Mary Magdalene in the Bible Trivia Quiz

Answer: seven

Other than the man whose many demons gave their name as 'Legion' (Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30), this is the greatest number of evil spirits cast out of anyone in the Bible.

Answer: they ministered to Him

Considering the context and given that the subject is a group of women, a paraphrase of Strong's Lexicon gives the range of meaning of this word as:
to serve as a servant or to act as a waitress at table; to cook food; to procure or donate food and other essentials of life; to take care of; to perform helpful or supportive tasks (especially menial tasks).

Guess who washed Jesus' clothes?

Answer: from Galilee

This group of many women who provided for and ministered to Jesus and His disciples appears to have formed in the first year of Jesus' public ministry, in Galilee. The group is specifically mentioned in the texts cited below. We may assume that only the most prominent, or best known, are mentioned by name. Mary Magdalene is almost always (but not always) mentioned first. Also named are Mary the mother of James the lesser, Joanna the wife of Chusa (Herod's steward), Susanna, Salome, and Mary the wife of Clopas.

Matthew 27:55-56 cites Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses (or Joseph), and the mother of Zebedee's sons (the apostolic brothers James and John).
Mark 15:41 cites Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.
Luke 8:2-3 cites Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Chusa, and Susanna.
Luke 24:10 (in the context of Luke 23:55ff) cites Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James.
John 19:25 cites Mary Jesus' mother and (last) Mary Magdalene. The intervening reference to Jesus' mother's sister (and?) Mary the wife of Clopas is unclear: this may be either one person or two people. The text definitely refers to Mary's sister, but it seems very odd that her name would also be Mary. The more natural literal reading of the text would indicate that only one person is referred to, in which case a very reasonable interpretation would be to assume that Mary the wife of Clopas was Mary's sister-in-law rather than her sibling. Eugene Peterson, in 'The Message', offers a very neat solution (it is, after all, a paraphrase) in referring to Mary the wife of Clopas as Jesus' aunt, without specifying the exact nature of the familial relationship.

Answer: standing next to or near to the Cross

John 10:25 says, "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." (NKJV text)
Note: 'by the Cross' is open to some latitude in interpretation. It may mean anything from right at the Cross to some little distance away, but still relatively near. The natural reading, however, is for a distance as close as one would understand in 'by the fountain' in English.

Answer: sitting opposite the tomb

By now it was late, and women all over Jerusalem were preparing for the Sabbath: all meals until the close of the Sabbath at nightfall (after sunset) on Saturday had to be prepared in advance. No artificial lights could be used on the Friday evening or night, so everything had to be in place while they could still see what they were doing. Nevertheless, the two Marys would not leave Jesus' body until he is laid to rest, and until they knew where to find His body on Sunday morning.

Answer: just before dawn on Sunday morning

In summary, the women set out for the tomb in the predawn twilight, and arrived just after sunrise.
John 20:1 reports Mary Magdalene as going 'early, while it was still dark', and Matthew 28:1 is unequivocal in the Greek: it was very late on the Sabbath (which included Saturday night; therefore, before dawn) when they went to (ie 'departed for', not 'came to', as some translations have it) the tomb.
Mark 16:2 records their arrival after sunrise; Luke 24:1 has it 'very early in the morning' (Greek 'orthros': 'at daybreak').

*Technically, the Sabbath lasted from sunset on Friday until nightfall (after sunset) on Saturday; the religious practice was, however, to treat the whole of Saturday night as if it were included in the Sabbath.

Answer: Who will roll the stone away for us?

The fact that Mark records this question as concerning them is a clear indication that even a group of women (and there were probably at least five*) who were accustomed to daily manual labour were doubtful that they would be able to move the stone. Obviously, this was not a stone with any kind of power steering!

*Luke 24:10 names three women and also refers to others in the plural form.

Answer: Jesus who was crucified

The angel knew that the women are seeking Jesus' dead body: Jesus who had been executed by crucifixion. Since the women came bearing ointments for the dead, which they had prepared after seeing His body laid to rest on the Sabbath Eve (Luke 23:56), it is clear that they expected to find Jesus' dead body.

Answer: He is not here; for He is risen

Christians through the ages have greeted one another with the ringing affirmation of faith, "He is risen!", echoing this angel's announcement on an Easter Sunday morning, and usually receive the response, "He is risen indeed!" Christians have not only the Bible but their own faith experience, both of Jesus Himself and the experience of their daily lives, to confirm the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

Answer: Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

The angel invited them to examine the site where Jesus' body lay, and to satisfy themselves that the astounding news just given, that Jesus had risen from the dead, was really true.

Answer: Peter

The implication here is that the angel was passing on the Lord Jesus' instructions, and that Jesus was very aware of how Peter must have been feeling since he had denied the Lord. Jesus wanted Peter, of all of the disciples, to be reassured as soon as possible that all of what Jesus had promised had come to pass.

Answer: fear and great joy

They returned with fear or trepidation, an awed respect at the monumental events in which they found themselves engaged - and with great joy, because Jesus, whom they had believed was dead, had come back from the dead and risen into new life.

Answer: they ran

Can you imagine NOT running when you have this kind of great, wonderful, world-repairing news? How soon can I tell them; how fast can I get there? Your feet would run of themselves, and take you with them!
"Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning." - Psalm 30:5b, NKJV

Answer: they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid

In Mark 16:8 it tells how the women were too overawed to say anything of their experience to anyone. However, in verse 10 we see that it was Mary Magdalene who first mastered her awe and fear, and who went to tell the disciples.

However, the disciples did not at first believe her (was she perhaps still a little breathless and trembling?) From John 20:1-2, and verse 11, it appears that Mary Magdalene alone followed Peter and John back to the tomb when they did go down to see for themselves. Once again, Mary demonstrated a stronger faith than most - but then, she was lighter by the weight of seven demons, and had some reason to believe in Jesus' power!

Answer: she flung her arms around Him, or tried to

John 20:17 reads, "Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'"" (NKJV)

'Do not cling to me' is a pretty good translation under the circumstances. The Greek word is 'aptou' which means, according to Strong, 'to fasten one's self to, adhere to, cling to,' i.e. to hold, hug or embrace. It was also used of sexual intercourse, and, as Jesus was probably intending it here in the negative sense, of not touching or handling something or someone holy or consecrated.

Some provocative speculators have emphasized the theoretically possible sexual application of the word, but this is demonstrably not the case here:
* The substance of what Jesus gave as the reasons she should not touch Him relates to a state of consecration, a holy purpose yet to be fulfilled.
* The situation was emotionally rather than sexually charged. 'Rabboni', Mary calls Jesus - my much loved, much respected Teacher (not 'lover', notice!) - you're back from the dead! Of course she was going to hug Him! But the idea that she wanted to have sex with Him at this particular moment is ludicrous in the light of common sense.