Who were Martha and Mary of Bethany?

The short answer

Martha and Mary were sisters who lived with their brother Lazarus in Bethany, near Jerusalem. Jesus was a friend of the family and stayed in their home. Luke remembers Martha busy serving and Mary sitting at his feet, and John says Mary anointed his feet with costly perfume.

What the record says

Luke tells of a visit to their house:

As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word.

Luke 10:38 to 39

Martha was busy with the serving and asked Jesus to send her sister to help. He answered:

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:41 to 42

When Lazarus died, Martha went out to meet Jesus on the road. He told her, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). She answered:

“Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

John 11:27

Six days before the Passover, at a supper in Bethany, “Martha served” (John 12:2). Then Mary took a pound of pure nard, “anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment” (John 12:3).

Mark and Matthew tell of a woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany but don’t give her name (Mark 14:3). Over the centuries some preachers also blended Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene. The Gospels keep them apart.

How Third Day tells it

Third Day is a novel. In the novel he goes by Yeshua, the name his family would have called him. In chapter six, “The Banquet,” Simon, the leading man of Bethany, gives a banquet for Yeshua and for Lazarus. Martha moves between the kitchen and the tables. Near the end of the meal Mary steps out from among the women with an alabaster jar. She pours the nard over his head, then kneels, pours the rest on his feet and wipes them with her hair. Judas names the price. Yeshua tells him to leave her alone. Martha brings sand for the oil on the floor, and Mary works it into the stone with her palms. The next morning Lazarus packs to run for Philadelphia, because the council wants the witness dead, and tells his sisters to follow him. Martha keeps her hands in the dough and says no.

Mary untied the sack and set the jar back on the shelf. “We keep the house. You keep breathing.”

The sisters are also at the center of chapter two, “Lazarus,” where Martha meets Yeshua on the road and Mary falls at his feet.