MBTI Type: ISFP

Mary has a great deal of internal pain that she keeps bottled inside, from her demonic experiences. She does not want to try and talk about them with Nicodemus after Jesus heals her. But it allows her to sympathize with certain people – when a group gathers to hear Jesus teach, and a woman asks Mary to help get her crippled friend to him for healing, Mary refuses—until the man asks in desperation, “What if you were me?” “I was you,” she says, with dawning recognition—and she agrees to help them. She has to identify personally with him first. At her worst, Mary contemplates suicide, because she feels so much shame about the demons inside her head. She is a very physical woman, in how she loves to travel alongside Jesus, how much she enjoys the camping and the meeting of other people, and doesn’t fret about where they will sleep, what they will eat, or who will welcome them in, as long as she is close to him. When under demonic possession, even in her “better” periods (when she wakes up after a fit), Mary turned to alcohol to ease her pain. It’s thinly implied she raised her money through prostitution. She and the cripple’s friends break through the roof to lower him down to Jesus. Mary has good Ni. She can figure out what Jesus means long before the other disciples, sometimes interpreting for him or just “knowing” what he means, because they speak the same metaphorical language. But she relies on him to teach and invent new possibilities that excite her. She becomes harsh-tongued under stress, pushing away those who attempt to help her. Mary doesn’t think much about where they will stay or who will provide for them; she just tags along after Jesus and goes along with it, unworried.

Enneagram: 9w1 sp/so

Mary doesn’t like to upset people, especially Jesus. One of her reasons for saying no, at first, to the cripple is “I don’t want to disturb him while he’s talking.” After Jesus heals the man, she goes to apologize to him for interrupting his teaching, assuming he will be upset with her. The thought of revisiting her darker past with Nicodemus upsets her, and she shies away from it. She has a “go with the flow” peaceable attitude when it comes to whatever they are doing – Mary gets lost in it, in enjoying the moment, and doesn’t worry about anything that might lay ahead of them. She just trusts Jesus implicitly. Her 1 wing wants to do the right thing, and avoid being bad. She feels much shame for the hardships the world forced upon her, and great joy in returning to her old ways (and in holding her very first Shabbat!).