Magdalene

by Angela Hunt

  Actually, the characters themselves would have answered to several names. Galileans lived in a bilingual region that had been thoroughly infiltrated with Gentiles who spoke Greek, the lingua franca of the day. In the New Testament we find Peter’s name used in myriad ways: Cephas, Simeon, Simon, Peter, Petros, and the Hebrew Kefa. Take your pick.

  The disciple we know as Peter was more frequently referred to as Simon during Jesus’ ministry and Peter in the church age, but I tried to keep things simple.

  Q: Was it difficult to pin down exact dates and references for the story?

  A: Yes—though I studied dozens of reference books, few of the experts agree! I finally went with a consensus of opinion. Few references agree on the exact dates of Jesus’ birth, death, and years of ministry, but all of them are remarkably close. For the record, this book supposes that Jesus began his ministry in AD 30 and was crucified in AD 33.

  Q: I was hoping you’d include the scene of Jesus in Gethsemane …

  A: As much as I would have liked to portray every event in Jesus’ ministry, the limited scope of a novel made that task impossible. Plus, I was working from Miryam’s and Atticus’s limited perspectives, so I could only record events they might have seen and experienced.

  Q: You have Gaius the centurion stand at the cross and say, “Truly this man was a son of God.” But my Bible says, “Truly this man was the son of God.”

  A: The Greek text literally says “truly this man was son of God”, so whether it’s the son or a son is a matter of debate. In any case, it’s hard to imagine that the centurion would have had a complete understanding of what he witnessed. First, the Romans were polytheistic, they didn’t believe in only one God. Second, they were accustomed to the idea that great men were “sons of God”—their emperors regularly claimed to be divine. Third, at that time few of the disciples understood the concept of God-in-flesh—such an idea was almost inconceivable until after the resurrection.

  The disciples had accepted that Yeshua was the Son of Man prophesied by the prophet Daniel; they knew he was the Son of God. But Scripture called Isra’el God’s firstborn, so Hebrew men had always considered themselves sons of God in the sense that Israelites were HaShem’s earthly representatives. They accepted the idea that Yeshua was their Messiah, the one who represented God to them.

  But after the resurrection, when they saw Yeshua conquer death, the phrase “son of God” took on new meaning. You must understand—the Shema, “Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one!”—was recited by devout Hebrews practically every day of their lives. They lived in a world where the Gentiles worshipped entire pantheons of gods, and they knew that the universe had been called into being by one God, HaShem.

  Suddenly, after the resurrection, the disciples were faced with a puzzling reality—HaShem was one, but he was also more than one, for they had seen his Son, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And Yeshua had promised to always be with them because he would soon be sending the Ruach HaKodesh, or the Holy Spirit.

  As they puzzled over the Tanakh, the Scriptures, they began to understand why the word Elohim was plural and why HaShem had said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves . . .”

  They realized that Yeshua had been with HaShem even at the beginning of time. He had appeared to Avraham and Yaakov as the angel of ADONAI. And the Scriptures even mentioned the Ruach HaKodesh in the form of the Spirit of Adoniai Elohim . . .

  Q: When Jesus meets Mary outside the tomb, my Bible says that he said, “Touch me not.” But you have her clinging to his feet.

  A: I read several sources and translations, and the best meaning of Jesus’ words is “Don’t cling to me.” So Miryam must have touched him, she probably wanted to cling to him, but Jesus had something important for her to do … just as he has an important task for each of us.

  There are other things I interpreted that might come as a surprise to the modern reader: baptize literally means immerse, Hosanna means please deliver us, and the first “Lord’s Supper” was a Seder. Our word hallelujah comes from the Hallel of Egypt, Psalms 113-118, which was sung at many Jewish festivals. Read those prophetic psalms as you think about the Lord’s death and resurrection, and you’ll see how clearly they point to Jesus as the Messiah.

  Q: As I read about Atticus and the baby, I kept wondering—what did they use for diapers in the first century?

  A: You know, I wondered the same thing! Scripture talks about swaddling clothes for newborns, but there’s no way you’re going to keep a toddler swaddled.

