Editing Mary of Bethany (section)

==Biblical references==
=== Gospel of John ===
[[File:Joachim Beuckelaer - De welvoorziene keuken 001.JPG|thumb|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 [[Lazarus of Bethany#Raising of Lazarus|raising from the dead]] of her brother Lazarus<ref>{{bibleverse|John|11:1–2|NIV|11:1–2}}</ref> and the [[anointing of Jesus]].<ref>{{bibleverse|John|12:3||12:3}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{bibleverse|John|11:1–2|NIV}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Zondervan John">{{cite book|last=Tenney|first=Merrill C.|author-link=Merrill C. Tenney|chapter=John|title=Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary|editor=Kenneth L. Barker & John Kohlenberger III|date=1994|publisher=Zondervan Publishing House|location=Grand Rapids, MI}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|11:21, 32|NIV}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|11:33|NIV}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite book|last=Henry|first=Matthew|title=Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible|date=1706|url=http://www.studylight.org/com/mhc-com/}}</ref>

===Anointing of Jesus===
{{Main|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<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|12:3|NIV}}</ref> of Jesus. Only in this account<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|12:1–8|NIV}}</ref> is the woman identified as Mary, with the earlier reference in {{Bibleverse|John|11:1–2|NIV}} establishing her as the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

{{blockquote|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 [[spikenard|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."| {{Bibleverse|John|12:1–8|NIV}}, [[New International Version]]}}
[[Image:Bouts anoiting.jpg|thumb|270px|right|''Christ in the House of Simon'' by [[Dieric Bouts]], 1440s (Staatliche Museen, [[Berlin]])]]
The woman's name is not given in the Gospels of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|26:6–13|NIV|26:6–13}}</ref> and [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|14:3–9|NIV|14:3–9}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Zondervan John" /> 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".<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt|26:13|NIV}}, {{bibleverse|Mark|14:9|NIV|14:9}}</ref>

Easton (1897) noted that it would appear from the circumstances that the family of Lazarus possessed a family vault<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|11:38}}</ref> and that a large number of Jews from Jerusalem came to console them on the death of Lazarus,<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn|11:39}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Easton" />

A similar anointing is described in the [[Gospel of Luke]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|7:36–50|NIV|7:36–50}}</ref> 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.<ref>Discussed in Van Til, Kent A. [http://brill.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/pent/2006/00000015/00000001/art00003 Three Anointings and One offering: The Sinful Woman in Luke 7.36–50] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120707154131/http://brill.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/pent/2006/00000015/00000001/art00003 |date=2012-07-07 }}, [[Journal of Pentecostal Theology]], Volume 15, Number 1, 2006, pp. 73–82(10). However, the author of this article does not himself hold to this view.</ref>

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'."<ref>Hersey, Kim. [http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/parables/Stu_Not%5CHe-Lk07_41-43.htm The Two Debtors] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901161655/http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/parables/Stu_Not%5CHe-Lk07_41-43.htm |date=2006-09-01 }}, Wesley Center for Applied Theology, Northwest Nazarene University.</ref>

=== Luke 10 ===
{{further|Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary}}
In chapter 10 of the [[Gospel of Luke]], Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha, living in an unnamed village. Mary is contrasted with her sister Martha, who was "cumbered about many things"<ref>{{bibleverse|Lk|10:40}}</ref> while Jesus was their guest, while Mary had chosen "the better part", that of listening to the master's discourse.<ref name="Easton">[http://www.ccel.org/e/easton/ebd/ebd/T0002400.html#T0002428 "Mary"], [[Easton's Bible Dictionary]], 1897.</ref>
{{blockquote|As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called '''Mary''', who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. '''Mary''' has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."| {{Bibleverse|Luke|10:38–42|NIV}}, [[New International Version]]}}

For Mary to sit at Jesus' feet, and for him to allow her to do so, was itself controversial. In doing so, as one commentator notes, Mary took "the place of a disciple by sitting at the feet of the teacher. It was unusual for a woman in first-century Judaism to be accepted by a teacher as a disciple."<ref name="Zondervan Luke">{{cite book|last=Liefeld|first=Walter L.|chapter=Luke|title=Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary|editor=Kenneth L. Barker & John Kohlenberger III|date=1994|publisher=[[Zondervan Publishing House]]|location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]}}</ref>

Most Christian commentators have been ready to assume that the two occurrences of sisters named as Mary and Martha refer the same pair of sisters.