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-These are... Stories of the saints.

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There are some stories that become so familiar to us

From childhood on that, you know, we take them for granted.

They become myths. They're woven into our lives.

They're simply there.

So, if you grew up in a christian household,

The life of mary magdalene,

Pieced together from the gospels,

Was one of those stories.

But over the years,

After the discovery of the gospel of mary

In the late 19th century

And the gnostic gospels in the middle of the 20th century,

As well as painstaking biblical scholarship,

A much richer and a more complex story emerged.

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Mary magdalene, meaning mary of magdala,

Probably lived on her own

In a small fishing village on the sea of galilee,

Southwest of capernaum.

Now, she may have been a widow.

She may have inherited money.

She may have been a kept woman.

The idea that she was a prostitute

Actually originated hundreds of years after her death.

According to the gospels, she was plagued by demons.

-[ screams ]

-Whether they were of a spiritual or physical nature...

-[ groans ]

-...No one knows.

-From the stream to the market, fresh fish, fish!

Fresh fish is not expensive. From the sea to the market!

Fish.

Yes! Fresh, fresh fish.

Come on! Fresh fish!

Fresh fish!

-[ screams ]

-She's possessed!

-[ screams ]

-It's that woman. -Get away! Get away!

-She's possessed by a demon.

-[ panting ]

-Get away!

No one will sell it to you now, my love.

Come.

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-What will I do?

They'll condemn me like that woman, hannah.

-They already have, my love.

You can be sure of it.

-I don't want to be an outcast.

What will become of me?

-You have to find someone to cast out your demons.

-Stop filling her head with such tales.

-Am I possessed?

-You must find someone to heal you, my love.

-But that's what I said. -Stop with your bickering!

Enough! She needs comfort,

Not all the crazy hand-waving and the screaming.

Eat your soup.

I hear there is a man called jesus.

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-[ panting ]

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[ groans ]

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-Are you all right, sister? -Who are you?

-Jesus.

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-It came over me so suddenly.

I have no idea why.

-Are you ashamed of your pain?

-I don't know what it is.

-Sometimes we just don't know.

But there is no cause to feel shame.

-Is it true that you do exorcisms?

-How much longer will the woman stay?

-As long as she needs to. -The woman's possessed.

-Everything must be seen in the light of god.

-What do you mean by that? -I was talking to...

What's your name? -Mary.

-Mary. I was talking to mary.

Not you, peter.

We all need to see everything and everyone around us

In the light of god.

That includes your pain.

-What does that mean?

-She doesn't understand, either.

-Will it lessen my pain?

-Everything is precious...

Everything that happens to us...

Because it comes from god.

And it is a mystery.

Your pain brought you to me.

And I will bear it with you.

-How can I have come to you?

-A mystery.

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I beseech you.

Hear this prayer of this child of israel.

[ rain falls ]

[ chuckles ]

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[ laughs ]

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Thank you.

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Are you tired? You must be ready to sleep.

-Your soul keeps me alert.

[ fire crackling ]

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-Catch of the day. Four more for dinner tonight.

Are you still in pain?

-I am, but I live with it.

-I didn't really understand you.

-Then ask me.

-The shy ones,

People who don't speak, who go about their lives,

One day the world will be theirs.

That's more or less what you said, isn't it?

-Yes.

-So, what could that possibly mean,

That the world will be theirs?

-It certainly can't mean they'll be ruling over us from rome.

-Or that they'll take our boats.

-Or my wife. [ laughter ]

-Since you know what I didn't mean,

Then you might know what I did mean.

-I understand what you said about getting yourself in order

Before criticizing your neighbor

Or offering the other cheek to hit or causing rage

When you speak your mind.

But this other lesson, these quiet people owning the world,

Ruling the world one day?

-You really think that's what he meant?

-Will they have power conferred on them by god?

Because when they do, how could they still be shy and simple?

-Mary, sit by me.

[ insects chirping ]

-What are you doing inviting a woman to sit with us?

-What do you think, mary?

-I think you meant that the silent ones, the shy ones,

The ones who feel like they don't have the right

To ask for anything, that they don't deserve anything...

When we all accept god, when all our vanity is gone,

And we look each other in the eye and see ourselves,

Then those meek ones will be free.

You see?

And they'll already know what the rest of us will learn,

That the whole world is ours, but no one owns it.

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I've lived alone for many years now, and I've kept my own house.

And I've learned as much of scripture as I could.

But you're now the center of my life.

You see?

Instantly... Like a flash of light.

Even if I didn't live a life with so much solitude,

Even if I'd come to you without any ailments at all,

Even if you didn't listen to me when I speak,

I would still stand by your side...

Because only you speak clearly.

Only you see this world clearly.

And see beyond it.

Only you.

