Analogue 37: The Wisdom of the Mother

  

Analogue 37: The Wisdom of the Mother

Wisdom who some call barren, is herself the Mother of the Angels.

The companion of the Anointed One was Miriam of Magdala, for the Master appeared to love her more than the other students, and many times would kiss her on the mouth. When the others saw his love for her they asked him,

“Why do you love her more than the rest of us?”

“Do I not love you as I love her?” the Savior answered.

When someone who is blind is in the dark with someone who can see they are no different from one another. But when the light comes, and the one who can see beholds the light, the blind person remains in the darkness still.

SYNOPSIS

• Note: changes in the translation are the translator’s revisions of the Luminous Gospels. Wisdom is understood as a divine feminine principle and living presence.
• Unresponsiveness to or rejection of the feminine Wisdom principle makes it barren, unproductive, and unfruitful.
• The role of Wisdom as Mother is to birth angels and light. This may inform our understanding of personal angels. 
• Yeshua is said to have often kissed Miriam of Magdala (Mary Magdalene) on the mouth; what was the nature of Yeshua’s relationship with her?
• Their relationship is (at least in part) symbolic of how we are invited to relate to Wisdom and the divine. The reaction of the disciples is symbolic of the Second Temple’s rejection of the divine feminine.
• Mary was herself someone who walked in the light, living in a higher state of awareness than Yeshua’s male students; the contrast between jealousy and love.
• The difference between Mary and the other students is used to illustrate two different conceptual abilities. 
• Constitutional blindness versus darkness—no eyes with which to see and no light for one’s eyes to be able to see—is the current condition of humanity. 

COMMENTARY

First Temple Rejection

The text of the Gospel of Philip takes a deeper plunge into the mysteries that Yeshua knew and taught and obviously raises questions related to a great historical controversy. The relationship that Yeshua has to Mary Magdalene is brought front and center in this text and adds a completely new interpretive element not only to his own personal life but also to a deeper understanding of humanity’s struggle with Wisdom as a feminine principle. In a patriarchal society, Yeshua’s entire understanding concerning Wisdom was undoubtedly troublesome in that day and highly suspect. If Margaret Barker and others are correct, then this teaching reflects the insights of Jewish First Temple Mysticism, with which Yeshua appears to be deeply involved. 

This teaching appears to relate directly to what are known as the Deuteronomic Reforms of Temple worship carried out prior to the exile. During the time of King Josiah (640-609 BCE) and under his influence, Jewish tradition apparently cast Lady Wisdom out of the temple, rejecting her, calling her barren and unfruitful—perhaps even a foreign whore. Jewish tradition took a wrenching turn away from the First Temple religion of the ancestors (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and toward the Mosaic covenant. Lady Wisdom was expelled from the temple. Her worship was discarded, her alters and images destroyed. The same attitude continued into the second Temple period of Yeshua’s day with its emphasis on the Torah and its teachings. If, as it seems, he was an advocate for the restoration of Lady Wisdom’s honor, bringing her power and presence back into Jewish life, then this passage indicates how Yeshua saw her as both mother and birther of the Angels. 

Angel Archetype

An appreciation for the Angel archetype as the twin form of each human being appears to be a signature teaching of Yeshua involving the mysteries of human origination. In this understanding, every individual soul’s mother is Sophia (or in Hebrew, Hochmah). She is seen as the mothering principle and bearer of the Angel archetype for each unique human being. This teaching concerning the origin of the angels is clearly being explicated in this Gospel from the Oriental Christian tradition as well as the Gospel of Thomas. While set apart from the teachings of western Christianity, it is aligned with to first-century Jewish mystical tradition and perhaps to other sacred traditions of the ancient Middle East as well. 