  So I did a little research and discovered a technique called—are you ready for this?—elimination timing. Apparently it’s still in use all over the world. As I read the overview, it occurred to me that it’s pretty much like training a puppy—you pay close attention to the child’s signals and, after waking or eating, you give them an opportunity to, well, eliminate. It’s helpful if the child wears a tunic and nothing underneath.

  Oh, the things I learn in this job …

  Q: So what was the most interesting thing you learned?

  A: Tough question. All of it was interesting, but my eyes were opened to how radical Jesus’ preaching was and how much my faith owes to Judaism. For years I’ve read Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:16-17 and not really understood the metaphor:

  “And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved.”

  After researching this book, the analogy became clear. Jesus was presenting a new way to relate to God, and the Jews who followed him had to accept some radically different ideas—that God was One and also a Trinity, that the God whose name is too holy to be spoken could be addressed as “abba” or “daddy,” and that women, who were never taught the Law, could sit and learn at the Savior’s feet.

  Faith in Jesus (the patch) had to be adapted to Judaism (the coat) and Judaism (the former wineskins) had to be reconditioned in order to hold the new wine (faith in Christ). As Jeremiah wrote (31:31-37), the new covenant would be written on the hearts of the people of Isra’el.

  Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

  A: As always, I need to acknowledge some folks: first, a huge thanks to Terri Gillespie for making sure the manuscript had a proper Jewish perspective. Like me, Terri has a deep and abiding love for Isra’el. She is director of donor relations for the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, an amazing organization which can be found at www.mjaa.org. Thanks also to Susan Richardson for proofreading part of an early draft, and to Randy Ingermanson, who helped me make sense of several ancient manuscripts.

  Discussion Questions for Book Groups

  1. What did you know about Mary Magdalene before you read this novel? Did the story shatter any of your previously held ideas?

  2. Think about this—when Peter protested after Jesus talked about dying, the savior replied, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's.” (Matthew 16:23). With that example in mind, what do you think Jesus would have said to any woman who tried to tempt him to sexual sin?

  3. Did you begin to read this story with the eyes of a twenty-first century Christian? Did you stop to consider that the people of Jesus’ day didn’t know who he was in the beginning? First century Hebrews were firmly sold on the concept of “one God and only one God.” If Jesus had proclaimed himself as God from the outset of his ministry, how do you think he would have been received?

  4. Before reading this, did you realize that Jesus’ many references to himself as the “Son of Man” pointed to Daniel 7:13-14? Why would this have been significant to a Jewish audience?

  5. Have you stopped to think how salvation differe
d in the time of Christ? The book of Acts indicates that people gathered pieces of information about repentance, salvation, and the Holy Spirit gradually. How would this have affected someone like the Roman centurion at the cross?

  6. Neither Miryam nor the apostles became perfect people after Jesus’ ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us that Paul and Barnabas had a falling out over John Mark (Acts 15:37), and Paul freely admitted that he remained a slave to sin after his salvation experience (Romans 7:21-25). Do you, like Miryam, struggle with some sin that prevents you from following Christ in perfect obedience? How has the Lord worked in your life regarding that sin?

  7. This story is written in only two viewpoints: Miryam’s and Atticus’s. How did this enhance or detract from your enjoyment of the story?

  8. How did Yeshua revolutionize the role of women in society? Would a person like Miryam be grateful for this changing role?

  9. Where do you think Hunt got the idea for a silk fabric that shifts from crimson to purple, depending on the light? Hint: see Matthew 27:28 and Mark 15:17. How was this fabric used as a symbol in the story?

  10. Misunderstanding is a frequent theme in this novel—Miryam misunderstands what happened in Magdala, she and many others misunderstand Yeshua’s plan and purpose, and Gaius misunderstands how Atticus came to have a son. What other characters or groups of people misunderstand a truth of the story?

  11. If this were a movie and you could play any role, which role would you like to play?

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  * * *

  [1]P.J. Achtemeier, Harper's Bible Dictionary (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985).

  [2] Liz Curtis Higgs, Mad Mary (Sisters, OR: WaterBrook Press), 2001, p. 189.