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Church, what the role of the apostles were, whether they should only be men. >> over time what we see is women being pushed from a very central role in church organization and leadership to sort of marginal figures on the sidelines. >> if the gospel of mary is not a reliable account of her life, could there be another explanation for mary magdalene's disappearance from the story of the early church? >> when people think of mary magdalene, they often imagine an attractive woman with flowing hair sort of the same age as jesus and undeniably good looking. but she might not have been any of those ...

My lord. >> when she finds him, it's hard to imagine how joyful that must have been. especially on the heels of such devastation. >> it's this incredibly touching, intimate moment of recognition between these two people, teacher and the student. >> do not hold onto me. >> the first thing she wants to do is to hug the person that she followed and loved. so jesus has to tell her, i'm not ready yet to be clung to. mary magdalene is the first one to whom the risen christ appears. so she is of immense importance to christianity. for that hour or two, mary magdalene was the only one who knew about t...

It's a very open kind of movement and included women who a lot of the time might have felt themselves somewhat marginalized. being with jesus gave them identity and self-worth in a way that they often didn't find in ordinary society. >> mary magdalene seems atypical of a jewish woman for her time. most would have been in some kind of a domestic setting, either as a daughter or a mother or a wife. but to be out in the wilderness with a preacher with a name that does not link her to any man is unusual. >> but in the case of mary, it seems her role goes well beyond that of a simple spiritual foll...

From galilee, to jerusalem, all the way to the cross. >> she's a follower. she's a believer. she's committed to this. >> after following him for many months, mary magdalene's loyalty to jesus is about to be put to the ultimate test.

She was one of several women who actually helped support jesus, who provided for him during his mission. >> fishing was big business in first century magdala. so if mary had money, it came from fishing. >> perhaps she owned a fishing business and is using the proceeds from her fishing business to fund the jesus movement. >> we know that jesus was trying to reach out to women, so he's naturally going to have been looking for influential women in the community who had that credibility, woman to woman, as it were. ♪ >> luke describes these women who were supporting jesus, we have mary magdalene...