Though only an outline, this analogue acts as an introduction to this larger sacred teaching whose depths will be explored later in this Gospel where Yeshua has an intimate relationship with Wisdom in the Bridal Chamber. Using the analogy of Yeshua’s own personal association with Mary Magdalene, this Gospel explores the possibility of personal relationships with Lady Wisdom who is, in her many guises, mother, sister and companion. It is in the image of her as a lover or companion that Yeshua kisses her (as a Wisdom figure) on the lips, embracing her fully. This is perhaps historically accurate in his personal relationship with Mary Magdalene, but it is also a metaphor—iconic of a much larger understanding of Wisdom’s purpose in both our own and Yeshua’s experience. 

Using the analogy of Yeshua’s own personal association with Mary Magdalene, this Gospel explores the possibility of personal relationships with Lady Wisdom who is, in her many guises, mother, sister and companion. 

It is in the image of her as a lover or companion that Yeshua kisses her (as a Wisdom figure) on the lips, embracing her fully.

Mary Magdalene

This passage is a double entendre with multiple layers of meaning encoded which the reader is invited to enter and explore. Yeshua appears to have loved and embraced Wisdom as he did his companion, Mary Magdalene. His male students, seeing the relationship, reacted with what appears to be an implied jealousy in their question to Yeshua. Did he love them as much as he apparently loved her? Was she replacing them as center-stage in his life and relationships? Is she a worthy student? Were some of his more profound teachings and insights being transmitted to her rather than to them? Yeshua responds to their inquiry with his own rhetorical question, essentially “Do I indeed love her more than I love you?” What do they really know or believe? They seem to be speechless and unprepared to answer him. Yeshua appears to have simply let the question hang unanswered for them to ponder. The matter was clearly important or it would not have been recorded in this early text. If this passage indeed reflects an actual historical dialogue between Yeshua and his students, then we are privy to some of the personal relationships, exchanges, and even unspoken forces existing in that first company of followers. 

We could certainly remain focused on the fascinating historical possibilities suggested by this analogue. There is mystery and intrigue here, much of it has been lost in the West even as legend, if not history itself. Regardless of how we read the historicity of this passage, the deeper significance has to do with Yeshua’s relationship with Holy Wisdom, the ancient divine feminine principle of Sophia Perennis, to which he is wedded. His relationship with Mary Magdalene symbolizes his inner relationship with Lady Wisdom who is also his companion. He is intimate with this inner archetype. He kisses her and is in love with her. The outer behavior toward Mary Magdalene is symbolic of an inner ideal and force with which Yeshua lives. These words are a mirroring and repetition on another of this Gospel’s circling spirals of themes that appear in various locations as it moves toward its center point. Analogues 17 and 18 tell us of the symbolism of the three Marys, and the intimacy of the kiss from the Source itself that brings creation into being. Yeshua is recapitulating the generativity of the Source and, with his companion, Holy Wisdom, in the intimacy of the Bridal Chamber, will be bringing children to birth and full realization—through the secret intimacies of that domain. These are interweaving and repeating patterns in which the exoteric world reflects in the esoteric and the inner world is generative in the outer world in a kind of fractal patterning. 

Blindness

The final paragraph about blindness may seem to be tangential to the central topic, but is it? Or is the whole discussion of Wisdom and his male students’ understanding (and even their acceptance) of Mary Magdalene is simply being used as an example of universal human blindness? Being in the dark is a common human reality. Being blind, however, is entirely another. In this instance, the male disciples cannot see the true nature of things. But are they blind, unable to see light at all, or are they simply in the dark of some night of their own, living in ignorance? 

