Seven Gospel Clues that Mary Magdalene is Mary of Bethany

It has become sadly prevalent today to assume that Mary Magdalene was not Mary of Bethany. This is a great disservice to the whole Church since her witness to the Merciful Love of God has benefited countless souls throughout the centuries.

There are at least seven powerful Scriptural clues indicating that Mary of Bethany is indeed Mary Magdalene.

It is evident that Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus twice, the first time as indicated in Lk 7:36-50 and the second time as indicated in Jn 12:3-7; Mt 26:6-13; and Mk 14:3-9. That these were indeed two separate anointings is clearly stated by St. John in Jn 11:2. Once we realize that the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50 is Mary of Bethany we discover many Gospel facts about Mary of Bethany:

a. She was a notorious sinner known to many (Lk 7:39) and she had influential friends among the Jews (Jn 11:45);

b. She kissed Jesus’ feet many times (Lk 7:45);

c. She anointed both His feet in (Lk 7:46) and (Jn 12:3) and His head in (Mt 26:7) and (Mk 14:3);

d. Her generosity in anointing Jesus with ointment worth 300 denarii (Jn 12:5) is set in contrast to the thief, Judas Iscariot who right after Mary’s second anointing agreed to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Jn 12:4-7) and (Mt 26:14-16);

e. Her many sins were forgiven by Jesus because she loved much (Lk 7:47-48);

f. She sat at his feet and listened to His word and Jesus told her sister Martha that Mary had chosen the best part that would not be taken away from her (Lk 10:38-42);

g. “Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary, and Lazarus” (Jn 11:5);

h. Martha and Mary called Jesus, “Master” (Jn 11:28);

i. People who knew Mary thought that when her brother Lazarus had died, she would go to the tomb to weep there (Jn 11:31).

j. Jesus defended her second anointing by saying in reference to the “pound of ointment, genuine nard of great value” (Jn 12:3), “Let her be—that she may keep it for the day of my burial” (Jn 12:7).

k. Jesus said of her (in regard to the second anointing): “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mt 26:13).

Now let’s consider these in reference to what we know of Mary Magdalene.

Clue One: Mary is first identified as Magdalene by St. Luke IMMEDIATELY after Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus for the first time. In fact he connects the two passages with the word “afterwards” and at the same time indicates that Jesus had cast seven devils out of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:1-2). In Scripture the number “seven” indicates perfection; the implication is that Mary Magdalene had been perfectly possessed by Satan before Jesus set her free. Although people who are demonically possessed are not always culpable, Mary Magdalene is the only person in the Gospel exorcised by Jesus who is identified by name –and she is identified IMMEDIATELY after He forgives the notorious sinner Mary of Bethany for her many sins.

Clue Two: Mary of Bethany and Judas Iscariot are the only two people who kiss Jesus in the Gospels and they are deliberately set in contrast with one another by three of the evangelists (Jn 12:3-7), (Mt 26:6-16), and (Mk 14:3-10). Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus with a kiss; Mary Magdalene rushes to embrace the feet of the Resurrected Jesus (Mt 28:9) (Jn 20:17).

Clue Three: Mary Magdalene calls Jesus “’Rabboni!’ (that is to say, Master) (Jn 20:16) which is the same way that Martha identifies Jesus to her sister Mary, “The Master is here and calls you” (Jn 11:28).

Clue Four: Mary Magdalene witnessed the burial of Jesus (Mt 27:61) and she is identified as the first of the women who went to anoint Jesus with spices and ointments on Easter Sunday morning (Mk 16:1); (Lk 23:56- Lk 24:1). When Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus with “a pound of ointment, genuine nard of great value” (Jn 12:3), Jesus defended her by saying, “Let her be—that she may keep it for the day of my burial” (Jn 12:7).

Clue Five: Although when Gabriel appeared to Zachary St. Luke indicates that the angel was “standing at the right of the altar of incense” (Lk 1:11), and St. Mark indicates that the angel of the Resurrection was sitting “at the right” (Mk 16:5); only in St. John’s Gospel is it specified that the angels Mary Magdalene saw were “sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid” (Jn 20:12). Mary of Bethany is the only person indicated in the Gospel who anointed both the head and the feet of Jesus (Lk 7:46 and Jn 12: 3) and (Mt 26:7 and Mk 14:3).

Clue Six: There was a great pure mutual love between Jesus and Mary of Bethany (Lk 7:47) and (Jn 11:5). Mary Magdalene manifested this love by staying outside the tomb of Jesus weeping even after the Apostles Peter and John had left (Jn 20:10-11). People who knew Mary of Bethany thought that she would have gone to weep at the tomb of her brother Lazarus (Jn 11:31). Jesus was the only treasure of Mary of Bethany (Lk 10:38-42).

