Mary Magdalene: Can I Come Back After Failing Again?

As Mary Magdalene will experience, later on in season 2 of The Chosen, healing doesn’t always erase history or free the present of all bumps in the road. Suffering leaves marks, fear draws tracks, and shame has a way of whispering old lies when our guard is down. That’s what makes Mary Magdalene’s story in Season 2 all the more poignant. It reminds us that even the most dramatic transformation doesn’t make us completely immune to fear or liberated from old anxieties*.

By the time we get to Season 2, Mary Magdalene is respected by the group. She’s steady, trusted, knowledgeable, almost like a big sister to the others. She’s even in a position where she gets to guide and teach the others. But something is stirring below and making it to the surface. More and more, Mary Magdalene succumbs to nagging doubts, pressing uncertainty, piercing voices of inner division, and the temptation of falling back on old fears. And, being bombarded by these feelings, she buckles under the pressure.

Dallas Jenkins, director of The Chosen, shares in a touching video what it felt like specifically filming the scenes where Mary Magdalene (as portrayed by Liz Tabish) finds herself in distress, even after being saved by Jesus. Because: yes, Mary Magdalene struggled, too.

Haunted by who she once was, Mary Magdalene leaves. Triggered and anxious, she disappears into her old life. Ever feel that pull of old patterns as well? Maybe you don’t go back physically, but old coping habits resurface when the pressure builds. “Who do you think you are?” Shame whispers. Mary knows that voice all too well. But Jesus doesn’t let her go, and He won’t let you go either.

Jesus sends Simon and Matthew to find her. And they do. Neither of them condemns her for leaving. They’re simply… relieved. They bring her home. Even as shame still clings, especially with Jesus waiting. But Jesus also doesn’t scold. He doesn’t shame her. He welcomes her back: tender, understanding, kind. Mary Magdalene’s return becomes the beginning of deeper healing. It still can be for us, too.

Here’s the short answer: yes! Yes, you can come back, even if you’ve walked away, even if you’re ashamed, even if you’ve fallen. Grace didn’t just find Mary once—it found her again. And that’s the promise for all of us, too. What about you? What do you do with your fear and anxiety? Do you hide, still a prisoner to them? Or do you step out? Not just to face them alone, but to place them in the hands of the One who turns fear into joy, and anxiety into trust. You don’t have to be unafraid to return. Just willing. Go ahead. Jesus is ready to welcome you (back).

* While we sometimes use the terms fear and anxiety interchangeably in this article, we recognise they are not the same. Drawing on Rollo May’s distinction, fear is a response to a specific, identifiable threat, while anxiety is more diffuse, an unease about something uncertain, often rooted in deeper existential concerns. Fear warns us of danger; anxiety alerts us to meaning.