finding difference bible stories lazarus

This is often attributed to a sermon given by Pope Gregory the Great in the year 591 in which he asserted the two Mary’s were the same person, but this belief must certainly predate Gregory as we shall see.

More on that soon, but for now, here is Jeffrey’s paper:įor most of its existence, the Roman Catholic Church taught that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha and Lazarus) were one and the same person. And in this case, it is not merely a matter of textual evidence, but also how our take on these various “Marys” might have impact on understanding the names we find in the Talpiot Jesus tomb–as well as ossuaries inscribed Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in the tomb complex on the Mt of Olives (on the Dominus Flevit property). Jeffrey is the author of two groundbreaking books that I highly recommend: The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity and The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings That Passed from James the Just to the Founding Fathers. Based on all this fascinating input I suppose it is about time I sort out my own evaluation and come to some conclusion. He has given me permission to post it here. Just this week my friend and colleague, Jeffrey Bütz, shared with me a paper he has written arguing that Mary Magdalene is in fact the same person as Mary of Bethany–sister of Martha and their brother Lazarus. I have also posted a guest entry by Jennifer Duba-Scanlan that was originally published in 2012 but is available here “ The Mystery of the three Marys,” as well an earlier guest post from 2008 by Wendy Pond, based on an email she had sent me in response to my own posting, which you can read here: “ Guest Post on Sorting out the Marys.” I highly recommend both these posts from these very insightful women.

How many times was Jesus “anointed” in such a scene–and by whom? And why does Mary of Bethany seem to just disappear from the scene after the anointing in John 12/Mark 14–whereas Mary Magdalene shows up so prominently at Jesus’ crucifixion and to anoint him after his burial? I have surveyed the evidence in my post “ In Memory of Her: Mary’s Forgotten Memorial,” without really coming to any firm conclusion. So how can all this possibly be sorted out. But his account is much earlier in his gospel and seemingly nowhere near Bethany or Jerusalem (Luke 7:36-50). Quite oddly, Luke has his own anointing story, with an unnamed woman who is a “sinner,” who anoints Jesus feet, weeps, and dries them with her hair. In John it is clearly Mary of Bethany who does a similar (if not the same) anointing with spikenard–but of Jesus feet, wiping them with her hair. Mark also relates the story of a mysterious unnamed “woman” who anoints Jesus’ head with an alabaster flask of costly spikenard, also at Bethany that last week of Jesus’ life. One might well presume this is at the house of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. On the other hand, Mark (followed by Matthew), knows that Jesus and his entourage (the disciples, his mother and brothers) stay in Bethany the last week of his life–leading up to his crucifixion.

Over the years I have written quite a bit about Mary Magdalene and her possible relationship to Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and their brother Lazarus–who has a prominent role in the gospel of John (11:1-44 12:1-8), is also mentioned once in Luke 10:38-42, but nowhere else in the New Testament.

Finding difference bible stories lazarus