I believe you may be confusing “three different people” in thinking that Mary Magdalene may be the woman in John 8:2-11, Luke 7:36-50, and John 20:1-18. Let’s take a look at each passage to see what we can learn.

In John 8:3 we read, “Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a WOMAN caught in adultery.” It would be inconsistent to think this is speaking of Mary Magdalene, for HER NAME IS NOT GIVEN yet in other passages her name is specifically mentioned. Some believe Mary Magdalene was a PROSTITUTE (more on that later) and thus they believe this “woman” must be “Mary Magdalene.” But there is zero evidence that Mary was a prostitute. The only passage that speaks of Mary before her conversion to Christ is Luke 8:1-3, which reads “Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene,        OUT OF WHOM HAD COME SEVEN DEMONS, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided Him from their substance.” Mary was known as being a “woman possessed with seven demons” and not as a prostitute. Based on this, and on the fact that the woman in John 8 is not named, we believe Mary was NOT the woman taken in adultery.

In Luke 7:36-38 we read, “Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a WOMAN IN THE CITY WHO WAS A SINNER, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” Here too we have a WOMAN mentioned and HER NAME IS NOT GIVEN, which would be strange for as we saw earlier Mary Magdalene’s name is specifically mentioned in other passages. This “woman” is simply called “a sinner” with no mention of her having been possessed of seven demons. Many have thought this woman was actually “Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha” because of a very similar account in John 12:3 where “Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.”

In John 20:1 we read, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdaline went to the tomb early while it was still dark, and saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” Later, in verse 11, we read, “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping” and a few minutes later we read “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’” (verse 16). Three times Mary is specifically mentioned in this account. She is also mentioned at the time of the crucifixion in John 19:25, “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” See also Matthew 27:56, 61; Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1, 9; Luke 24;120 and John 20:18.

This is sufficient “scriptural evidence” to teach us that Mary Magdalene was NOT the woman taken in adultery in John 8 and she wasn’t the woman who anointed Jesus with an alabaster flask of oil in Luke 7.  (DO)  (623.5)