-Jesus and his disciples traveled to the political

And spiritual heart of the jewish world during passover,

One of the holiest festivals of the year,

To proclaim his message openly and in public.

-What's he doing? -That's saul the mute.

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-Praise god! Praise god.

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-Blessing on you, brother.

-Jesus of nazareth!

You're healing on the sabbath?

-Yes. That's exactly what I'm doing.

On the sabbath, what do we do? Devote ourselves to god.

Rest and refresh ourselves, as god did

After he created this world.

Yes.

And for the lame, the blind, the crippled, the diseased,

All the afflicted, what about them?

Are they able to rest when they are hungry and lonely

And turned out to beg for their food and their drink

And their shelter?

No.

So, what is the best way

To devote ourselves to god on the sabbath?

To put on pious airs and ignore the people who are suffering,

Or to be with them and to help them?

-Listen to this man at your peril.

He knows scripture,

But he twists it and he turns it out to suit his own ends.

-Which could very well be the ends of satan.

Why would god need to impress you all with trickery?

-It's not trickery at all.

-Listen to me.

Everything can be forgiven,

Every sin committed under the sun on this earth.

But the ones who insist on following the letter of the law

To the point where they've abandoned the spirit of god,

They are the blasphemers.

-Outrageous! This man...

-They are contradicting... -...Is dangerous!

-...And denying the very spirit of forgiveness.

-He is doing the work of the devil among you.

-They are the unclean spirits, not the afflicted.

-It's the romans! -He and all his followers!

-Go, go, go!

♪♪

-I feel that time is running out.

-Do you? -You know my life.

There is not a moment

I can remember that doesn't feel like a miracle,

Even the sorrows and the pain,

Upset, the terrors I felt, everything.

-Yes, well, I've come to feel that way because of you.

-I wish that for the others.

But I think they have to find that for themselves

In their own time.

You understand that I have to die...

Don't you?

-I do.

I have to cry for you, my beloved companion.

But I know in my soul what you have to do

And what you will do and where you'll go.

-You're my joy.

[ both chuckle ]

-What are you saying?

-Look, the romans are the ones we need to worry about,

Not the pharisees or the sadducees or herod.

-Herod had the baptist killed, didn't he?

-Why do we have to worry about any of it?

Isn't that exactly the point that the master is making?

-If we're all taken captive by the romans,

Then there won't be a message to spread.

Woman! Those oils are expensive. -She's doing me a service.

-What service? -She's preparing me for burial.

Mother, my hour is not come yet.

But I've told you that I will die.

And I know that one of you will betray me.

-One of us? -Any of you except mary.

This mary. -It's always mary.

Why do you trust her so much and not us?

-It's not trust.

She knows in her heart what is so difficult

For the rest of you to understand.

-I think it's because you favor her in a way that's unseemly.

-Mary is a tower of strength.

She sees clearly and listens clearly.

That's all.

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My body...

...And my blood.

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Eat and drink. To remember me...

...To bring me into your hearts.

-You are in our hearts.

-To let me live there... Always.

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Live and grow.

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I'll see you again in the new life.

-Yes, master...

...In the new life.

[ sniffles ]

[ cries ]

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-You are my companion...

...Now and always.

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You told me that you would be back among us.

And so I will wait for you patiently.

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You were the light of this world.

And you touched us and passed the light to us.

And I made a promise to you that I would help the others,

That I would speak until they listen,

That I would light this world as I go, soul by soul.

And so I will.

So I will.

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-They've taken him.

-No. Move! -Come back!

-No!

[ panting, crying ]

-Why are you crying?

-Who are you?

-Mary...

I told you I would come back.

-Yes. You did.

-Now you must go and tell the others.

♪♪

-Yes. I will.

-Go and tell them and keep telling them

Until they understand.

Now, turn and go.

And remember, I'll always be with you.

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-He's returned to us! I saw him with my own eyes.

Nothing is the same now.

-We have to spread the word.

-He was given to me to deliver into this world.

It had to be someone. It was me. It was me.

It was my son. [ cries ]

-After jesus' death,

His followers were persecuted by the romans

For spreading a so-called "dangerous" message.

And the apostles couldn't safely meet in public

Without fearing for their lives. In fact,

Many of them would ultimately be martyred by the romans.

-I saw him. I have seen the lord.

-Woman, your grief misleads you.

-What I say is true.

He told me to tell you, to tell everyone.

-Stop with your idle tales.

-He told me not to cling to him

Because he hasn't yet ascended to his father,

To our father.

-Then all we can do now is remember him as he was.

-As he is. -Everyone...

...We'll take these moments to remember our beloved friend

Who taught us and guided us to another way, a righteous life.

-He did not believe in laws, but he was a righteous jew.

That's why we stood by him.

