JW:
I confess that the title of this Thread is intended as an attention getter but I also have faith that at the conclusion of this Thread the Superior Skeptic will agree that "Mark" (author) intended his Mary Magdalene to be Jesus' mother in some sense.
First, the basic frame of how "Mark" gets there:
Verse | Candidate for Jesus' mother | "Mark's" Criteria to be Jesus' Mother | Commentary |
3
|
Jesus' biological mother | Doing God's will | Since "Mark's" Jesus is doing God's will and his biological mother is trying to prevent him from doing so, "Mark" has eliminated Jesus' mother as being Jesus' mother. |
6
| - | - | The only place in GMark that names Jesus' mother. As always, note that generally in GMark the good remain anonymous and the bad are named. The general exception is that if you are prominently naughty you earn a name so that you can be replaced by a good with the same name. |
7
| - | - | This line doesn't really belong in this Thread but the clever irony is irresistible. Jesus speaks badly of his mother, and so dies The Death. |
16
| The women who come to prepare Jesus for burial, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome. | Doing God's will. | Based on GMark as a whole, none of these are Jesus' biological mother and "Mark" does not describe them as Jesus' biological mother. Reasons to think that the Mary's here were intended to be Jesus' new (spiritual) mother: 1) "Mark" had previously disqualified Jesus' biological mother from being his mother. 2) These Marys are doing God's will, following and anointing Jesus, and per "Mark's" Jesus' definition, they are his mother. 3) These Marys are doing what a mother is supposed to do, preparing their son for burial. 4) "Mark's" Jesus said that if you follow, you will receive multiple mothers. 5) The cruncher, as the Brits say, "Mark" has a style of giving the same name to important characters, the first, who meets a negative definition of discipleship, and the second who corrects. 6) Added to 5) is that "Mark" adds a contrived additional name, which is positive, to the corrector, Magdalene = high (Arimathea = best disciple). |
I'm just guessing but I think Salome here is an unrelated literary touch. Salome is not where she is supposed to be and not being where you are supposed to be is a theme of GMark. Salome is not in the Herod story where she should be but at the tomb where she should not be.
Nota Ben = Do you still think the Mary of James and Joses was intended to be Jesus' mother? I think the addition of James and Joses was just intended to further the identification of Jesus' biological mother being replaced. Her sons of James and Joses were likewise replaced with an unrelated James and Joses.
In the big picture, as GMark is the original Gospel narrative, the above is the source of much confusion in subsequent Gospels regarding which women were at the (imaginary) tomb. As is typical, as the last major Gospel, GJohn moves all the way from just editing GMark to actively reacting to it, explicitly saying that Jesus' mother was at the tomb (and implying that her name was not even Mary!).
Bonus material for Solo = Only one major character in GMark is never given a replacement name corrector and "Mark" even explains why. Who?
Joseph
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EHlj5nAxJM