Ben Avraham
Well-Known Member
Was Mary M. the Same as Mary B.?
We are talking about Mary of Magdala and Mary of Bethany, who were known respectively as Mary Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Martha.
After the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus had become much more than just a guest in Bethany. According to John 12, when Jesus returned to Bethany from perhaps some of his missionary trips with his disciples, he was hungry and they made him a supper. They who? Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Since the supper was at their house, Lazarus would sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples, and Martha would serve the table. At the appropriate time, Mary brought a pound of costly perfume and started anointing Jesus' feet and wiping his feet with her hair. (John 12:1-3) Needless to say, it was quite romantic.
We all know that Jesus was an Orthodox religious Jew, and every Jewish woman knew and knows that she cannot approach a religious Jew, and is not even supposed to talk to him, let alone to touch or anoint him in such a romantic manner if she is not his wife.
I believe we have proved that Jesus was married to the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Now, was she the same as Mary Magdalene? Let's ask Luke. (Luke 7:36-40)
Luke adds a guest who perhaps was not familiar with Jesus' wife to criticize him for allowing a prostitute to touch and kiss him that way while she would anoint him with such a costly perfume. She had been a prostitute because that 's the name with which Luke calls her "a woman known in the town to be a sinner." (Luke 7:37)
Why would the Pharisee, a religious Jew criticize Jesus for allowing such a display of inappropriate behavior? Because Jesus was also a religious Jew. Obviously, the Pharisee was not familiar with Mary's connections to Jesus.
Mark says in Mark 14:3 that she would anoint Jesus starting from his head. There is no way a religious Jew would allow such a thing if the woman was not his wife. And the anointing was made in the same place and Mark calls the host by the name of Simon, the leper. That's Lazarus by another name, since Lazarus was a leper.
Matthew also reports the same place at the house of this Simon the leper who is Lazarus. And Mary anoints Jesus starting with his head.
Conclusion: 1. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Martha were one and the same woman; 2. Jesus was a religious Jew who, to allow such an anointing by a woman, it's only obvious that they were married; 3. Now, to insist that Jesus was not married is to affirm that he was not Jewish, and much less a Rabbi. And to claim that all cases of anointing are four different cases with the purpose to safeguard the gospel writers from being charged with contradiction, it will be tantamount to expose Jesus to negative credibility charges for behaving as a "Don Juan." Therefore, it's much more to his sacred reputation that he was a married man to the sister of Martha, who was known as Mary Magdalene.
We are talking about Mary of Magdala and Mary of Bethany, who were known respectively as Mary Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Martha.
After the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus had become much more than just a guest in Bethany. According to John 12, when Jesus returned to Bethany from perhaps some of his missionary trips with his disciples, he was hungry and they made him a supper. They who? Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Since the supper was at their house, Lazarus would sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples, and Martha would serve the table. At the appropriate time, Mary brought a pound of costly perfume and started anointing Jesus' feet and wiping his feet with her hair. (John 12:1-3) Needless to say, it was quite romantic.
We all know that Jesus was an Orthodox religious Jew, and every Jewish woman knew and knows that she cannot approach a religious Jew, and is not even supposed to talk to him, let alone to touch or anoint him in such a romantic manner if she is not his wife.
I believe we have proved that Jesus was married to the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Now, was she the same as Mary Magdalene? Let's ask Luke. (Luke 7:36-40)
Luke adds a guest who perhaps was not familiar with Jesus' wife to criticize him for allowing a prostitute to touch and kiss him that way while she would anoint him with such a costly perfume. She had been a prostitute because that 's the name with which Luke calls her "a woman known in the town to be a sinner." (Luke 7:37)
Why would the Pharisee, a religious Jew criticize Jesus for allowing such a display of inappropriate behavior? Because Jesus was also a religious Jew. Obviously, the Pharisee was not familiar with Mary's connections to Jesus.
Mark says in Mark 14:3 that she would anoint Jesus starting from his head. There is no way a religious Jew would allow such a thing if the woman was not his wife. And the anointing was made in the same place and Mark calls the host by the name of Simon, the leper. That's Lazarus by another name, since Lazarus was a leper.
Matthew also reports the same place at the house of this Simon the leper who is Lazarus. And Mary anoints Jesus starting with his head.
Conclusion: 1. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Martha were one and the same woman; 2. Jesus was a religious Jew who, to allow such an anointing by a woman, it's only obvious that they were married; 3. Now, to insist that Jesus was not married is to affirm that he was not Jewish, and much less a Rabbi. And to claim that all cases of anointing are four different cases with the purpose to safeguard the gospel writers from being charged with contradiction, it will be tantamount to expose Jesus to negative credibility charges for behaving as a "Don Juan." Therefore, it's much more to his sacred reputation that he was a married man to the sister of Martha, who was known as Mary Magdalene.
