Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. There were three wise men who visited Baby Jesus at the manger. Jonah was swallowed by a whale. You sure about that? “Yes, it’s in the Bible.” You sure about that? Many millions of Christians hold beliefs, not because those beliefs are found in the Bible, but because they’ve been taught them all their lives.
Let’s take Mary Magdalene. A very large number of people believe that she was a prostitute before meeting Jesus. Yet, there is no biblical evidence of this assertion. Certainly Mary expressed deep contrition for her sins, whatever they were, and found acceptance and mercy from Jesus, but a prostitute? In 1591, Pope Gregory the Great, during a homily given at Rome, apparently sealed Mary’s fate as a notorious sinner.
Protestants, who generally reject all things Catholic, held on to this teaching despite there being no biblical or historical evidence. Indeed, Mary is numbered with the disciples, is present at the crucifixion, and is the first person to whom the resurrected Jesus appears. In an article in U. S. Catholic, “Who Framed Mary Magdalene?” reports are that her reputation, who was once known as the “Apostle to the Apostles,” is being restored.
The Three Wise Men? Nowhere are there reports in the New Testament of three wise men, or Magi. There are reports of Magi, the number undetermined, who set out to visit this one they believed to be born King of the Jews. The confusion seems to arise from there being left three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. How many gifts? Three. How many Magi? Unknown. There may have been three. Or 30. The record is silent on this.
And speaking of the Wise Men, did they visit Jesus at the manger, surrounded by shepherds and animals? They did not. This little myth seems to have crept into our pseudo theology as a result of Christmas plays and art work that tended to compact drawn out events into a single night.
The Magi had to make a rather long journey to visit Jesus. It took time to arrange a caravan and even more time to make the arduous journey from where they were to where they were going. Travel by camel and by foot is not rapid transit.
In fact, the slaughter of the Innocents by King Herod, as a result of the visit by the Magi, indicates that Jesus may have been approaching 2 years old by the time the Wise Men made their appearance. Whenever they arrived, the Holy Family was now out of the manger, in a permanent dwelling, and the shepherds had long-since returned to their fields.
But Jonah was swallowed by a whale, right? Well, maybe. But not for certainty. When God gave Jonah the mission of preaching to the city of Nineveh, Jonah balked. In fact, he felt that if the city was to be judged by God, then good. So be it. And, thus, he fled on a ship going away from the city.
The Bible indicates that a great storm arose, Jonah went overboard and was swallowed up and transported to the shores near Nineveh where he was vomited up safe and mostly sound. Getting the message, Jonah preached, the city repented, and God spared the people of the city.
However, no mention of a whale is found. The account reads that God “prepared a great fish” to provide Jonah the opportunity to be the world’s first submariner. What kind of fish? Again, this is not revealed. People have assumed it was a whale but a whale is not a fish but a mammal, although some ancients may have considered everything in the deep a “fish.” In any event, the specifics are unknown.
And, as we see, some of our most sincerely held beliefs are just not true at all. The solution? Simply reading the Bible for one’s self, employing scholarly commentaries, and a fair amount of common sense works wonders. There’s enough powerful truth in the scriptures without resorting to believing myths.
[David Epps is the pastor of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Sharpsburg, GA (www.ctkcec.org). He is the bishop of the Mid-South Diocese which consists of Georgia and Tennessee (www.midsouthdiocese.org) and the Associate Endorser for the Department of the Armed Forces, U. S. Military Chaplains, ICCEC. He may contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.]
