christian text discovered in the late 19th century in Cairo, Egypt as part of the Nag Hammadi Library and is in the Berlin Gnostic Codex (Papyrus Berolinensis 8502). It is considered a Gnostic text. It dates back to the second century AD and contains various teachings and dialogues attributed to Mary Magdalene. The original was written in Greek, but the most complete copy available now was written in Coptic, a language popular in Egypt during the early Christian period, and was written in the fifth century.

The Gospel of Mary gives a different view of Jesus than the standard Bible’s gospels by Mark, Luke, and Matthew. Those canonical gospels primarily feature Jesus as a religious leader, teacher, healer of physical illness and injury, and performer of physical miracles such as turning water into wine. They say little about Jesus as a spiritual leader.

The Gospel of Mary doesn’t mention these physical things, but instead concentrates on Jesus as a spiritual teacher who imparts wisdom(Sophia) and spiritual knowledge, the true teachings of Jesus. It focuses on the nature of the spirit and the soul. It also shows that Jesus had a special relationship with Mary perhaps because she grasped his spiritual teachers better than the others. Like the Gospel of Thomas, another Gnostic Gospel, the Gospel of Mary of Magdala shows women as being important to Jesus, which should be good news to Christian women. The Gospel according to Mary is not the only one to give importance to women. the Apocryphon of John, another Gnostic text, also does that. So the Gospel of Mary shows a different side of Jesus than that taught by Paul in the early church. The Gospel of John also shows Jesus as a spiritual teacher but with a different perspective from that of Mary.

Mary mentions having visions in this Gospel, and since these visions feature Jesus, it is obvious they are happening after the physical death of Jesus. In the visions, Jesus encourages Mary and the others to continue on the path of spiritual development.

Some of the Apostles doubted Mary because they didn’t think Mary would have been singled out for such visions and teachings since she was a woman, but others came to her defense. The apostles are warned that they need to have humility.

This Gospel challenges the male-dominated structure of both Gentiles and Jews.