MARY OF BETHANY: INTUITIVE DISCIPLE

When we first meet Mary, she is at home with her sister Martha in Bethany (less than 2 miles from Jerusalem). Mary and Martha live with their brother Lazarus and host Jesus and his disciples frequently at their home. They are all really close to each other.

📌 PSA: The events in today’s email overlap quite a bit with the events in yesterday’s email because the sisters live with each other. That said, the details will be quite different since their individual interactions with Jesus were unique to them.

Mary is not like a lot of the women in her town. She is introverted and has a reserved personality. She enjoys listening more than talking and learning more than entertaining. She is the opposite of her sister Martha and is sometimes frustrated by her perfectionistic tendencies.

Mary especially has a strong desire to understand the Scriptures and to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. She especially loves learning from Him, because he welcomes her sitting with his other disciples and followers. Jesus is the most inclusive man she knows.

One time, during one of Jesus' frequent visits, Martha calls on Jesus to tell Mary to help her (see yesterday's email about Martha for full details). She’s frustrated because Mary is acting more like a disciple than a host. His reply is something Mary never forgets:

"'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

Luke 10:41-42 (NRSV)

Jesus actually stands up for Mary's right to learn from him and refuses to send her away. In his opinion, Mary has as much of a right to hear what he's saying as anyone else in the room. By refusing to send Mary away, he also helps Martha see things from a different vantage point. Brilliant.

⏩ Fast-forward to the time when Lazarus becomes deathly ill.

Mary and Martha send word to Jesus and assume he will arrive in plenty of time to heal their brother. But that’s not what happens.

Lazarus dies and is buried; mourners arrive and wail; sisters grieve and are comforted—all of this while Jesus is nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Jesus and his entourage draw near to Bethany and the village of Mary and Martha, and he's immediately given the news that his good friend Lazarus has already been in the grave for four days.

As soon as Martha hears Jesus is close by, she leaves Mary at home with their guests and heads out to greet him. Their conversation was in yesterday’s email.

Does it strike you as odd that Martha heads out alone to meet Jesus at the outskirts of town? Do you wonder why Mary doesn't accompany her since they both sent for him?

SIDENOTE: I think there’s a pretty good reason Mary stays home, and it might surprise you to learn what it is. As mentioned earlier, their home is full of guests: professional mourners and friends who have come to comfort the sisters in this time of loss. And although they have come to comfort Martha and Mary, it would be rude to ditch them. So, when Martha heads out to meet Jesus, Mary stays home because… wait for it… she is hosting them.

🎬 AND NOW, BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING…

Jesus and his disciples are still outside the village talking with Martha, and it’s not long until he inquires after Mary. And before he can say olive oil, Martha has already left to retrieve Mary.

Entering their house, Martha calls for Mary and privately informs her that Jesus is asking for her. With a sudden burst of energy, Mary gets up and hurries out to find Jesus…and the crowd, noticing her departure, follows her to the Teacher’s location.

When she arrives where Jesus is, Mary falls at his feet. (Isn’t it interesting, that once again, we see her at Jesus’ feet? It won’t be the last time, either!)

Mary, as her sister did before her, faithfully professes her belief that if only he had arrived sooner, Lazarus would not have died. Together the group makes its way to the tomb where Lazarus is buried, and moved by Mary's tears, Martha's grieving and the loud wailing of the mourners, Jesus begins to weep.

PERSONAL FLASHBACK: When I was a kid, and we were asked to recite verses from memory during the service, I got a big kick out of sharing a verse from this very passage: “Jesus wept.” John 11:35 (KJV). I didn’t really associate the verse with the story of Lazarus’ death or the fact that Jesus was grieving the loss of a dear friend and that's why he was crying. I just thought it was cool that I knew what the shortest verse in the Bible was AND I had it memorized! 😂😂😂

⏩ Fast-forward to a week before the crucifixion.

As we know from the story in John 11 (and yesterday’s email), Jesus orders the stone sealing the tomb to be removed and then calls Lazarus back to life. Miraculously, the dead man walks out alive. And there was much rejoicing.  

🪙 IT’S WORTH HOW MUCH?!

Later on, when Martha throws a celebration dinner in Jesus' honor to thank him for raising Lazarus, we find Mary at his feet once again.

This time, she pours some EXTREMELY expensive perfume called “nard” on his feet and then dries them with her hair—although her teardrops make the job harder than it might have been. The aroma is overpowering and smells incredible!

This is an act of selfless extravagance with which one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, is disgusted and voices his concerns for all to hear. He says something like, “What a waste! We could have sold that and given the money to the poor!”

With his protest, Judas creates a false binary. As the authors of the Women’s Bible Commentary point out:

“Judas tries to establish a situation of either/or love: either you love Jesus, or you love the poor. Jesus refutes Judas by affirming the kind of both/and love Mary has shown: one can love both Jesus and the poor (John 12:7-8).”

WBC, p. 525

In the same way Jesus defended Mary’s right to sit at his feet like any other disciple, he defends Mary's right to express her faith with this meaningful gift thereby reversing Judas’ condemnation.

Then, in an unexpected reveal, Jesus announces that Mary has just anointed Him for burial. While his followers think this is a strange thing to say, Mary intuitively knows He is right.  

PLEASE NOTE:

Twice in the Gospels, Jesus refuses to condemn Mary's unusual behavior. Instead, he defends her unconventional, Spirit-directed choices. In fact, he simply encourages Mary to be exactly who she was created to be. Unapologetically. I just love that about him!  

You can learn more about Mary in Luke 10 and John 11-12.

Additional Resources:

• All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1955), p. 168.

• “Martha and Mary” Women’s Bible Commentary, 3rd Edition. Edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012), p. 525.

Photo Credits:

Photo by Nassom Azavedo on Unsplash

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