Mary Magdalene and Easter Eggs, The Battle for Jesus
Mary Magdalene and Easter eggs. Could Mary Magdalene have invented Easter eggs? This is not a part of the novel in any way but many people ask me this question, especially around Easter time:
Mary Magdalene is a key figure in the story of The Resurrection, Easter Sunday. She is the first person Jesus shows himself to. So, he must have loved and respected her. She is the person who ran to the others with the message that Jesus had risen from the dead. She is often referred to as ‘The Apostle to the Apostles’.
In the story, The Battle for Jesus, after the death of Jesus, Mary flees to Ephesus where she grieves, becomes sick and is about to pass over when the Archangels, St Michael and St Gabriel, appear. They ask her to live on and become ‘their boots on the ground’. She agrees, as long as they look after her health. This is where, in the story, ‘cosmetic makeovers’ start!
The Battle for Jesus is fiction/surreal, but as Mary ‘lives on’ before the time of the novel (2006), it is possible in reality, that she could have met the Roman Emperor Tiberius.
Mary Magdalene did live within the reign of the Emperor Tiberius and she could have visited Rome. But, whether she met Tiberius in Rome or elsewhere I don’t know. True or false, had they have met, Mary could have told Tiberius about the Resurrection. And he, mockingly, could have said that the chances of that happening were about as good as the egg she was holding turning red. Where upon it did turn red! Or, so the story goes. Hence, Mary Magdalene is often considered the creator of Easter eggs, or of the tradition of giving Easter eggs to each other. Over the years, this has been commercialised! But, what a great story! And who is to say that it never happened?
Whatever your thoughts, who can blame Jesus for loving such a fine lady as Mary Magdalene?
In reality, Queen Elizabeth II attends service and prays at The Chapel of Mary Magdalene every year at Sandringham, one of her country estates. (This is nothing to do with Easter Eggs, but I have put it in to emphasise the strong connection between Mary Magdalene and Queen Elizabeth II, who is an important part of the story.)
Picture of Mary Magdalene by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926). Courtesy of The Russian Museum. Via Wikimedia Commons. (Note: ‘Christ is Risen’ is scribed in Greek at the top of the picture.)
This is a beautiful picture of Mary Magdalene holding a container of myrrh. An iconic lady, all soul. Whether the story of Mary inventing Easter eggs is true or not, does not really matter. Her ‘persona’ will live on forever. She is an intrinsic part of ‘The Resurrection’. We love her and we love our Easter eggs! (Again, Easter eggs have nothing to do with the story The Battle for Jesus, but many readers have asked me this question, so I have done by best to answer it.)
Hi Simon,
Thank you for taking time. In my opinion non of the stories about the meeting of Marry Magdalene with Emperor Tiberius, makes sense! Where as both Emperor and Marry where extremely intelligent people. Furthermore mockery has no place where Marry’s Master has been martyred by his governor! Aside from all this, if Jesus wanted to convert the government’s personalities through miracles then there were no need to lay out the logical concepts and parables in His talks. Instead he would have only performed miracles!
It makes more sense that actually Marry would have not take any eggs to the Emperor’s palace, but eggs being on the table as they meet. And after their initial conversation Emperor might have asked how do you suppose Jesus be still alive after being crucified!? In this juncture Marry would have taken an egg from the basket on the table and explained: this egg is potentially a bird and yet the egg is destroyed when the bird comes to life. So though we are in the realm of eggs Jesus is in the Realm of Birds. With such explanation Emperor Tiberius would have understood the concept of existence of a life beyond the present life and accordingly understood the fact that in the same manner that egg has no apprehension of turning into a bird Jesus had no apprehension of moving on to the heaven.
The reason that Christian history is full of stories of miracles is because logic had no appeal to un intelligent people and acceptance required a show of supernatural powers.