Who Was Mary of Bethany
Of all the stories about women in
the Bible, Mary of Bethany’s story is the most beautiful expression of intimate
love for God in the form of Christ. Parts of Mary’s story are found in all four
gospel accounts – Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:1-9, Luke 10:38-40 and John
11:1-12:3.
You may know Mary’s story best as
the story of Mary and her sister Martha. The Lord was visiting their home.
While Martha was busy getting everything ready to serve Jesus and his
disciples, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He had to
say. Martha became frustrated and demanded that Jesus tell Mary to help her.
There are things to be learned from both Mary and Martha, but for now we’ll
just focus on Mary.
We should know a few things
regarding the details of Mary’s encounters with Jesus:
- Mary’s first encounter with Jesus, as far as we can tell, is the story above. This story is from Luke 10:38-40. This is the Mary/Martha story we’re familiar with.
- The Gospel of John gives a little background on this encounter. The situation that led Jesus and the disciples to be guests in Mary’s home was the death of Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.
- The second encounter Mary has with Jesus is another story you might be familiar with. Remember the mystery woman who broke the expensive jar of perfume, anointed Jesus with it and then wiped His feet with her hair? The Gospel of John tells us that woman was Mary of Bethany.
Mary of Bethany’s encounters with
Jesus show us she must have been a very observant woman. It was very out of
place for Mary to sit at Jesus’ feet to listen instead of getting the
house in shape for guests. Think about the last time there were guests at your
house. Did your mother sit down to relax or was she up and about cooking,
cleaning, and serving?
When guests arrive at our homes, we
want to show them a nice time and we do everything we can to make their time
with us comfortable and fun. That is what Martha was doing and what Mary
usually helped her with. This time, however, Mary recognized the Lord as more
than just a teacher; she recognized Him as someone that her heart desperately
wanted to spend time with, so she abandoned everything else to hear His
voice and gaze on His face.
The second thing Mary observed is
the pain and anxiety of Jesus in the week leading up to His crucifixion. The
Bible tells us in Matthew, Mark and John that a week before His crucifixion,
Jesus was dining at the home of Simon of Bethany. During the meal, a woman,
Mary, entered and broke open an expensive jar of perfume with which she
anointed Jesus and then wiped His feet with her hair. I believe she did this
because she was prompted to by the Holy Spirit, but that’s only my personal
opinion.
We often don’t realize what a
scandalous act this was. Mary, a woman, entered a house where men were dining
without an invitation (considered highly inappropriate). She “wasted” a jar of
super expensive perfume (wasteful). She uncovered her head (scandalous because
a woman’s hair could cause lustful thoughts in men). Then she wiped the dirt
and dust (there would’ve been a lot of that because Jesus walked everywhere in
sandals) off His feet with her hair!
Jesus makes it clear that Mary is
anointing His body for burial, so it’s likely that Mary was very emotional
during this encounter–she was “making a scene,” yet another thing the men
would’ve considered inappropriate.
Mary of Bethany teaches us to have a
scandalous love for Jesus that the rest of world might think is totally
inappropriate! From the moment we enter a church, we’re taught how to respond
to God, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Mary was taught how to behave
properly and knew the customs of her people, but when it came to Jesus, she
just didn’t care what anyone else thought of her behavior. Mary loved Jesus
with a scandalous love and Jesus defended her for it, twice.
Can we learn from Mary’s example and
love Jesus so much that other people think we’re crazy? I hope so.
“Leave
her alone,” said Jesus. “Why
are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me… Truly
I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of
her.” (Mark
14:6, 9).
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