Editing Mary of Bethany (section)

=== 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>