When light or true knowledge comes, the capacity of a human being is revealed and perhaps changed. A person who is permanently, physically blind will never be able to see the light, while an ignorant person can wake up into the light (or perhaps may willfully choose to go back to sleep). Ultimately divine will and power can heal one who is physically blind, but can one who is willfully blind be made to see the light? These various contrasts and conditions are more readily understood in the light of Wisdom herself, who to this day remains exiled for many. This analogue suggests that Yeshua embraces Lady Wisdom and any who love her. Together both of them (Yeshua and Lady Wisdom) are ready to give the gift of light and deep spiritual in-sight, releasing them from blindness. Perhaps it is exactly this act of release which is a burst of light that opens the seeing of the inner eye which constitutes enlightenment for Yeshua’s followers. 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. The long sapiential tradition pictures Lady Wisdom as the mother of humanity. In this analogue she is said to be the mother of the Angels. That the angels are her children may be a new thought for you. How do you respond to this? Does it change anything in the way you think about the angelic realm or about yourself, especially if you are yourself said to be aligned with your twin, the Angel archetype of your own being? Journal your thoughts about these teachings and descriptions. 
2. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes Josiah’s Reforms this way: “Deuteronomic Reform, was a great religious reformation instituted in the reign of King Josiah of Judah (c. 640–609 bc). ... The reform consisted of removing pagan altars and idols from the Temple, destroying rural sanctuaries and fertility cults, and centralizing worship at the Temple of Jerusalem.” Why would the divine feminine form of Wisdom be ostracized from religious culture at that or any other period of history? What role does conventional religion and patriarchy play in such an expulsion? Read about Josiah’s Reforms in biblical history. In light of Wisdom’s exile, and her replacement, how might we rethink this history? (II Kings 22-23, II Chronicles 34-35). 
3. Do an online search of the work of the scholar Margaret Barker and her study of the first and second Temple. She has an excellent website devoted to these topics where you can explore her articles to learn more. 
4. There are many traditions associated with Mary Magdalene and a whole spectrum of interpretative descriptions concerning her life and its influence upon Yeshua. These range from that of a reformed prostitute to that of Yeshua’s wife. What do you make of this diversity of opinion? 
5. Does this passage’s implication that Yeshua was Mary Magdalene’s lover shock you or change the way you think about Yeshua?
6. What is your relationship to Wisdom, especially in the divine feminine form of Lady Wisdom? What difference would it make if Wisdom were depicted as masculine? 
7. What is willful blindness? How does it relate to ignorance among human beings? Notice the relationship between light, wisdom and blindness. How do you see their relationship working  inside of you?

