What Do You Think Happened to the Marys after the Passion

by Band on the Run 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  Band on the Run

  We were discussing Mary's role in religion after the gospel stories on another thread. I've read many places that worship of Mary only gained steamed when people were terrified of God's judgment around the millenium. Some wide tribulation occurred later so that Ann was imoprted, too. They needed goddess figures to intervene with an angry father God.Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, Mary and Martha, sisters to Lazarus, play very strong roles in the gospels. From my reading, they disappear after the gospels. James is mentioned. Why not Mary? It is odd she would not have some special status in the church. She would be young or middle aged for the times when Jesus died.

  His first postressurection appearance is to Magdalene, who supported him financially in his ministry. She travelled with the group. One would think she would play a continuing role in Jerusalem or elsewhere.

  I suspect male chauvinism played a role in their absence. Imagine how they could teach about the true Jesus from personal experience. Am I missing something?
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  james_woods

  You actually believe that all these characters were real individual people, Band on the Run?

  I think that once their literary character filled its place in the gospels, they just were not written about any more.

  Remember, to everyones best knowledge - those gospels were written decades after the time of Christ.

  BTW - are any of them mentioned in the apochraphy?
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  Band on the Run

  I don't know. Scholars believe a Jesus of Nazareth prob. existed. Of course, anything beyond "prob. existed" has no consensus. I believe Paul existed. Frankly, I see no overwhelming evidence showing that they did not exist. Mary the Virgin and Mary Magdalene, even Martha and Mary must be archetypes. Even if they never lived, their literary existence is crucial. Frankly, it surprises me that they exist at all. Zeus had no mother, IIRC. or some of his children, had no mother. They are not bystanders or window dressing.

  Times don't change much. I love the gospel where Mary has a conversaton with the Risen Christ. Running off to tell the men who are hiding, they tell her she must be a hysterical woman. She holds her ground. Presto, Christ appears to them. This is a universal story between the sexes.
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  journey-on

  There is a pull going on between those who "feel" a spiritual component to Life and those who reject that energy.

  Those who reject it, reject the stories and accounts as nothing more than fiction. Those who feel a strong attraction to more esoteric contemplations, "know" there is something else in play on a cosmic stage. You have to own your own pushes and pulls regardless of how others try to influence or convince you otherwise.

  Y'eshua and Mary Magdalene, and his mother Mary, (I think), were real people. But, just as 'Y'eshua told his apostles and disciples regarding his parables, his teachings have more than literal applications, so I think/feel that there is additional meaning in the interplay between The Son, The Mother, and the Daughter or Bride.

  I think the Scriptures have been manipulated by the masculine powers and Church heirarchy to suppress the feminine energy. Mary Magdalene was a stronger influence than the NT books present. "They" feared her and in the pull for power, she was virtually pushed out. But, perhaps she left her seeds to grow and sprout when the time is right on the cosmic stage of Life.
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  Band on the Run

  I just thought of seeing Michelangelo's Pieta at the Vatican. It is so moving, regardless of whether one is Catholic. Mary must have been so overcome with grief. Yet we are told no mention of his appearing to Mary. I believe he had a filial duty to pay his postRessurection respects to his brith family and not some clueless apostles in hiding. His family must have been in danger.

  It would be interesting to read essays on this matter. Time elapsed but why would the apostles be more impt than his mother. Overall, I do not like the way Mary is portrayed in film and books. She has no zip or spunk. I don't know the answers but the absence of any storyline must be important. Mary could be a potent Witness to the bodily resurrection.