Mary of Bethany: A Devoted Disciple and Anointer of Jesus

ST. MARY OF BETHANY

Mary of Bethany is best known from the Gospels of John and Luke. She is the sister of Lazarus and Martha, and famously anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume. Her quiet devotion to Jesus, exemplified through her emotional mourning over Lazarus' death and her anointing of Jesus, is cherished in Christian tradition.

Martha preparing the meal while (in the background) Mary of Bethany sitting at Jesus' feet; painting (1566) by Joachim Beuckelaer

In the Gospel of John, a Mary appears in connection to two incidents: the raising from the dead of her brother Lazarus[11:1–2] and the anointing of Jesus.[12:3] The identification of this being the same Mary in both incidents is given explicitly by the author: "Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair."[John 11:1–2] The mention of her sister Martha suggests a connection with the woman named Mary in Luke 10:38-42.

In the account of the raising of Lazarus, Jesus meets with the sisters in turn: Martha followed by Mary. Martha goes immediately to meet Jesus as he arrives, while Mary waits until she is called. As one commentator notes, "Martha, the more aggressive sister, went to meet Jesus, while quiet and contemplative Mary stayed home. This portrayal of the sisters agrees with that found in Luke 10:38–42."[4] When Mary meets Jesus, she falls at his feet. In speaking with Jesus, both sisters lament that he did not arrive in time to prevent their brother's death: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."[Jn 11:21, 32] But where Jesus' response to Martha is one of teaching, calling her to hope and faith, his response to Mary is more emotional: "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.[Jn 11:33] As the 17th century Welsh commentator Matthew Henry notes, "Mary added no more, as Martha did; but it appears, by what follows, that what she fell short in words she made up in tears; she said less than Martha, but wept more."[5]

Anointing of Jesus[edit]

Main article: Anointing of Jesus

A narrative in which Mary of Bethany plays a central role is the anointing of Jesus, an event reported in the Gospel of John in which a woman pours the entire contents of an alabastron of very expensive perfume over the feet[Jn 12:3] of Jesus. Only in this account[Jn 12:1–8] is the woman identified as Mary, with the earlier reference in John 11:1–2 establishing her as the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

— John 12:1–8, New International Version

Christ in the House of Simon by Dieric Bouts, 1440s (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

The woman's name is not given in the Gospels of Matthew[26:6–13] and Mark[14:3–9], but the event is likewise placed in Bethany, specifically at the home of one Simon the Leper, a man whose significance is not explained elsewhere in the gospels.

According to the Markan account, the perfume was the purest of spikenard. Some of the onlookers were angered because this expensive perfume could have been sold for a year's wages, which Mark enumerates as 300 denarii, and the money given to the poor. The Gospel of Matthew states that the "disciples were indignant" and John's gospel states that it was Judas Iscariot who was most offended (which is explained by the narrator as being because Judas was a thief and desired the money for himself). In the accounts, Jesus justifies Mary's action by stating that they would always have the poor among them and would be able to help them whenever they desired, but that he would not always be with them and says that her anointing was done to prepare him for his burial. As one commentator notes, "Mary seems to have been the only one who was sensitive to the impending death of Jesus and who was willing to give a material expression of her esteem for him. Jesus' reply shows his appreciation of her act of devotion."[4] The accounts in Matthew and Mark adds these words of Jesus, "I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her".[Mt 26:13] [14:9]

Easton (1897) noted that it would appear from the circumstances that the family of Lazarus possessed a family vault[Jn 11:38] and that a large number of Jews from Jerusalem came to console them on the death of Lazarus,[Jn 11:39] that this family at Bethany belonged to the wealthier class of the people. This would help explain how Mary of Bethany could afford to possess quantities of expensive perfume.[6]

A similar anointing is described in the Gospel of Luke[7:36–50] as occurring at the home of one Simon the Pharisee in which a woman who had been sinful all her life, and who was crying, anointed Jesus' feet and, when her tears started to fall on his feet, she wiped them with her hair. Luke's account (as well as John's) differs from that of Matthew and Mark by relating that the anointing is to the feet rather than the head. Although it is a subject of considerable debate, many scholars hold that these actually describe two separate events.[7]