Clue Seven: Mary of Bethany was the sinful, repentant woman who twice anointed Jesus and was so well known that Jesus said of her, “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mt 26:13). Mary Magdalene is twice mentioned in St. Matthew’s Gospel as being with “the other Mary” (Mt 27:61 and Mt 28:1) and “the other Mary” is very clearly identified as being “Mary the mother of James and Joseph” (Mt 26:56). Now if Mary Magdalene wasn’t Mary of Bethany it would make no sense to refer to Mary the mother of James and Joseph as “the other Mary.” Jesus never said of Mary the mother of James and Joseph that “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mt 26:13). He did say that of Mary of Bethany who therefore seems to clearly be St. Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles and the first witness of the Resurrection.

Sister Mary Rose Reddy, DMML
Feast of St. Mary Magdalene July 22, 2019

Dr. Anthony Levatino, a board certified obstetrician-gynecologist, during a four year period performed more than 1,200 first and second trimester abortions. However, shortly after his six year old daughter was killed in a car accident, Dr. Levatino performed a second trimester abortion that shocked him into reality. As he was taking an inventory of the baby’s body parts to make sure he had pulled them all out of the formerly pregnant mother, he said he suddenly couldn’t see a woman’s right to choose– he only saw someone’s dead son or daughter. Soon after he stopped doing all abortions.

What will it take to shock our country into reality? We are committing national suicide. In 2017 the population of the United States was estimated to be 325,700,000. The number of abortions in our country since 1973 is estimated at 60,070,000 (equal to 18.4% of current population). In fact the COMBINED populations of: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming is LESS than the number of babies who have died by abortion since 1973!

I am republishing this post today in honor of what would have been my friend Rosemary’s 60th birthday.   May she rest in peace!

 

“Do thyself no harm, for we are all here” (Acts 16:28).  With these words, St. Paul prevented his jailer from committing suicide.  We need to unite with St. Paul and raise our voices in prayer and love against the great scourge of suicide.

When my childhood friend Rosemary committed suicide I remember feeling that nothing would ever be alright again.  Since her favorite color was yellow, I entitled a poem I wrote in her memory, “Yellow Roses.”  For many weeks after her death I continued to mourn for her; finally one of my Superiors in the convent told me to ask Rosemary to intercede with God that He would allow her to let me know that she was okay.  So one Palm Sunday as I was sitting in our convent kitchen drinking a cup of coffee I prayed, “Rosemary, if you are either in Purgatory or Heaven, then I want you to send me a sign in one week.  I’m not going to tell you what it should be, but I need to know it is from you.”

Exactly one week later on Easter Sunday I was at another convent; I had somewhat forgotten about my prayer. That afternoon I happened to be looking through a drawer filled with free holy cards.  Suddenly I saw one that had one of my favorite pictures of our Blessed Mother on it.  Happily I took the picture out and realized that it was actually the front of a greeting card.  I opened the card.  Inside was a picture of yellow roses.  Underneath this picture were the words, “Behold, I am alive, and I live forevermore.”

I do not need to tell you how much this card meant to me and also to Rosemary’s mother to whom I sent it.  We need to reach out to the families and friends who are grieving suicide to reassure them that their beloved ones are not beyond the reach of God’s Infinite Mercy.  In fact the Catechism of the Catholic Church reassures us that, “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives.  By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance.  The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives” (CCC 2283).

St. Padre Pio said that he could just as easily pray for the happy death of his great grandmother as for someone who was dying that day.  This means that our prayers can still help people who have already died by suicide because God is outside of time.  At the moment of a person’s death God already sees all the future prayers that will be prayed for that person, and He can apply the graces obtained by those prayers to help the dying person to make the choice to receive His Merciful Love.

In the United States there are nearly 40,000 suicides annually; it is the second leading cause of death for 15-34 year olds.^[i] Every suicide, including Brittany Maynard’s recent assisted suicide, is a grievous assault against the dignity of the person.  We need to join together and form a chain of loving defense against suicide.  We know that love is stronger than death (Song of Songs 8:6).  As children we used to play a game called Red Rover.  A team would join hands together and try to prevent a person from the other team from breaking through their joined hands.  Let’s do this for all the souls who are tempted to commit suicide, and for those who have committed suicide and their families.  Together we can form a great chain of prayer and in eternity we will see what was the great power and fruit of our united love for helping souls suffering from this grievous affliction.

As Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love, we have formed the Lifeline Against Suicide Team (L.A.S.T.) and we hope that you will join us in taking the offense against suicide.

Our founding fathers stated in the First Amendment that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”  This means that government, whether national or local, should not be imposing a particular religious view on the people.  I find that my local government, by deciding to decorate our city of Rochester, NH with gay pride rainbow flags, is imposing a particular religious view on the whole populace.

No government has the right to force me to accept this religious view which is in opposition to my own religious view.  My religious view is Biblical: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27).  Clearly I don’t have the right to force this view on anyone else.  But I do have the right to live according to my belief; and I have the right not to be coerced into embracing beliefs which contradict my own.

I believe that I’m called to love and be merciful to every other person as Jesus loves and is merciful to me.  I am tolerant of every person; but I am not tolerant of actions which, since they oppose nature, are destructive to individuals and society and are scandalous to the young.