Carry_Your_Name
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Here are the passages in question:
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. (John 11:1-2)
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. (John 12:1-3)
Mary of Bethany is Lazarus's sister who anointed Jesus's feet six days before passover at Bethany when Lazarus was already raised from the dead and dining with the Lord; however, back to the time when Lazarus was sick and dead, Mary was also positively identified as the one anointed Jesus's feet, but chronologically this hadn't happened yet - shouldn't the text say, who WOULD later anoint the Lord?
So the narrative turns to be anachronistic. One explanation is that, maybe John 11:2 was written in retrospect, from the author's prospective all is cut and dry history, Mary of Bethany was simply identified with her remarkable act so that she wouldn't be mistaken for any other Mary. This anointing was also recorded in Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9 where she was not named. Interestingly, Judas Iscariot was likewise named in John's account but not in Matthew and Mark.
Another possibility, though, is that she did this before, which links her to the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50. This is nothing new, pope Gregory conflated Mary Bethany, Mary Magdalene and the sinful woman by mixing them into one "composite Mary" who was denigrated into a redeemed prostitute. Well it is erroneous to bring Mary Magdalene into the picture, there maybe some truth in this. If John 11:1-2 was written in paste tense where this anointing had taken place before at the time, not after, then the only explanation would be the anointing at Simon the Pharisee's home where Mary Methany was the "sinful woman", according to this analysis below. There were two anointing of Jesus's feet, but only one anointer, Mary of Bethany.
churchlifejournal.nd.edu
Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. (John 11:1-2)
Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. (John 12:1-3)
Mary of Bethany is Lazarus's sister who anointed Jesus's feet six days before passover at Bethany when Lazarus was already raised from the dead and dining with the Lord; however, back to the time when Lazarus was sick and dead, Mary was also positively identified as the one anointed Jesus's feet, but chronologically this hadn't happened yet - shouldn't the text say, who WOULD later anoint the Lord?
So the narrative turns to be anachronistic. One explanation is that, maybe John 11:2 was written in retrospect, from the author's prospective all is cut and dry history, Mary of Bethany was simply identified with her remarkable act so that she wouldn't be mistaken for any other Mary. This anointing was also recorded in Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9 where she was not named. Interestingly, Judas Iscariot was likewise named in John's account but not in Matthew and Mark.
Another possibility, though, is that she did this before, which links her to the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50. This is nothing new, pope Gregory conflated Mary Bethany, Mary Magdalene and the sinful woman by mixing them into one "composite Mary" who was denigrated into a redeemed prostitute. Well it is erroneous to bring Mary Magdalene into the picture, there maybe some truth in this. If John 11:1-2 was written in paste tense where this anointing had taken place before at the time, not after, then the only explanation would be the anointing at Simon the Pharisee's home where Mary Methany was the "sinful woman", according to this analysis below. There were two anointing of Jesus's feet, but only one anointer, Mary of Bethany.
A Retrieval of the Traditional View of Mary Magdalene From the Fringes of Theology
Clement Harrold on convergences.
churchlifejournal.nd.edu
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