Page "Mary of Bethany" Paragraph 17

An examination of John's Gospel makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen.

From John we learn the name of the " woman " who anointed Christ's feet previous to the last supper.

We may remark here that it seems unnecessary to hold that because Matthew and Mark say " two days before the Passover ", while John says " six days " there were, therefore, two distinct anointings following one another.

John does not necessarily mean that the supper and the anointing took place six days before, but only that Christ came to Bethany six days before the Passover.

At that supper, then, Mary received the glorious encomium, " she hath wrought a good work upon Me ... in pouring this ointment upon My body she hath done it for My burial ... wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached ... that also which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her.

" Is it credible, in view of all this, that this Mary should have no place at the foot of the cross, nor at the tomb of Christ?

Yet it is Mary Magdalen who, according to all the Evangelists, stood at the foot of the cross and assisted at the entombment and was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection.

And while John calls her " Mary Magdalen " in 19: 25, 20: 1, and 20: 18, he calls her simply " Mary " in 20: 11 and 20: 16.