Who was Mary of Bethany in the Bible?

IF Mary, the mother of our Lord, was blessed among women in that she was chosen to be the vessel for the introduction of Christ into the world, Mary of Bethany occupied almost an equally favoured place. She was a member of that well-known household of three, of whom it is said, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus;" and it would seem that the Lord sometimes sought retirement, and surely refreshment, in the midst of these attached disciples. They loved Him because He had first loved them, and their simple and devoted affection cheered His heart amid the deepening gloom of His rejection. Of these three, Mary was the one who most fully answered to His mind, and entered into communion with His thoughts. This is certainly true of her, as compared with Martha; and it can scarcely be doubted, although little is said of Lazarus, that also she excelled him in single-eyed devotedness to her Lord. But whether Mary, Martha, or Lazarus, all was of grace, and the failures of Martha, as well as the excellencies of Mary, are adduced to teach precious lessons of warning and guidance for God's people in all ages. It is however especially with Mary that we are concerned in these meditations, even if it is necessary to consider her in connection with her sister and her brother, in order rightly to appreciate her spiritual features. She is only mentioned by name in Luke 10 and John 11, 12; but Matthew and Mark both preserve the record of her anointing the Lord with the costly ointment on the eve of His apprehension and death.*

The three are spoken of as those whom Jesus loved. They resided at Bethany, where they were privileged to welcome the Lord Jesus as a guest. On one of these visits Mary took her place at the feet of the Lord, feasting upon the words that fell from His lips. Martha wanted her help, but the Lord declared that one thing was needful, and Mary had chosen that good part, which should not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-42. The heart of Mary was riven at the death of Lazarus. Word had been sent to the Lord that he was sick, and yet He had not come. When Jesus arrived Mary exclaimed, as Martha had done previously, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died:" but Mary said it at the feet of the Lord. Jesus wept, and Mary thus learned His sympathy, and had a fresh taste of the good part which death could not take from her. To Martha Jesus said that she should have her brother back, and should see the power of death broken by the One who was "the resurrection and the life;" but Mary had Himself. John 11:1-44.

Afterwards, when they made the Lord a supper, a few days before He suffered, Mary, in full appreciation of her Lord, anointed His head and His feet with costly ointment. Judas and others were indignant at what they called 'waste,' but the Lord defended Mary's action, and said He was being anointed for His burial: this act should be told of her in the whole world. Nothing was too costly to be spent upon such a Lord. John 12:1-8: cf. Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9. It should be noted that this is not the same event as that recorded in Luke 7:36-50.

Mary, the sister of Lazarus, sat at the Lord’s feet and heard His word. She it was who anointed Him for His burial, which act is never to lose its fragrance—“Wheresoever this gospel shall be told in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman has done, be told for a memorial of her” (Matt. 26:13). She earned praise than which none can be higher, “She has done what she could” (Mark 14:8). To Mary Magdalene was accorded the high honour of carrying the wondrous message of association with a risen Christ to His disciples, “I ascend to My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God” (John 20:17).

IN the Gospel of Luke there is no further mention of Mary or Martha; and it is only from the Gospel of John that we learn that they had a brother, and that, as it would seem, he formed part of the highly-favoured household at Bethany. This we judge to be clear from verse 4, where it says, Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. In verse 1 it is only said, "Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." The three are so grouped together in verse 4 as the objects of the Lord's affection, and they were evidently so knit together also, as seen from the grief of the sisters in their bereavement, by such tender love one to the other, that the conclusion is forced upon us that they formed one family and one household. It should likewise be remarked that the typical teaching of the chapter circles mainly around Lazarus, for he who runs may read that he sets forth Israel in a future day, when, as Daniel teaches, "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake" — indicating doubtless the moral resurrection of the remnant of Israel in a future day, of which the raising of Lazarus in our chapter was a type or figure. Into this however we do not enter on this occasion, as our concern is chiefly with Mary, the sister of Lazarus; but the three, Martha, Mary and Lazarus, are so bound up together in the narrative that it will be necessary to consider Mary in the relations in which she was found; for indeed it is through these relationships and the circumstances of the moment that her character is displayed.

The prominence of Mary in the mind of the Spirit, even before the narrative commences, is seen from verse 2: It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. It is a loving reference to this act of Mary, teaching her how acceptable it was before God, that its fragrance after the lapse of sixty years* was still rising up before His throne. After this touching and fragrant parenthesis, the history begins with the statement that the sisters of Lazarus sent unto Jesus saying, "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." It was clearly no common sickness, but one that awakened in the hearts of Mary and her sister the gravest forebodings. If so, they were not without resource, for they knew Him who had cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick, and to Him they turned in their extremity. A common sorrow constrained a common appeal. It is often so with the people of God, and even with families, and the united supplication is ever fraught with richest blessing through the realisation of a common dependence, and being kept before God with a longing expectancy. In the case before us, the response to the prayer was delayed, and delayed for purposes of deeper blessing, as the Lord, by no means dimly, indicated when He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." (Ver. 4.) These words afford the key to the otherwise mysterious statement that when Jesus had heard therefore that Lazarus was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was. (Ver. 6.)