Jesus' response to the anointing in Luke is completely different from that recorded in the other gospels to the anointing in their accounts. Rather than Jesus' above-mentioned comments on the "poor you will always have with you", in Luke he tells his host the Parable of the Two Debtors. As one commentator notes, "Luke is the only one to record the parable of the two debtors, and he chooses to preserve it in this setting. ...If one considers the other gospel accounts as a variation of the same event, it is likely that the parable is not authentically set. Otherwise, the powerful message from the parable located in this setting would likely be preserved elsewhere, too. However, if one considers the story historically accurate, happening in Jesus' life apart from the similar incidents recorded in the other gospels, the question of the authenticity of the parable receives a different answer. ...John Nolland, following Wilckens' ideas, writes: 'There can hardly be a prior form of the episode not containing the present parable, since this would leave the Pharisee's concerns of v 39 with no adequate response'."[8]

Luke 10

Additional data: Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary

In section 10 of the Good news of Luke, Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha, residing in an anonymous town. Mary is appeared differently in relation to her sister Martha, who was "cumbered about numerous things"[Lk 10:40] while Jesus was their visitor, while Mary had picked "the better part," that of paying attention to the expert's discourse.[6]

As Jesus and his devotees were coming, He came to a town where a lady named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Master's feet paying attention to what he said. However, Martha was occupied by every one of the arrangements that must be made. She came to him and inquired, "Ruler, don't you mind that my sister has passed on me to take every necessary step without help from anyone else? Advise her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Master replied, "you are stressed and unglued about numerous things, yet just something single is required. Mary has picked what is better, and it won't be detracted from her."

— Luke 10:38-42, New Worldwide Form

For Mary to sit under Jesus, and for him to permit her to do as such, was itself dubious. In doing as such, as one observer notes, Mary took "the spot of a follower by sitting under the educator. It was uncommon for a lady in first-century Judaism to be acknowledged by an educator as a disciple."[9]

Most Christian reporters have been prepared to expect that the two events of sisters named as Mary and Martha allude similar sets of sisters.

Archaic Western distinguishing proof with Mary Magdalene

In middle age Western Christian custom, Mary of Bethany was recognized as Mary Magdalene maybe by and large due to a lesson given by Pope Gregory the Incomparable in which he showed about a few ladies in the New Confirmation like they were a similar individual. This prompted a conflation of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene as well similarly as with another lady (next to Mary of Bethany who blessed Jesus), and the lady trapped in infidelity. Eastern Christianity never embraced this ID. In his article in the 1910 Catholic Reference book, Hugh Pope expressed, "The Greek Dads, in general, recognize the three people: the 'miscreant' of Luke 7:36-50; the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Luke 10:38-42 and John 11; and Mary Magdalen."[10]

Father Hugh Pope listed the records of every one of these three people (the anonymous "miscreant", Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany) in the Good news of Luke and presumed that, in light of these records, "there is no idea of a recognizable proof of the three people, and assuming that we had just Luke to direct us we ought to surely have no reason for so distinguishing them [as the equivalent person]." He then, at that point, makes sense of first the position, around then broad among Catholics, likening Mary of Bethany with the evil lady of Luke by alluding to John 11:2, where Mary is distinguished as the one who blessed Jesus, and taking note of that this reference is given before John's record of the blessing in Bethany:

John, in any case, obviously distinguishes Mary of Bethany with the one who blessed Christ's feet (12; cf. Matthew 26 and Imprint 14). It is momentous that generally in John 11:2, John has discussed Mary as "she that blessed the Master's feet", he aleipsasa. It is regularly said that he alludes to the resulting blessing which he personally portrays in 12:3-8; yet it very well might be addressed whether he would have utilized he aleipsasa if another lady, and she a "delinquent" in the city, had done likewise. It is possible that John, since he is composing so lengthy after the occasion and when Mary was dead, wishes to call attention to us that she was actually equivalent to the "delinquent." Similarly Luke might have hidden her personality definitively on the grounds that he didn't wish to slander one who was at this point living; he positively accomplishes something almost identical on account of St. Matthew whose character with Levi the publican (5:27) he hides. Assuming that the prior contention holds great, Mary of Bethany and the "heathen" are one and the same.[10]

Hugh Pope then, at that point, made sense of the ID of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene by the assumption that, due to Jesus' high recognition of her deed of blessing him, it would be amazing that she ought to likewise not have been at his execution and revival. Since Mary Magdalene is accounted for to have been available on those events, by this thinking, she should accordingly be a similar individual as Mary of Bethany:

