Mary of Bethany

Biography

Mary of Bethany lived with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus in a home Jesus frequently visited near Jerusalem. When Jesus came to teach, Mary chose to sit at His feet, absorbed in His word, while Martha busied herself with the demands of hospitality. When Martha complained that Mary had left her to serve alone, Jesus gently corrected her, declaring that Mary had chosen the good part, which would not be taken from her. When Lazarus fell fatally ill and died before Jesus arrived, Mary echoed her sister's grief, falling at Jesus' feet with the same words: 'Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.' Jesus, deeply moved by her weeping and that of the mourners with her, wept as well before calling Lazarus from the tomb. Mary's most memorable act came shortly before the crucifixion, at a supper in Bethany, when she took a pound of costly pure nard and anointed Jesus' feet, wiping them with her hair, filling the house with its fragrance. Some present, including Judas Iscariot, criticized the extravagance as waste, but Jesus defended her, recognizing that she had anointed His body in preparation for burial, and declared that her act would be remembered wherever the gospel was preached throughout the world.