Mary (VII)

VII. MARY, Sister of Lazarus, who has been so preposterously confounded with that She-sinner, mentioned by St. Luke, vii. 37, 39. whose Name is not taken Notice of, but was probably Mary Magdalen, of whom we shall speak presently. Mary the Sister of Martha and of Lazarus, lived with her Brother and Sister at Bethany, a Village near to Jerusalem¹. Jesus Christ had a particular Affection for this Family, and ‘tis plain by the Gospel, that he often retired to their House with his Disciples. One Day, and perhaps the first Time that Jesus went thither², Martha having received him with much Affection, and thinking to make very much of him, Mary her Sister remained at our Saviour’s Feet, hearing his Words with great Attention. Wherefore Martha said to Jesus, Do you not observe, Lord, that my Sister leaves me John xi. 45.to minister alone? Bid her come to help me; from whence Jesus took Occasion to justify Mary, saying, that Mary had chosen the better Part, which should not be taken from her.

John xii. 1, 2, 3, &c.Some Time after³ their Brother Lazarus fell sick, and his Sisters acquainted Jesus with it; but he did not come till after Lazarus was dead. He arrived at Bethany, and presently Martha came to him, and told him, that if he had not been absent, Lazarus would not have died. Jesus promised her that he should rise again. Then he sent to acquaint Mary with his being there, who immediately came to him, making the same Complaint as Martha had done. He asked them where they had buried him, they conducted him to the Place; he groaned, he wept, he prayed to his Father, then crying out with a loud Voice, Lazarus come forth. Immediately the dead Man came forth alive, and Jesus restored him to his Sisters. After this he withdrew himself from the Neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and did not return thither till some Days before the Passover. Six Days before this Festival, Jesus came to Bethany with his Disciples, and was invited to Supper at Simon’s the Leper. Martha attended, and Matth. xxvi. 6, &c. Mark xiv. 3 &c.Lazarus was one of the Guests. Mary taking a Pound of Spikenard, which is the most precious Perfume of any of this Kind, (see SPIKENARD hereafter) she poured it upon the Head and Feet of Jesus. She wiped his Feet with her Hair, and the whole House was filled with the Scent of the Perfume. Judas Iscariot murmured at this, but Jesus undertook Mary’s Defence, saying, that by this Action she had prevented his Embalmment, and in some Manner had declared his Death and Burial which were at Hand. From this Time forth the Scripture no longer mentions Martha and Mary, but those who distinguish not between Mary Sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalen, say, that she was present at the Death and Crucifixion of our Saviour, and went to his Sepulchre to embalm him. The Roman Ordinal⁴, and one Nicephorus, quoted by M. Cotelier⁵, affirm, that Martha and Mary went to our Saviour’s Tomb to embalm him; but we find nothing of this in any of the sacred Authors.

The ancient Latins and modern Greeks⁶ believe, that Mary and Martha remained at Jerusalem, and died there. Several ancient Martyrologies put their Feast the nineteenth of January. Flodoard⁷, who lived in 920, says, that in his Time was to be seen the Body of Magdalen, whom he confounds with Mary the Sister of Lazarus. The Greeks put her Feast on the eighteenth of March, because of the Perfumes that she poured this Day on Jesus Christ. Bardilon, Abbot of Leuze, brought (as it is said) the Body of Mary Magdalen from Jerusalem to Vezelay, about the Year 920, and in the twelfth and thirteenth Centuries they came from all Parts to Vezelay, to pay Honour to her Relicks. But the general Belief at this Day is, and which began as soon as the Year 1254⁸, that the Body of Magdalen, so long confounded with Mary the Sister of Lazarus, is in the Church of the Jacobins of St. Maximin, in the Diocese of Aix in Provence; a Tradition whose Original is very uncertain. In this Affair may be consulted F. Alexander a Dominican, in his Dissertation upon Magdalen, Hist. Eccles. T. ii. M. de Tillemont in the second Tome of his Memoirs, p. 30, &c. and in his Notes upon Magdalen, p. 520, &c. M. de Launoy in his Treatise of the coming of Mary Magdalen, of Martha, and of Lazarus into Provence; and others who have treated on the Question, whether there were three Marys.

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