How did Mary Magdalene’s brand come to be sullied with the inference of being a member of the “world’s oldest profession?” People have written entire books on this topic. However, the short answer is that various passages in the four Gospels have led to the conflation of the stories that involve multiple Marys and other unnamed women who approach Jesus, followed by mis-information initiated by a pope in the sixth century, then reinforced through 15 centuries of tradition. The picture of Mary Magdalene becomes further blurred by more recent novelizations, Broadway musicals, and movies that depict varying images of her, frequently in polarizing ways.
In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar musical (and movie), Mary Magdalene is the prostitute who pines for the Savior, singing “I don’t know how to love him…He’s just a man, and I’ve had so many men before…I want him so. I love him so.” The Last Temptation of Christ is a fictional book (and movie) that paints a picture of Mary Magdalene as a woman who – after Jesus spurns their mutual love for each other – turns to prostitution and is later brought before Him by an angry mob that wants to stone her. In Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code (and movie), she is portrayed as Jesus’ secret wife and the mother of a long-line of descendants who exist to present day. Movies like 2018’s Mary Magdalene starring Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix add more layers of complexity to her image and Jesus’, as they recount legend and fictionalized storytelling more than Bible‑based learnings.
You get the picture. There are a lot of differing presentations of the person of Mary Magdalene, and many of them have no bearing whatsoever on any scholarly or biblical learning. Looking at the passages where she appears, we begin to get some bearings on her. Her first appearance comes in Luke 8:
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
The complications and confusion arise because of the passage about the sinful woman who anoints Jesus with an alabaster jar of perfume that immediately precedes this one at the end of Luke 7:
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
After some back and forth with the Pharisee host Simon, Jesus turns to the woman:
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Over time, the “woman who lived a sinful life” and this brief episode in Jesus’ life became linked to Mary Magdalene through paintings by great artists. This specific story becomes more complex with Matthew’s recounting of the same episode from chapter 26:
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
In Luke, Simon was referred to as a Pharisee, and here he is a leper. More important, by anointing Jesus, the woman’s act foreshadows His death. Because Mary Magdalene is so closely linked to Jesus’ death, including being present at His death on Golgotha, the association between her and the woman of this story occurred.
The issue becomes even further complicated by the story of Mary of Bethany in the Gospel of John, chapter 12:
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
Pope Gregory, known as Gregory the Great and one of the most influential popes ever to live, delivered a famous series of sermons on Mary Magdalene around the year 591 AD where he galvanized the a commonly held at the time association of Mary Magdalene with the “woman who lived a sinful life” who anointed Jesus’ feet with the alabaster jar of perfume:
She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices?
In his message, Pope Gregory conflated the stories of the various Marys and the unknown “sinful woman” figures, and the brand of Mary Magdalene would be set for many centuries to come. There were a great many more layers to why Pope Gregory cast Mary Magdalene in this light, some having to do with controlling the role of women at the time. Without a deeper discourse into the history at the time and throughout the Middle Ages and the Reformation, suffice to say, the pope’s words stuck with generations of church leaders, and the image of Mary Magdalene as a repentant “fallen woman” exists to this day.
So, how do you combat confusion about your brand? Once a brand has been implemented, there are three absolute essentials to ensuring that it avoids confusion and sticks long-term: regular reflection, consistency of delivery, and effectively handling crisis. These three keys to effective branding pertain to both personal and business use.