NOTES FOR FURTHER STUDY 

AND REFERENCE

1. The depiction of another kind of intelligent being, biblically named an Angel (meaning a messenger in the Greek language), has a long and varied lineage across many traditions. Such beings are called by a variety of names: gods, jinn, spirits, etc. The use of the term ‘angel’ begins early in the Hebrew tradition and continues into the Christian and Islamic worlds as part of their shared ideas and themes. Interestingly, much of how we understand the subject of angels has its origins in the Mazdean world of Persia’s Zoroastrian tradition, where angels are described in greater detail involving multiple orders in their relationship to humankind. During the exilic period of Jewish history, the Hebrew people borrowed heavily from this understanding of the angels, apparently bringing it back with them following their decades-long exile in Babylon and Persia (598 to 538 BCE, called the Babylonian captivity). 
2. A fascinating aspect of the angelology in the Abrahamic traditions is an explanation of human beings having or being aligned to an angel of some kind. It is said that coming to earth each person bifurcates, one part departs to earth as a human being and the other part remaining in heaven in the form of one’s own angelic guardian. This understanding of the make-up of a human appears to be taught by Yeshua (or at least implicitly) in the Gospel of Thomas  (see Logia 11, 19, 50, and 84) and is therefore a characteristic feature of as well as a context for the Gospel of Philip. For further study of the origins and evolution of the angelic hierarchy see the works of Tom Cheetham (especially the texts The World Turned Inside Out, Green Man, Earth Angel, After Prophecy, and All the World is an Icon). 
3. To speak more explicitly, the so-called Deuteronomic Reform under King Josiah (before the sack of Jerusalem and the exilic period) meant many things to the Jewish nation and significantly changed the course of its history. Josiah consolidated power into his own hands in Judea and centralized religious worship in Jerusalem, destroying ancient sites and places of worship across Palestine. After a discovery of the scroll of the Torah, he reorganized the work and worship of the Temple and its priesthood around the centrality of the Torah as the focus of its teaching and ritual practice. In his view, what came before his reforms he considered to be inferior, thus he “cleansed the temple” of its historic accretions and did away with many of the older customs and traditions based on earlier Abrahamic traditions. It was a serious rejection of the past. When Israel was re-established as a nation after the exile and the second temple was built, it contained, it appears, none of the older Abrahamic elements. A second theology of worship and Jewish rite centered on Mosaic teachings became the focus of what is now called “Second Temple Judaism.” For further details of this history and its significance consult the work of Margaret Barker (especially the texts Temple Theology and Temple Mysticism). 
4. Early Christian history and tradition is replete with legends concerning the figure of Mary Magdalene. She was clearly a controversial figure and much has been made of her unique relationship to Yeshua. In the western tradition there are stories that she was a reformed prostitute devoted to Yeshua who later bore his child, taking it to southern France where a royal lineage ensued from this birth. The Eastern Traditions of Mary Magdalene suggests something entirely different about her early life and how she came to be in the circle of Yeshua’s students. It tells a tale of her betrothal to a merchant in Baghdad by her father and subsequent capture on the way there to be married. The brigands who took the caravan, abused and then sold her. Escaping her slavery, and making her way back to Palestine, she is said to have crossed into her country at the river Jordan at the very time and place Yeshua was being baptized. Whether or not either of these two legendary tellings is true, Mary left a profound and colorful mark upon Yeshua and the early history of his movement. We now have available a rediscovered ancient Egyptian Gospel text that bears her name. Although incomplete, it is rich with history and insight and may be in some respects similar for Oriental Christianity what the Book of Acts was for Occidental Christianity. (See the Luminous Gospels and the works of Cynthia Bourgeault and Karen King in regards to this Gospel text and a yet-to-be-published commentary on that Gospel by Alison Hine). 
5. In regards to the Mother, Margaret Barker writes the following: Christians honour Mary the Mother of Jesus, and from the earliest times they have praised her with elaborate titles and hymns.  In the Reformation Protestants objected to this and said it had no basis in the Bible.  The first archaeologists in the Holy Land used the Bible as their guide book, and so did not expect to find evidence for an important female figure in the era of the kings, before about 600 BCE.  However, they were surprised to find hundreds of small statues of a woman, some buried close to the temple itself.  We now know that there was a Mother in the Jerusalem temple, who was the heavenly Mother of the Messiah.  Revolutionaries in the 7th century BCE expelled her from the temple, and they then edited the Hebrew Scriptures to remove references to her.  The first Christians still knew about the Mother of the Messiah, and they also knew the ancient titles used to honour her.  They used these to honour Mary. (In a January 2021 blog post). 

Notes on the Translation 

• The word ‘barren' could also be translated as ‘sterile’.
• Miriam of Magdala is, of course, Mary Magdalene in the literal language of this text. Magdala means “tower” and may have been an actual structure along the Sea of Galilee in the town of that name. It may also be of metaphoric significance in describing her character. 
• Yeshua’s answer to the students’ questions may simply be rhetorical, implying he loves them as well, but in their case differently.
• The particular way that we have chosen to translate this text emphasizes a meaning that says the students are blind to the fact that Yeshua loves them as much as he loves Mary Magdalene. They cannot see it (using the next paragraph in the analogue as the answer to why Yeshua responds as he does). The word “appeared” is thus an interpretive word added to clarify this way of translating the text. However another understanding could be that Yeshua does love Mary Magdalene more than his male students and so the last sentences would say “So why do I not love you as much as I love her?” and the answer would be that they are blind and she is not. However, this seems to contradict other aspects of this Gospel which says that love transcends such divisions.