An assessment of John's Gospel makes it exceptionally difficult to prevent the personality from getting Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen. From John we gain proficiency with the name of the "lady" who blessed Christ's feet past to the last dinner. We might comment here that it appears to be pointless to hold that since Matthew and Imprint say "two days before the Passover", while John says "six days" there were, thusly, two unmistakable anointings following each other. John doesn't be guaranteed to imply that the dinner and the blessing occurred six days prior, yet just that Christ came to Bethany six days before the Passover. At that dinner, then, at that point, Mary got the radiant encomium, "she hath fashioned a decent work upon Me. ...In pouring this treatment upon My body she hath done it for My entombment. ...Wheresoever this Gospel will be taught ... that likewise which she hath done will be told for a memory of her." Is it trustworthy, considering this, that this Mary ought to have no spot at the foot of the cross, nor at the burial place of Christ? However it is Mary Magdalen who, as indicated by every one of the Evangelists, remained at the foot of the cross and helped at the internment and was the main recorded observer of the Restoration. And keeping in mind that John refers to her as "Mary Magdalen" in 19:25, 20:1, and 20:18, he calls her just "Mary" in 20:11 and 20:16.[10]

French researcher Victor Saxer dates the recognizable proof of Mary Magdalene as a whore, and as Mary of Bethany, to a lesson by Pope Gregory the Incomparable on 21 September 591 A.D., where he appeared to join the activities of three ladies referenced in the New Confirmation and furthermore distinguished an anonymous lady as Mary Magdalene. In another lesson, Gregory explicitly distinguished Mary Magdalene as the sister of Martha referenced in Luke 10.[11] However as per a view communicated all the more as of late by scholar Jane Schaberg, Gregory just put the last touch to a legend that generally existed before him.[12]

Western Christianity's recognizable proof of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany was reflected in the plan of the Overall Roman Schedule, until this was changed in 1969,[13] mirroring the way that by then the normal translation in the Catholic Church was that Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene and the evil lady who blessed the feet of Jesus were three particular women.[14]

Eastern Orthodox tradition[edit]

In Orthodox Church tradition, Mary of Bethany is honored as a separate individual from Mary Magdalene. Though they are not specifically named as such in the gospels, the Orthodox Church counts Mary and Martha among the Myrrh-bearing Women. These faithful followers of Jesus stood at Golgotha during the Crucifixion of Jesus and later came to his tomb early on the morning following the Sabbath with myrrh (expensive oil), according to the Jewish tradition, to anoint their Lord's body. The Myrrhbearers became the first witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus, finding the empty tomb and hearing the joyful news from an angel.[15]

Orthodox tradition also relates that Mary's brother Lazarus was cast out of Jerusalem in the persecution against the Jerusalem Church following the martyrdom of St. Stephen. His sisters Mary and Martha fled Judea with him, assisting him in the proclaiming of the Gospel in various lands.[16] According to Cyprian tradition, the three later moved to Cyprus, where Lazarus became the first Bishop of Kition (modern Larnaca).[17] All three died in Cyprus.[citation needed]

Commemoration as a saint[edit]

In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, Mary of Bethany is celebrated, together with her brother Lazarus, on 29 July, the memorial of their sister Martha.[2] In 2021, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments added their names to the memorial, making it a liturgical celebration of all three family members.[18]

Also in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church, 29 July is the date of the commemoration of Mary (together with Martha and Lazarus), as is the case in the Calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church and the Church of England (together with Martha).[19]

She is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches with her sister Martha on 4 June, as well as on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (the Third Sunday of Pascha). She also figures prominently in the commemorations on Lazarus Saturday (the day before Palm Sunday).

Mary is remembered (with Martha and Lazarus) in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 29 July.[20]

Feast Day

29-7-

Birth Date

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Died Date

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Bethany, Israel

O Saint Mary of Bethany, faithful servant and devoted sister, You who were ever at the feet of Jesus, listening and learning, Help us to always seek His presence in our lives. Guide us in our service and prayer, that we may grow in love and humility. Pray for us, that we may follow Christ with the same devotion and dedication. Amen.
ST. MARY OF BETHANY

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