Seeking the Hidden Magdalene and the Beloved Disciple

When hard facts of history become personal symbols of initiation:

My hunch is that the figure of Mary Magdalene and her life story plays a much bigger part in the gospel according to ‘John’ than is immediately apparent, and the same applies to the author, the mysterious Beloved Disciple. If we can grasp the cohesive nature of their biographies retold in the gospel, then the allegorical or symbolic meaning of this initiatory document can be disclosed as a map of our own inner journey. Symbolism is born out of factual happenings and to discover these facts we need to go to contemporary sources. But are there any?

The four canonical gospels are commonly used as a source of information. Each was written and held in a community of dedicated followers of ‘the Way’, and later became known more widely, with the authors then named as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Complete originals have not survived. There are only copies, the earliest from three centuries after the events they describe around 30−33 CE. So were any of the original works by eyewitnesses?

Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE and its people murdered, enslaved or exiled. The same fate happened to many other cities in Palestine. After those tumultuous years, the land that Jesus knew was dramatically changed. Three of these gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are most likely the work of second generation Christians, by this time dispersed around the empire. They tell similar stories and are known as the synoptics (looked at together) but they do not claim to have witnessed the events of Jesus’ life and death.

Then we have John, the fourth gospel of the canon. The author probably led a community in Ephesus on the coast of present-day Turkey. Unlike the synoptics the gospel of John does claim to be the work of an eyewitness, named only as the disciple whom Jesus loved (the Beloved Disciple). It is generally acknowledged that someone close to the author added a final chapter to affirm the truth of that claim.

'This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true' (John 21:24).

Archaeological discoveries indicate that the author knew pre-destruction Jerusalem better than the other gospel writers. For example, his detailed description of the pool at Bethesda with five porticos, located north of the sheep gate, matches what has been excavated by archaeologists. Likewise, with the Siloam pool south of the Temple. He describes the location and topography of other places since rediscovered. Evident too is an accurate understanding of Jewish customs in that city. Such factual information lends credence to this person being an eyewitness. Remarkably, the gospel called ‘the spiritual gospel’ by church father Clement of Alexandria, is also the most factual.

John’s inner landscape of initiation is deepened when read as allegory

Marc Chagall, Song of Songs IV, 1958 – a biblical allegory of love both earthly and spiritual

My first post in this series The Enigma of Mary Magdalene describes how the early Christian writings, including the later gnostic interpretations, were guidebooks describing paths of initiation into the Christ mystery. That’s why it was originally known as the Way. As in all mysteries, the outer was given first and the deeper teaching was available to those who had been tested and well prepared. The fourth gospel’s cosmic vision tells of the divine Logos coming into the earthly realm. It is a multi-layered work, however, unfolding on several levels.

One of the things this gospel does is to set out the inward transformational path based on specific events, and also the people who inhabit the story. Some characters appear in the other gospels. Others only appear in this one. An anonymous disciple is mentioned often but is never named. And there is the disciple whom Jesus loved, outed as the eyewitness and author.

The work shows an affinity with Greek Platonic philosophy, especially in its use of dialogue and allegorical meaning – the most famous example of the latter is Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. When John’s gospel is read as an allegory, that is, as an extended metaphor, the physical events of the first century can be mapped into an inner psychological landscape related to what Carl Jung called individuation. And the symbolic meanings of names serve as guidelines for our own inner development. In a name lies the essence of a person.

In all good stories characters help the drama to progress. In an initiatory work characters have deeper roles that reveal the mystical nature of transformation. At significant points this author hides or disguises the actual identity of people and gives them names that draw attention to their function in the allegory. At other times the people remain anonymous to universalise what is taking place.

Jesus was inclusive. Contrary to the Judaism of the day, the fullness of the Way that he revealed was available to all, including women. ‘There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’, says Paul in his letter to the Galatians (3:28). The idea that men and women could be equally involved was central for people who had grasped the essence of Christian initiation.

To enter imaginatively into the events of John’s gospel and their profound symbolism is to encounter the story as spiritual psychology with the masculine symbolising the mind and the feminine denoting the soul and the experience of the heart. On a deeper level this is about integrating polarities and harmonising opposition within self so the spiritual ‘I’ can be born. I will be exploring this in future posts. Right now I want to keep to the task of meeting the real Mary Magdalene and the Beloved Disciple. So I would like to draw back a veil from the men and women who inhabit this story, especially those who are unique to this gospel.

In John 1:35-51, two disciples want to follow Jesus. One is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, the ot