-He spoke to me of what plagues

And afflicts us within ourselves in this life,

The deceits that do violence to the soul --

Desire, the kingdom of the flesh,

The folly of the flesh, ignorance, darkness,

Wisdom born from anger, which really isn't wisdom at all...

...And death.

You see, these come to the soul and hover.

They appear before her

Like ghosts in the darkness, and accuse her.

And he told me that the soul stays still, like a watchman,

And speaks simply and says,

"whatever claims to seize me is killed dead.

Whatever turns me inside out is overcome.

My desire has come to an end.

My ignorance is dead.

In a world I was saved from a world.

And I was saved from the impotence of knowledge,

Which dies away and ends."

From this time on, here and now, I will find rest in the interval

Of the moment of the eon in my silence.

This is what he told me.

We can speak more of this

Because it can't all be absorbed at once.

-But you absorbed it instantly.

-Of course, because he always spoke secretly to you

But not in the open with us.

-Peter, why are you always angry?

-What do we do, just sit here and listen to her,

Because he preferred her to us?

-If jesus made her worthy, then who are you to reject her?

-Now she says she saw him in the flesh.

-Do you think I'm lying? -I don't.

And neither do most of the people in this house.

We should all be proclaiming the gospel that he gave us

And remembering his words as well as you do, sister mary.

[ knock on door ]

-You must leave this house -- now!

-They'll bring you through the strait and up to sidon.

Philip is there and so is sarah.

Goodbye, sister.

Beloved sister.

-Goodbye, my brother.

Brother peter, I must tell you something.

And you must listen.

Abandon the jealousy in your heart.

I'm telling you, you must stop imagining that you stood by him.

He knew you would deny -- -woman, who are you?

-Brother peter, he loved you.

And I love you.

And I'm not speaking in vengeance or recrimination.

We must love all of what we've done,

Our cowardly acts most of all.

They're given to us by god,

And so is our ability to see them and set them aside.

You see?

Peter...

...You and I have a bond of love through him.

And it can never be broken.

-What will I do without you, mary?

-You'll stand up and proclaim his gospel to the world.

And I'll do the same in any way I can...

Wherever I can... Every day of my life.

-It's time to go.

-Let's go.

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-It is said that mary escaped on a boat

That made its way through stormy seas

And was miraculously guided to what is now provence,

In the south of France...

...And that she lived on food brought to her by angels.

-Who's that?

-Are you the woman called mary?

-I am mary.

-Who knew jesus of nazareth?

-Come in.

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Sit.

-I've come because I long to know the thoughts

Of jesus of nazareth on certain matters.

People say that you knew him best.

-What's certain matters? Life? Death?

Everything?

-You've had other people asking you the same kinds of questions?

-Yes, many.

And I remember all of you.

I think of you often. Drink.

-Is it possible to ask... To know...

...What do we do in this life, sister mary?

How do we rise above the tangle of this life,

All this confusion?

-We don't.

-They say he did.

-Oh, no. There was only one of him.

And he died for all of us.

-They say he returned. -He never left us.

He's always among us.

-I see. -No, you don't.

How could you? You have to live it.

Life is not to be transcended.

It is to be lived and embraced --

Every mistake, every sin.

Sin itself doesn't exist. We make it.

That he taught me and showed me.

Gave me.

And all we can do is to see it

And acknowledge it in the light of...

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-Sister mary, in the light of what?

-Love...

...Pure love.

That is the light that he brought to this world...

And within this world to me.

Love, that's all.

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-So, on mary magdalene, like john the baptist,

There's very, very little about mary in the gospels.

But, of course,

We have the gnostic gospels, and we have the gospel of mary.

So, for this episode, we've used those and other sources to,

In a sense, dramatize a life of mary magdalene.

It's just general question about what does it mean to add,

You know, detail

And dramatic complication to the lives of people

From the gospels?

-I think to be clear about

What's there in the gospels and what's added.

To add that sort of piously and to imagine those things

I think helps us understand her as a real person.

But I would say there's plenty in the gospels

To show us what an extraordinary character

Mary magdalene really was. -Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

-What he said,

But, also, I think it's worth keeping in mind

How the act of filling in the blanks

Imaginatively goes all the way back in christian history.

The earliest images of jesus, he had no beard.

-Right. -If you look at fra angelico,

The enunciation's happening in a building

That looks like it was in 14th-century florence.

So, that imaginative act is as old

And as basic to christianity as can be.

-I think there's a danger, though.

You know, pope gregory, I think,

Conflated mary magdalene with the woman caught in adultery.

And so for years and years,

Centuries, people unfortunately thought

That mary magdalene was a prostitute.

So, I think that shows the danger of, you know,

What happens when we get too far away from the gospels.

And that's really, I think, tarred her reputation.

