Various biblical verses in both the Old and New Testaments describe a wedding feast in the New Heaven and New Earth, where the Messiah and His bride—representing the Church or God's enlightened ones—are united. We will link them up as follows. Notably, the feast must be vegan. And if we were to name an iconic feminine figure as the bride, it would undoubtedly be Mary Magdalene.
1. A Magnificent Vegan Wedding Banquet
"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." (Revelation 21:2 NIV)
Here, the bride is prepared and gracefully dressed to receive her husband.
1.1. An Animal-Friendly Wedding
"Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”" Revelation 19:7-9 (ESV)
Again, the bride is equipped with righteous deeds and ready for the marriage with the Messiah, which is an animal-friendly occasion on account of its being called the marriage of the Lamb.
"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord." Hosea 2:19-20 (NIV)
Then the bridegroom and the bride exchange vows with each other. The bridegroom declares that He will betroth the bride in righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness. And, of course, without veganism, there could be no true compassion. For God loves the world (John 3:16), including ALL His creation (Psalm 145:9); and “Thou shalt not kill!” (Exodus 20:13).
1.2. A Staunchly Vegan Bridegroom
"My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies." Song of Solomon 2:16 (ESV)
And the lady affirms that she and her man are exclusively committed to each other. The fact that her man or the Messiah “grazes among the lilies” indicates that He is staunchly vegan.
1.3. Rich Vegan Food Soaked in Olive Oil
"On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged grape juice—rich food drenched in olive oil and the finest of grape juice." (Isaiah 25:6, my trans.)
After the exchange of vows, Almighty God arranges a vegan banquet of lavish animal-friendly delicacies soaked in olive oil plus the finest grape juice for all nations. The “rich food drenched in olive oil” (Hebrew: shemen machah) of the messianic banquet in Isaiah 25:6, however, is mistranslated by NASB, KJV and NIV as “choice pieces with marrow”, “fat things full of marrow” and “the best meats”, respectively. Actually, “shemen” means oil, esp. olive oil, NOT animal fat; “machah” means "to rub, smooth, erase, or grease" and, by implication, oiliness or richness rather than animal bone marrow.
"Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" (Revelation 19:9, NIV)
Here, it is made clear that guests invited to this Messianic, animal-friendly, vegan wedding feast are blessed in a very privileged way.
1.4. Confirmation
The idea of the Messiah or Christ (the bridegroom) uniting with His bride (the Church) is confirmed by Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matt. 22:1-14) and Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13).
2. Mary Magdalene as Jesus’ Closest Partner
First of all, Magdalene was someone extremely close to Jesus, as she was Jesus’ financial sponsor (Luke 8:1-3), and present at His crucifixion, burial and resurrection (John 19:25; Mark 15:40-41; Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 24:10). Secondly, she’s probably Jesus the Vegan Christ’s (Matthew 9:13) advocacy partner in His self-costly fight for animal liberation, (Mark 11:15-18; Akers 2020:113-134)), because per Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Philip and Pistis Sophia, vegan Gnostic communities often portrayed Magdalene as Jesus’ most trusted disciple.
2.1. Magdalene as A Key Church Leader
Thirdly, Scholars recognize her as a key leader in early Christianity (King 2003; Schaberg 2002). Jesus loved her more than any other disciple, privately taught her secret knowledge (Gospel of Mary, Ch. 5.7-11, 8.10-24), and intended her to succeed Him and lead His church after His departure (Gospel of Mary, Ch. 6-10).
2.2. The Woman Jesus Loved Most
Fourthly, she’s in all probability Jesus’ beloved civil partner or spouse. Jesus loved her more than any other women (Gospel of Mary, Ch. 5.5), regularly kissed her (Gospel of Philip 111.30-35), and was likely married to her (Gospel of Jesus’ Wife; see King 2012).
3. Conclusion
To qualify as VIPs for the grand wedding feast of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, we must prepare our wedding garments (Matt. 22:11) in the form of vegan love and compassion for both our human and non-human neighbours (Mark 12:31).
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