IF the surmise be correct that Magdalene means simply that Mary came from the town of Magdala, she was a Galilean, and had been brought up by the shores of the lake of Galilee. The notices in Luke 23:49, 55, certainly indicating Mary (see Luke 8:2-3), make it very clear that she came from Galilee, and consequently support the above conclusion. This being so, her identification with Mary of Bethany by many older writers is entirely without foundation, as we also believe is the attempt to connect her with the woman who was a "sinner," who washed the Lord's feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment, as recorded in Luke 7.* Nothing is more evident, if the narrative be carefully examined, than that the woman who was a sinner, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene, are three distinct persons, and that the anointing of our Lord in Luke 7 is to be distinguished from the anointing recorded by Matthew, Mark, and John. There are similarities, for indeed it could not be otherwise, but morally, and in their significance, they are completely different. If the records be read in their spirit rather than in their letter, it will at once be perceived that two very different states of soul and stages of spiritual experience are described and presented.

Do not confound this woman with Mary in John's Gospel (not named by Matthew and Mark). The one anointing took place at the end of the Lord's ministry, the other far earlier which Luke here records. The one was the anointing of Himself by a saint devoted to Him; the other by a sinner without a character, just being brought to God. They were wholly different facts. We do not find Mary of Bethany weeping over the Lord, or any sign of penitence there. If you speak of some resemblance, how could there but be, if divine love worked in the heart of either the lately abandoned woman or the long proved child of God? Some have supposed her to be Mary Magdalene. This is another of the fallacies of tradition, and irreconcilable with scripture. Mary of Magdala comes forward first in the next chapter (Luke 8) as a stranger. "And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others." These are brought before us as altogether new persons. This Mary is nowhere spoken of as having been a woman of loose life; hers was the dreadful lot of having seven demons dwelling in her — an extremely awful case as a prey to the power of the devil, whether men believe it or not. Such is the difference that scripture makes between the two women.

The woman who did this blessed work for the Lord is not named here. From the Gospel of John we learn that it was none other than Mary, the sister of Martha. To fully understand the scene here the account in the Gospel of John must be taken in consideration (Chapter 12). There we read the details of the feast which was made for Him in the house and that Lazarus was also present. How devoted Mary was to her Lord. We first see her at His feet listening to His words. "One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part," He had said then. She had acknowledged Him in His office as Prophet. In John 11 we see her again at His feet. There she is weeping on account of the death of Lazarus; a little while later He weeps with her. She knew Him as the sympathizing One, as He is now our Priest. And here she anoints Him, and does it for His burying. In faith she realizes the near approach of that death, of which He had spoken. She believed He, the Lamb of God, would soon die; she understood more of that death than all the other disciples. Perhaps when she sat at His feet He had spoken to her about His coming death and burial and resurrection. But some readers of the Bible have a difficulty. Here in our Gospel she anoints His head, but in the Gospel of John she is at His feet and anoints them, wiping His feet with her hair. Critics and infidels who deny the inspiration of the Bible have pointed this out as one of the glaring contradictions, while others have thought of two different occasions when the anointing took place. There is, however, no difficulty here at all. She anointed both His feet and His head. The Holy Spirit reports the anointing of the head of the Lord in Matthew, because this is in harmony with the object of the Gospel. He is the King, and while He is the rejected King, her faith no doubt looked beyond death and burial. In John the Holy Spirit gives the anointing of the feet and leaves out the anointing of the head, because the King is the Son of God; as such he is described in the Gospel of John, and that attitude of Mary before His feet anointing them is in fullest harmony with the fourth Gospel.

We see her first in her sister's home at Bethany, when the Lord of life entered that home and Mary sat at His feet as a learner (Luke 10). Later, when death had entered the home, she is found at His feet as a mourner (John 11). Lastly, when a few of His loved ones make a supper for the Lord, who had just manifested His resurrection power and glory, she is found at His feet as a worshipper.

The Family. — A family of three dwelt there — two sisters and a brother, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Another person is named by Matthew and Mark as dwelling in the village — one Simon the leper. In his house Mary anointed the Lord — a friend evidently of the family, as Martha could busy herself in serving under his roof (John 12:2-3). Nothing is known of him to support the idea, that he was the kinsman of the family, or that he stood in a closer connection as the husband of Martha. "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" we read (11:5), which would apparently intimate, that those three comprised the whole family circle. That Martha had a house of her own is definitely stated in Luke (10:38). Into it she on one occasion received the Lord. How she came to have a house is a question, the solution of which is beyond our power.

Simon the Leper, at whose house 'a woman' anointed the head of the Lord. Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3. By comparing these passages with John 12:1-3 it seems evident that Martha and Mary lived in Simon's house (they were perhaps in some way related to him), and that Mary was the woman alluded to. There is no authority for associating this anointing of the Lord with that recorded in Luke 7:36-50, described as being by 'a sinner.'