For me,

The most important thing about mary magdalene

Is that between the time

That she sees the risen christ at the tomb

And the time when she announces, as we see in this film,

The good news to the disciples on easter Sunday,

She is the church on earth in a sense.

I mean, she's the only one

That understands the story of the resurrection.

And so, I think that's the greatest part

Of her story, that for that time period,

She's the church until she announces it to the rest

Of the disciples.

-No, it's phenomenal, yeah,

-The interesting thing to me, or I always think of the --

We first see her -- right? -- When she's afflicted,

That she's, you know, inhabited by seven demons.

But those "demons" might have been a physical affliction.

She might have had endometriosis.

She might have had, you know,

Some pelvic pain or something people think of as dirty

And evil or being associated with your girl parts.

-We tend to think of her, unfortunately,

As, you know, in a sense, possessed,

Which I don't think she was.

In those times the demonic was associated often

With illness, and so he could have cured her from illnesses.

-And how, if she's the apostle to the apostles,

Why is she not an apostle?

-Well, I mean, in a sense, she is an apostle.

She's someone who's sent out by jesus -- right? --

The risen one, to announce the good news.

Apostle means someone who is sent,

And she is at the cross,

You know, with the beloved disciple and mary.

And also you know what I love in john's gospel?

The first thing, and it's in the easter reading,

In the mass, the first thing she says to the disciples is,

"I have seen the lord."

It's very simple, right?

And it's also what the believer says to people, right?

People who have experienced god in their lives --

That's mary magdalene's words.

"I've seen the lord," right?

"I've experienced god."

It's just such a great, pithy announcement of the good news.

-And then there's the fact that she's running.

-She's running.

-She goes and finds the tomb empty, and she runs.

Something that she didn't expect to see, she has seen,

And she's hightailing it back to town to tell them.

-Yeah. In some of the gospels,

It's dismissed as -- I think it's in luke --

As "laros," nonsense.

-Nonsense, because women are... -Less reliable.

I mean, as described in the gospels,

At least the disciples, the ones who were gathered,

Didn't believe a lot of the women, right?

And I think for jesus to appear to a woman,

Among the disciples, was quite challenging.

And I really do think

That any discussion of women's roles in the church

Has to start with this fact, that it was mary magdalene

To whom the risen christ appeared,

Not one of the men. -Right.

-And he could have appeared to whomever he chose.

-But also that they're arguing with her

That "he loved her more than us,"

And she spoke to him more,

And he gave her this special spiritual instruction

Because the other apostles were not ready for it,

They were not evolved enough for it.

-Well, and she's threatening to people throughout history.

I think that's one of the reasons

She is consigned to be a prostitute,

Because the idea of a powerful woman, you know,

Who was, in a sense, the equal to the apostles, almost.

-Or superior.

-Or superior, and then she might be just married to jesus.

That's recent -- right? -- That she was married to jesus.

And I also think that's kind of a diminution of her role.

Like, she doesn't need to be mrs. Jesus.

[ laughter ]

-All that you're saying just registers

How strong the bias against women was and remains,

Which then makes the presence of mary

In the gospel so extraordinary. -Yes.

-These other guys, they've got their roles

And they're rivalrous,

But they're especially rivalrous with her because she gets him.

We all know from our own lives

That when somebody gets somebody else,

Rivalry and envy follows on that.

-I also, in "last temptation of christ," depict mary

As a prostitute, based on the book, of course.

I was getting the last supper together with

Barbara hershey and peggy gormley and a number of others.

And they're serving.

And they looked at me, and they said,

"you don't think we're just going to serve

And not sit down?"

I said, "you're right.

You're the guys up on golgotha with him.

And whenever we get to shoot that scene, what was I thinking?

Of course. Sit down."

-The women are more faithful than the men are.

-Yes.

-One of the things that was really striking to me

About this film is the way one of the blanks

That's been filled in is how mary magdalene lived.

We see her living alone early on,

And then much later we see her

As a much older woman living alone.

And in both cases,

She's kind of a model for the contemplative

Or holy person in a way

That transcends one religious tradition

That's recognizable to christians, to buddhists,

To jews, to muslims,

And is surprising because we're used to seeing the apostles

All kind of as a group.

And so those two images,

Mary living alone as a relatively young person,

And then mary much older,

Almost like a figure for the desert fathers and mothers,

Really opened up her story to me in a new way.

-Imagine encountering the risen christ,

By whom all accounts was very difficult to understand

Who he was, what he looked like.

She mistook him for the gardener

And telling that story, you know, for the rest of her life,

Which I think is one reason why we can really see her,

As you were saying,

As kind of a fulcrum between the life of christ

And really what you would say the life of the church,

You know, which is about us all talking about

How we have seen the lord.

-That's beautiful, jim.

You ought to do this for a living.

[ laughter ]

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